Highlights:
-
Metallurgical program to date has produced very encouraging results.
-
A clean phosphate concentrate, grading 26% P2O5 at 76% recovery reliably produced.
-
Valuable rare earth elements co-concentrated with phosphate.
-
Ample room remains for additional improvements of grade and recovery of phosphate, rare earth elements (“REE”) and niobium with further testing.
Toronto / TheNewswire / March 13, 2024 – Nuinsco Resources Limited (“ Nuinsco ” or the “ Company ”) (CSE: NWI, FRA: NJX) today provided an update on metallurgical results from studies conducted on the Company’s Prairie Lake critical minerals and phosphate project located near Terrace Bay, Ontario (“ Prairie Lake ” or the “Project” ) which indicate excellent progress towards developing a process to economically produce multiple mineral concentrates.
Mr. Grant Feasby, metallurgist at P&E Mining Consulting and consultant to the Company commented: “preliminary metallurgical test work to date, at expert test facilities operated by COREM in Quebec and SGS-Lakefield in Ontario, has demonstrated that the mineral apatite can be concentrated to reliably produce a phosphate grade of at least 26% P2O5 at 76% recovery. REEs are co-concentrated with the phosphate, currently up to a concentrate grade of 1% total rare earth oxide (“ TREO ”), of which approximately 26% are the elements neodymium and praseodymium, which are so valuable to permanent magnet production. Additional test development is expected to improve concentrate grades and recoveries as well as to demonstrate the separation of the REEs from fertilizer- and battery-grade phosphate. A niobium concentration strategy is also being developed. Potentially a large-scale Prairie Lake operation could be a major Canadian producer of three mineral products – phosphate, REEs and niobium – all identified as Critical Minerals by Canada, Ontario and Quebec.”
“The accumulating metallurgical results continue to deliver excellent news on the potential economic viability of the Prairie Lake Project,” said Paul Jones, Nuinsco’s CEO. “An igneous source phosphate concentrate of commercially acceptable grade can reliably be produced from Project feed and great opportunity exists to increase the grade and recovery going forward, as will be confirmed by additional testing. With the consideration of a REE co-concentrate the concentrate potential is further enhanced. Also, when the added valued of a possible niobium concentrate is considered, the Project demonstrates great potential. We are delighted with results to date and anticipate great news to come. Given the current size of the mineral resource estimate (“ MRE ”) at the Project, the implications of a viable concentrate to the secure supply of critical minerals in North America and beyond are enormous.”
The Prairie Lake Project contains a large , well-located resource of critical minerals in North America. It contains significant grades of phosphate mineralization (in apatite) REEs and niobium (in pyrochlore). The current size of the Project MRE is very large – in the order of 900 million tonnes (see table below). The Project has amongst the world’s highest known light rare earth element content in apatite and contains a host of other REE bearing minerals; it also contains a significant endowment of niobium-bearing pyrochlore, and phosphate mineralization. The Project is a potential source of elements needed for use in transportation, power distribution, green industries and a host of other technologies and applications, including agriculture. The current MRE is already a very large endowment of vitally important critical minerals that are in constantly expanding demand as the world’s economies transition towards low-carbon emissions.
Securing a reliable critical minerals supply chain is a strategic concern identified by numerous governments in the recent past and addressed with incentives and programs to encourage development of the critical minerals sector. The Project is located near the north shore of Lake Superior, putting it in close or easily accessible reach of:
-
The towns of Marathon, Terrace Bay and other affected communities - all a source of a local, skilled workforce.
-
All weather forest access road crossing the project and deposit.
-
Paved Highways 17 and 11 to the south and north.
-
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Railway and Canadian National Railway networks.
-
High capacity (230kV) electrical power transmission line.
-
50km from the Marathon deep water port project. Deep-water ports are also located at Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, able to handle ocean going ships.
-
The Marathon airport.
Laura Giroux, P.Geo, Chief Geologist, acts as Nuinsco's Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101. Ms. Giroux has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this news release.
About Nuinsco Resources Limited
Nuinsco Resources has over 50 years of exploration success and is a growth-oriented, multi-commodity mineral exploration and development company focused on prospective opportunities in Canada and internationally. Currently the Company has the large multi-commodity (phosphate, rare earth element, niobium, tantalum) Prairie Lake project near Marathon-Terrace Bay, the Zig Zag Lake property (lithium, tantalum) near Armstrong optioned to First Class Metals PLC and retains a NSR royalty on the Sunbeam gold property near Atikokan. In addition, Nuinsco has an agreement for gold exploitation at the El Sid project in the Eastern Desert of Egypt.