Commerce expands Eldor REE drilling

VANCOUVER — Long, well mineralized hits from a new zone have prompted Commerce Resources (CCE-V) to extend the drill program at its Eldor rare earths project in northeast Quebec, while it awaits the results of the first economic assessment of its flagship Blue River tantalum-niobium project in British Columbia.

Commerce has already punched 15 holes into Eldor this year, six of which probed the new Ashram zone. The company discovered Ashram in 2009 when a magnetic low measuring 1 km by 800 metres produced multiple outcrop samples grading better than 1% rare earth elements (REEs). The area is adjacent to a glacially dispersed boulder train that contains rocks grading as high as 4.18% REEs plus yttrium.

Results from the first two holes into Ashram “confirmed the potential for a significant new and large-tonnage REE discovery,” according to Commerce. The company continued on to say, “Significant tonnage potential has been indicated by the broad thickness and relative continuity of grade encountered thus far.”

The only results available as yet from Ashram come from holes 27 and 28, which were collared 50 metres apart on the western flank of the magnetic low that defines the target area. Rare earth elements at Eldor are hosted in carbonatite deposits.

Hole 27, the first to test the new area, returned 215.3 metres grading 1.72% total rare earth oxides (TREOs), starting just 3.7 metres below surface and including 29.5 metres averaging 2.07% TREOs. The main intercept then butted directly into a second, lithologically distinct zone that carried 0.94% TREOs over 21.8 metres.

Then hole 28 produced a similar set of results: 243.8 metres of 1.95% TREOs, starting 2.5 metres down-hole and including 30 metres of 2.4% TREOs. And again, directly after the main intercept, a lithologically-distinct second interval returned 0.79% TREOs over 17.6 metres.

Hole 28 also carries the honour of producing the highest REE values on the Eldor property, as four samples from the hole assayed higher than 3% TREOs. Commerce says these samples indicate the possibility that higher-grade zones may exist within the target area.

Ashram is resolving into a cone-shaped zone with three lithologies. The A zone sits at the core of the cone, grading outward into the B zone. The very distinct BD zone wraps around the outside. The A and B zones are similar– both are fine grained with patches of purple fluorite — though the A zone is a ferro-carbonatite while the B zone is a magnesio-carbonatite. The BD zone, by comparison, is a strongly brecciated, coarser-grained lithology that Commerce has not encountered on the property before.

Four more holes are already complete at Ashram, with assays pending, but Commerce is so intrigued by the new discovery that it now plans to drill an additional six holes at the site.

The Eldor property hosts three other mineralized zones, known as Northwest, Southeast and Star Trench. The property covers a carbonatite complex located within the central Labrador Trough, roughly 130 km south of the town of Kuujjuaq.

Eldor is not Commerce’s flagship project. That title goes to the Blue River property, which is near Kamloops, B.C. The Upper Fir deposit at Blue River is home to 7.4 million indicated tonnes grading 217 grams TaO₅ per tonne and 1,202 2 grams Nb₂O₅ per tonne, as well as 16.5 million inferred tonnes averaging 213 grams Ta₂O₅ and 1,222 grams Nb₂O₅.

Blue River is also a carbonatite project; the Upper Fir resource lies within a series of sill-like carbonatite bodies that combine to give 90 metres in true thickness. The deposit strikes for 1.5 km north-south and stretches across 800 metres width. Tantalum and niobium are contained in the minerals pyrochlore and ferrocolumbite.

Commerce focused on infill drilling at Upper Fir this year, in order to upgrade the resource to more categories of greater confidence. In addition, a preliminary economic assessment of the project is almost complete; the company expects to receive the report before the end of the year.

Commerce owns Blue River outright. Infrastructure in the vicinity of the 1,000-sq.-km project is excellent: a highway crosses through the project as do rail, power and water lines.

The company’s third project is the Carbo property, which sits 80 km northeast of Prince George in central B.C. Carbo is home to a series of REE and niobium-bearing carbonatite dykes or sills. In early 2009, Commerce optioned the project to Canadian International Metals (CIN-V), which is working to earn a 75% interest.

At the end of July, Commerce had $12.7 million in cash and equivalents. The company has a 52-week trading range of 20.5¢-65¢, closing recently at 51¢. Commerce has 131 million shares outstanding.