| Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV: CCE; FSE: | | | | |
| D7H), bolstered by its latest drill results, | | | | The Upper Fir property has an indicated |
| is on track to break ground on North | | | | resource of 8.6 million tonnes, grading 208.9 |
| America's first stand alone tantalum/niobium | | | | g/t Ta2O5 and 1,372 g/t Nb2O5, and an |
| mine within two years. | | | | inferred resource of 5.5 million tonnes, |
| | | | grading 208.2 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,349g/t Nb2O5. |
| However, that's not going to happen fast | | | | |
| enough to help The Boeing Company meet a 2008 | | | | The Fir deposit has an indicated resource of |
| year-end delivery deadline for its new 787 | | | | 5.65 million tonnes grading 203.1 g/t Ta2O5 |
| Dreamliner commercial aircraft. | | | | and 1,047 g/t Nb2O5, with an inferred |
| | | | resource of 6.74 million tonnes, grading |
| Chicago-based Boeing, in a move that points | | | | 203.1 g/t Ta205 and 1,047 g/t Nb2O5. |
| to a global shortage of tantalum, has | | | | |
| recently pushed its Dreamliner schedule back | | | | The Verity property has an inferred resource |
| by six months. The first 30 to 35 of the new | | | | of 3.06 million tonnes, grading 196 g/t Ta2O5 |
| passenger aircraft won't be delivered until | | | | and 646 g/t Nb205. |
| 2009, because of both software integration | | | | |
| problems and a shortage of | | | | The metal niobium has a wide range of |
| corrosion-resistant tantalum fasteners. | | | | properties - heat resistance, high thermal |
| | | | conductivity, elasticity, corrosion |
| Commerce is still in the midst of a | | | | resistance, and the ability to form a stable |
| two-year-long provincial environmental | | | | and adhesive layer of oxide. |
| assessment on its Upper Fir property, 300 | | | | |
| kilometers north of Kamloops, in central | | | | But it is most prized for its use in steel |
| British Columbia, which should be done by May | | | | alloys used in pipelines, cars and structural |
| or June 2008. | | | | steels. A 2% alloy of niobium can triple the |
| | | | tensile strength of steel from a PSI (pounds |
| With that certificate in hand, the | | | | per square inch) of 40,000 to a PSI of |
| Vancouver-based company will then turn to the | | | | 120,000, making it a reasonable alternative |
| British Columbia Ministry of Mines for a | | | | to vanadium. |
| permit to work its Blue River property in the | | | | |
| interior of the province. | | | | Niobium's price has also skyrocketed this |
| | | | year, from US$7 per pound in January to its |
| If all goes well, the permit will come | | | | current level of around US$28/lb. Encouraged |
| through in time for a 2009 spring start. | | | | by the healthy market, Commerce last spring |
| | | | staked 88 claims in Quebec's Labrador Trough, |
| Tantalum has the highest capacitance of any | | | | surrounding eight claims held by Virginia |
| metal known, meaning the ability to hold and | | | | Mines Inc. (TSX: VGQ). |
| release electrical charge instantaneously. | | | | |
| That makes it essential to most electronic | | | | Those eight claims cover most of the Eldor |
| devices as the material used for the | | | | Carbonatite Complex, an elliptically-shaped |
| capacitors found in most consumer goods such | | | | area approximately 7.75 km by 2.5 km with |
| as mobile phones, computers and digital | | | | known, localized high concentrations of |
| cameras as well as in automotive applications | | | | niobium and tantalum. Grab and channel |
| (anti-locking brakes, airbag-firing | | | | samples have ranged from 1.15% to 11.4% Nb205 |
| mechanisms) and medical technologies such as | | | | and 0.046%-0.21% Ta205. |
| hearing aids and pacemakers. | | | | |
| | | | In May, for the price of 710,000 shares and |
| The world's largest tantalum producer, Sons | | | | 290,000 share purchase warrants, Commerce |
| of Gwalia Ltd., now known as Talison | | | | took over those claims from Virginia Mines |
| Minerals, has, historically, supplied up to | | | | and embarked on a summer of soil sampling and |
| 55% of the world market from its Greenbushes | | | | line cutting. The results of those assays |
| and Wodgina mines in Western Australia. In | | | | should be available by November. |
| the West, that market percentage could run as | | | | |
| high as 85%. | | | | The Eldor Carbonatite compares in size to the |
| | | | Araxa Carbonatite Complex in Brazil, which |
| However, SOG disclosed in July, 2004 that it | | | | measures about 4.5 km in diameter. It |
| may have run out of its surface high grade | | | | contains the world's largest known deposit of |
| (300 g/t with a 55% recovery rate), forcing | | | | pyrochlore, from which niobium is obtained, |
| capital spending on underground mining of | | | | and is mined by the Brazilian company, |
| lower grade deposits. | | | | Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e |
| | | | Mineracao (CBMM). |
| Shortly afterwards, the public company went | | | | |
| into receivership, and was purchased and | | | | CBMM, currently supplying up to 70% of the |
| renamed by private American interests only | | | | world market, says it has enough reserves to |
| this year. | | | | meet the global need for niobium for the next |
| | | | 500 years. But the private company may not be |
| Drill results since Commerce started staking | | | | meeting the same disclosure standards as |
| its Blue River property in 2000 have | | | | Canadian public companies. As well, buyers |
| established Upper Fir as a viable mine site | | | | looking at the quality of CBMM's product are |
| with a 6-10-year life. | | | | known to be checking around for other |
| | | | suppliers. |
| The prospective mine life may double or even | | | | |
| triple with the results from 18 more holes | | | | While Commerce has had a standing invitation |
| drilled this past summer. Those results not | | | | for partnership proposals, a recent private |
| only confirmed that the Upper Fir carbonatite | | | | placement of $32.746 million, added to the |
| is sub-horizontal, allowing for open-pit | | | | $7.5 million already in hand, means the |
| mining, but also enlarged the strike area to | | | | company can now manage on its own. |
| more than a kilometer north-south and more | | | | |
| than half a kilometer east-west. | | | | Another $45 million could be raised through |
| | | | the exercise of warrants bringing total |
| (Carbonatites are rare rock types containing | | | | financing to just over $80 million, enough to |
| equally rare minerals, including niobium and | | | | get Blue River into production. |
| tantalum.) | | | | |
| | | | With the Yellowhead Highway and the Canadian |
| As well, this past summer's exploration | | | | National Railway both crossing Commerce's |
| turned up two new carbonatites - Lower Gum | | | | property, the company will have an easy |
| Creek and Lower Switch Creek - about two | | | | choice of sending its tantalum concentrate, |
| kilometers east of the Upper Fir deposit. | | | | processed at the mine site, to either |
| Currently, the company is expecting the | | | | Vancouver or Edmonton. |
| results back from the drilling of the Switch | | | | |
| Creek site, spurred by one anomalous sample | | | | The next step would be to turn the |
| from the late 1980s containing 2,900 grams | | | | concentrate into tantalum oxide, but Commerce |
| per tonne (g/t) tantalum. That compares to an | | | | hasn't yet considered whether it would build |
| average of 200 g/t in the Upper Fir deposit. | | | | its own processing plant, partner with |
| | | | another company or hand off the product at |
| While work is now concentrated on the Upper | | | | that point. |
| Fir, Commerce had staked an area covering | | | | |
| about 500 square kilometers, including the | | | | This article is intended for information |
| Fir and the Verity properties. Last month, | | | | purposes only, and is not a recommendation to |
| the company doubled its property by staking | | | | buy or sell the equities of any company |
| another 95 claims covering more than 100,000 | | | | mentioned herein. It is based on sources |
| acres to the south of the Bone Creek | | | | believed to be reliable, but no warranty as |
| watershed. | | | | to accuracy is expressed or implied. The |
| | | | opinions expressed in the article are those |
| The new claims cover a large ultramafic area | | | | of the author except where statements are |
| about 12 km southeast of the Upper Fir | | | | attributed to individuals other than the |
| deposit, and give Commerce ownership of | | | | author, in which case the opinions are those |
| mineral tenures in areas where mine | | | | of the individual to whom they are |
| infrastructure may be built. | | | | attributed. |