Niocan boosts its niobium portfolio

Montreal-based Niocan has struck a deal to acquire a second niobium property in the James Bay lowlands from three vendors.

Under the deal, Niocan would issue 2 million shares and 600,000 share purchase warrants to Barrick Gold (ABX-T) for its 60% stake in the property. One warrant is good for one Niocan shares at $1 for three years.

In return for James Bay Columbium’s 31% stake, Niocan would surrender just more than a million shares plus 344,444 like-priced warrants. James Bay would also receive another 250,000 $1 warrants for its operating management rights.

Niocan can pick up Exall Resources‘s (EXL-T) 9% interest in the 26-sq-km property by issuing 300,000 shares and 100,000 like-priced warrants.

All of the shares would remain in escrow for a year.

Niocan has also committed spend $1.5 million on the property over 4 years.

Situated in northeastern Ontario, the deposit was originally discovered in the 1960s. A previous owner completed a feasibility study envisaging an open-pit operation.

Previously, 85 drill holes totalling some 14,500 metres outlined a deposit to a depth of 275 metres. A high-grade portion of the deposit is reported to grade 0.82% Nb₂O₅. The deposit remains open at depth.

Niocan says the deposit’s coarse-grained pyrochlore is of high purity and essentially non-radioactive, and is hosted by a carbonatite enabling simple, ecological processing. A 250-tonne yielded a recovery rate in excess of 80%. The product was a clean concentrate running more than 64% Nb₂O₅.

Niocan figures it can adapt its mill process flow sheet at Oka to handle ore from the new property. The company says the pyrochlore is similar to that at the S-60 deposit at Oka.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval.