Development Will Be Undertaken As Part Of CanmetMINING Collaboration
Commerce Resources Corp. (TSXV: CCE) and CanmetMINING have agreed carry-out a pilot plant operation to scale-up and evaluate the process they have developed for the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit in Quebec, Canada.
The Floatation Pilot Plant will be created under Commerce Resources’ ongoing collaboration with CanmetMINING, focused on beneficiation test work for the Ashram Rare Earth and Fluorspar Deposit.
Following a successful bench scale flotation test programme CanmetMINING will carry-out a pilot plant operation to scale-up and evaluate the process they have developed.
Through test programmes carried-out in 2020 by CanmetMINING, an alternative reagent scheme and flotation circuit was developed for the Ashram Deposit.
The work resulted in a marked improvement in flotation performance as demonstrated through a combination of distributed reagent additions, reagent synergism, and reverse conditioning in a very simple and basic flotation circuit.
The performance included a considerable reduction in reagent consumption to one-half to one-quarter of the quantity (kg/t) of that utilised in prior test work by other metallurgical labs.
The results are significant as previous work has identified reagents as a key area of optimization in the Ashram Deposit’s flotation circuit, and where significant cost advantages may be found by screening the performance of each pertinent reagent with respect to their consumption and purchase cost.
The flowsheet developed by CanmetMINING will be piloted at their facilities in Ottawa, ON, using a recently constructed in-house pilot plant designed to process 16 kg to 20 kg of feed per hour. Approximately 1.5 tonnes of Ashram Deposit bulk sample material was delivered to Corem, located in Quebec City, for crushing and grinding to the pilot plant feed’s design criteria, and will be delivered to CanmetMINING shorty.
The pilot plant operation is expected to commence toward the end of April 2021, depending on potential COVID-19 impacts.
The funding for the test work was provided by Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) through CanmetMINING’s six-year rare earth element (“REE”) and chromite programme, focused on developing new extraction technologies, addressing Canadian environmental challenges, and improving the knowledge of Canadian deposits.
The company’s contribution to the collaboration was a supply of REE mineralised material from the Ashram Deposit, in which several tonnes remain readily available from a bulk sample completed in 2012.
The Ashram Deposit outcrops at surface, allowing for cost-effective collection of material for test work. As such, the company is actively engaging with various research and academic institutions to support the advancement of the REE industry in Canada, and in Quebec specifically.
CanmetMINING is a S&T branch of the Lands and Minerals sector of Natural Resources Canada with facilities in Ottawa, Val-d’Or, and Sudbury is a world class leader in the development and deployment of green mining and transformative technologies.
Under the banner of Green Mining Innovation, CanmetMINING has two intertwined objectives: reduce the environmental impacts and improve Canada’s competitiveness related to mineral resource development. CanmetMINING continues to work with stakeholders to develop and deploy green technologies that will improve energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, minimise waste generation and water consumption and increase productivity.
CanmetMINING also equips Canada to manage ecosystem risks and to craft and implement sound, science-based regulations.
