Ashram Samples Meets Third-Party Processor Request
Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV:CCE) has delivered a sample of high-grade monazite mineral concentrate from the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit Quebec, Canada, to an industry processor per their request.
The 1.0 kg sample grades 44.3% rare earth oxide (REO) and was produced using the conventional recovery flowsheet developed by Hazen Research at their facilities in Colorado, USA.
President, Chris Grove, said the delivery of the monazite mineral concentrate follows on the heels of the 0.5 kg sample of acid-grade fluorspar recently delivered to an industry major
Company President Chris Grove states
“We are very pleased to provide this sample to satisfy a third-party request by an industry REE processor,” Mr Grove said.
“Ashram has a very favourable rare earth mineralogy that is dominated by monazite – a well-known and easily processable mineral for REEs, as well as one having an affinity for high distributions of NdPr.
“Ashram is one of only a select few projects in development that is capable of producing high-grade mineral concentrates at high recoveries, making it an attractive feed source for REE mineral processors, and then for downstream permanent magnet manufacturers.”
The production of the monazite mineral concentrate sample by the company utilised the leach residue that was generated from the pilot plant programme completed in 2015. The leach residue was further processed by flotation and magnetic separation to produce ~1.0 kg of mineral concentrate grading 44.3% REO. Based on XRD analysis, the mineral concentrate contains 54.2% monazite, 3.8% bastnaesite, as well as 3.0% xenotime. Further, the NdPr oxide distribution of the concentrate is 21.2%, which is higher than several major global producers.
The Ashram Deposit’s flowsheet has undergone significant development, including front-end piloting of the grinding, flotation, and leach circuits, as well as downstream bench work.
A primary focus for the company has been on this front-end beneficiation process to produce high-grade mineral concentrate. The Ashram Deposit is one of only a select group of deposits in development globally that can produce mineral concentrate at high recovery (>70%) and high grade (>40% REO). All major hard rock REE miners globally produce mineral concentrates of at least 40% REO, which are then used for downstream processing to marketable products. Such high grades of mineral concentrate considerably reduce the downstream processing cost and risk through lower reagent use, fewer deleterious elements entering solution, and a smaller hydromet plant requirement by comparison.
Following the production of this monazite mineral concentrate sample, the company continues to advance its metallurgical programmes at Hazen Research, which have been designed to both satisfy several key industry sample requests, as well as obtain the remaining design criteria required to complete the Pre-feasibility Study for the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Project.
