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| November 13, 2014 --- Vol. 08, No. 46 | November 2014
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Alaska News Nuggets
RARE EARTHS – Ucore Rare Metals Inc. Nov. 12 reported the successful use of molecular recognition technology to produce a heavy rare earth concentrate consisting of more than 99 percent rare earth elements from a pregnant leach solution created by the extraction of metal values from processed material sourced from the company’s Bokan Dotson-Ridge property in Southeast Alaska. Ucore said the production of a high-purity HREE concentrate is the key and critical first step in the production, by separation, of individual high purity heavy rare earth salts. The resultant salts can be utilized to readily generate output products tailored to customer specifications. Those products include oxides, carbonates, nitrates and other salts of each of the individual rare earth element. A highly purified HREE concentrate can be considered an end product to be sold to independent rare earth separation facilities, or can be used as input material for an in-house individual rare earth salt separation facility. “This achievement speaks not just to the quality of Bokan feedstock but also to the company’s industry leading advancements in hydrometallurgy,” said Ucore President and CEO Jim McKenzie. “MRT is a disruptive technology in every positive sense. It’s a revolutionary alternative to the more costly, slower and environmentally invasive solvent extraction based methods of REE concentration and separation.” The molecular recognition technology testing was conducted by IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc. headquartered near Salt Lake City, Utah. Ucore said the greater than 99 percent recovery of the contained HREE’s from the Bokan solution was achieved using proprietary molecular recognition technology SuperLig® resins in fixed bed format. SuperLig products are designed to bind selectively with ions based on multiple parameters such as size, coordination chemistry, and geometry. In contrast, separation methods used in conventional technologies such as ion exchange, solvent extraction and precipitation generally recognize differences between ions based only on a single parameter, according to IBC Advanced Technologies. The HREE concentrate resulting from the process is a carbonate salt rare earth concentrate comprised of heavy rare earths ranging from samarium through lutetium. Ucore says the REC is easily convertible to oxide or other salt forms depending upon commercial requirements. “This is an exceptionally clean and high-grade heavy REE mixed concentrate,” said Jack Lifton, a consultant to Ucore. “By clean, I mean free of radioactive elements and free of commonly produced elements that interfere with traditional solvent extraction separation such as (aluminum, iron) and Fluoride. MRT is a proven industrial technology that is now being applied to rare earth ore metallurgy. I look forward to the next logical step, the separation and purification of the individual rare earths from the mixed concentrate via MRT.” The Bokan pregnant leach solution was initially produced using a beneficiation circuit set out in Ucore’s 2013 preliminary economic assessment. That beneficiation circuit, which included X-Ray Fluorescence ore sorting, magnetic separation, and a nitric acid leach to generate the REE pregnant solution, has been upgraded during the ensuing period. As preparation for the MRT testing process, non-REEs, including aluminum, iron, thorium, titanium, and zirconium, are first removed from the Bokan solution by way of precipitation at controlled pH levels. Removal by way of pH controlled precipitation results in cost-saving economies and reduction in the number of MRT SuperLig® resin columns used in the process. Ucore reports that more than 99 percent of the REEs remain in solution along with non-target elements including copper, nickel, zinc, cobalt and manganese. This output solution is then fed into the first SuperLig® column designed to selectively remove these non-target elements. The rare earth metals, as a group, are then selectively removed from the resulting raffinate, or solution which has had components removed through binding onto an additional SuperLig® column. These bound elements are then removed by washing with a solvent into essentially a pure mixed rare earth concentrate. Ucore reported that the resulting solution contains greater than 99 percent of the REE originally contained in the original pregnant solution. This rare earth-enriched solution is fed through a further SuperLig® extraction column, which is designed to separate the HREEs, as a group. The remaining solution containing the light rare earths, as well as yttrium, is preserved for further processing. Ucore said it is working to develop a high-purity yttrium salt as an additional output product of the molecular recognition technology process.
GOLD – Miranda Gold Corp. Nov. 12 said it signed a definitive agreement with Gold Torrent, Inc. on its Willow Creek gold project in Southcentral Alaska. The agreement replaces the letter of intent announced on August 6, 2014. According to the agreement, Gold Torrent will be the operator of the joint venture and fund the first US$10 million of expenditures to incrementally earn a 70 percent interest in the joint venture. Miranda will own the remaining 30 percent interest. Any capital expenditures needed above the initial US$10 million will be funded proportionally to the companies’ interest in the JV. Once in operation, Miranda will receive 10 percent of the distributable cash flow until Gold Torrent is repaid its initial capital, Miranda will then receive 20 percent of the distributable cash flow until Gold Torrent is repaid its share of excess capital and finally 30 percent of the cash flow thereafter. As announced in October, Miranda has filed an NI 43-101-compliant technical report supporting the independently estimated initial resource for the Willow Creek Coleman deposit, comprising a measured and indicated resource of 62,100 troy ounces gold contained in 78,700 metric tons at an average grade of 24.6 grams per metric ton gold and an additional 4,100 troy ounces contained in 5,300 metric tons at an average grade of 24.2 g/t gold in the inferred category. Miranda reports that Gold Torrent plans to fast track the Coleman into production and conduct aggressive underground exploration during construction and production in order to significantly expand the resource. Numerous historic high-grade drill intercepts suggest extensions of mineralization below the Coleman, down dip extensions of the Lucky Shot Mine, and significant potential in the Murphy zone. These areas adjoin the Coleman and could be rapidly brought into a mine plan. Recent soil and rock sampling between the Murphy vein and the Gold Bullion Mine, situated 2,000 meters away, indicate multiple parallel veins in an area that has received no modern exploration. If confirmed by trenching and drilling these veins could be delineated and potentially mined simultaneously with the Coleman area to significantly increase the initial production profile. Gold Torrent will now initiate discussions with the permitting agencies as well as all other stakeholders affected by the development of the Willow Creek project. By utilizing pre-existing roads and tunnels and off-site processing, the operation will have small visual and physical impacts. Miranda Executive Vice President Joseph Hebert said, “Bringing the Willow Creek District into production follows the company’s strategy of joint venture but offers an accelerated production timeline. Willow production will facilitate Miranda’s continued focus on world class discovery and the company will be distinguished from many of its prospect generator peers by having a resource, high-grade production in a district with good exploration potential, and internal cash flow after capital payback.”
GRAPHITE – Graphite One Resources Inc. Nov. 10 reported completion of its 2014 field program that included 22 diamond drill holes for 2,296.6 meters. Drill holes were typically spaced about 50 meters apart horizontally along the strike of the mineralized beds, with two or more holes drilled on 11 sections through the mineralization. The 2014 drill program was designed to infill between previous drill holes utilized in the 2014 inferred resource to increase the confidence in the continuity and distribution of the graphite mineralization. All holes were noted as having visible graphite mineralization. The results of the 2014 drilling will be used to update the existing inferred resource at Graphite Creek of 284.71 million metric tons grading 4.5 percent graphite, including 37.68 million metric tons grading 9.2 percent graphite. In addition to the twenty resource estimation drill holes, two drill holes were completed to provide core samples of the two principle zones of mineralization for advance metallurgical test work to be completed over the winter. The two holes were drilled into separate areas of the deposit and will be utilized to evaluate the milling parameters of differing styles of mineralization seen at Graphite Creek, as well as to test various potential head grades of graphite mineralization. The highest grade and near-surface zone 1 mineralization ranges from 3-12 percent graphite and is hosted by the garnet-graphite-sillimanite-biotite schist and is by volume the largest of the mineralized zones. The zone 2 mineralization ranges from 3-7 percent graphite and consists of biotite-graphite-schist. Metallurgical test work will include optimization flotation studies at varied head grades and mineralization styles, followed by additional upgrading test work on several graphite product lines for both high-end spherical graphite and large flake graphite. “We are pleased to have completed another successful drill campaign and look forward to increasing our understanding of the already impressive resource at the Graphite Creek deposit. It is the largest flake graphite deposit in North America and the United States’ only advanced large flake graphite deposit. Completing this program puts us in the position to finalize our preliminary economic assessment to demonstrate to the market how robust the project will be,” said Graphite One President and CEO Anthony Houston.
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