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Commerce Resources Corp
Symbol CCE
Shares Issued 310,496,558
Close 2018-07-24 C$ 0.07
Market Cap C$ 21,734,759
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Commerce Resources partner produces REO at Ashram

2018-07-24 06:09 ET - News Release

Mr. Chris Grove reports

COMMERCE RESOURCES CORP. REPORTS MIXED RARE EARTH OXIDE FROM ASHRAM RARE EARTH DEPOSIT PRODUCED BY UNIVERSITE LAVAL

Universite Laval has produced a mixed rare earth oxide concentrate using material from Commerce Resources Corp.'s Ashram rare earth deposit. The testwork is part of a larger program being completed in collaboration with Laval to process material from the Ashram rare earth deposit, located in Northern Quebec. The test program also includes pilot level components (see news release dated May 31, 2018).

Highlights to date for the program include:

  • Demonstration of entire process flowsheet, as developed by Laval, on the bench scale;
  • Bench-scale production of mixed LRE (1) oxide (1.2 grams) and mixed LRE-SEG(2)-HRE(3) (oxide (0.6 gram);
  • Validation of the software model simulator, using data from the bench-scale processing of Ashram material, for the separation of rare earth elements (REEs) by solvent extraction (SX).

Company president Chris Grove stated: "The rapid progress of this collaboration now includes the first-ever mixed rare earth oxide concentrate produced from Ashram deposit material. This is a key milestone for the advancement of the project. This testwork has demonstrated again the versatility of the Ashram deposit to be processed by a number of different flowsheet approaches."

The company has previously produced among the highest-grade rare earth mineral concentrates in the rare earth development space (greater than 45 per cent REO), which also compare favourably with current operating mines globally. This is a direct result of the simple rare earth and gangue mineralogy of the Ashram deposit, and the versatility in processing this permits. This versatility is further demonstrated herein with the bench-scale production of downstream mixed rare earth oxide concentrates by Laval using an alternative flowsheet approach. By extension, this versality in processing approaches lends itself to more cost-effective methods to be incorporated into the final flowsheet to achieve the same products and quality desired.

During May, 2018, a sample of whole-rock material from the Ashram deposit was beneficiated using flotation methods and the resulting concentrate was processed downstream using a sequential caustic -- acid leach to crack the rare earth minerals and liberate the REEs into solution with a low-impurity content. This solution was then processed using conventional solvent extraction to obtain mixed LRE, SEG and HRE fractions, with the LRE solution then further processed to final mixed oxide product. Although recovery was not a target factor in the completed testwork, an overall recovery of 60 to 65 per cent was achieved for several of the LRE. Recent modifications to the flotation conditions are expected to improve the recoveries, with the optimization process still continuing.

The primary objective of the testwork is to validate a new software program (the software model simulator), developed by Laval, for the simulation of a continuous SX separation plant for the REEs. The software utilizes predefined inputs to generate a set of product outputs with specific characteristics. The bench- and pilot-scale test data, generated from the processing of the Ashram material, are then compared with the predicted outputs of the software in order to validate the results, and therefore, the software program.

This validation of the software has now been completed using bench-scale test data from processing of the Ashram deposit material, with results matching closely the predicted outputs of the model simulator. The next step is to complete the testwork at the larger pilot scale and compare these results with those predicted by the model simulator.

As such, the large-scale crushing and grinding of about 1.5 tonnes of Ashram material are currently being completed at SGS Canada Inc.'s Quebec City facility with the flotation component to follow shortly thereafter. The flotation concentrate will be used as feed to a semi-continuous hydrometallurgical pilot operation to produce a purified solution containing the REE. The REE solution will then be processed through a continuous SX separation pilot circuit to separate the LRE from the SEG and HRE. In parallel the solution composition will be used to simulate the pilot-scale SX separation circuit using the model simulator. The comparison between the results of the pilot plant and the simulation will validate the model simulator, which could then be used to further assess the economics of the separation of the REE into individual rare earth oxides.

A targeted commercial benefit of the software model simulator is as a planning tool for process piloting to help reduce delays and costs associated with piloting the SX separation process for REE. Moreover, various scenarios may be run through the model simulator to obtain predicted outputs following process changes, prior to incurring the costs of physically completing the testwork. Further, the simulation may include REE prices for the process optimization where one REE is favoured over another one, as well as product specification optimization.

(1) LRE -- light rare earth.

(2) SEG -- samarium, gadolinium, europium.

(3) HRE -- heavy rare earth.

National Instrument 43-101 disclosure

Darren L. Smith, MSc, PGeol, Dahrouge Geological Consulting Ltd., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

About Commerce Resources Corp.

Commerce Resources is an exploration and development company with a particular focus on deposits of rare metals and rare earth elements. The company is focused on the development of its Ashram rare earth element deposit in Quebec and the Upper Fir tantalum-niobium deposit in British Columbia.

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