Nuinsco publishes first resource for Prairie Lake critical minerals in Ontario

Nuinsco Resources (CSE: NWI; OTC: NWIFF) has published an initial resource estimate for its Prairie Lake critical minerals and phosphate project. The property is located 28 km north of the Trans-Canada Highway and 45 km northwest of town of Marathon, Ont.

The initial Prairie Lake resource is based on 73 inclined diamond drill holes completed between 1969 and 2010, for a total of 12,180 metres. Additionally, surface trenching totalling 2,068 metres is also included in the estimate.

The pit-constrained resource at Prairie Lake totals 15.6 million tonnes in the indicated category, grading 1.67 kg per tonne total rare earth oxides (TREO), or 344 grams neodymium oxide per tonne, 96 grams praseodymium oxide, 15 grams scandium oxide, 754 grams cerium oxide, 300 grams lanthanum oxide, 58 grams samarium oxide, 28 grams tantalum oxide, and 100 grams yttrium oxide.

There is also a very large 871.8 million tonne inferred resource base averaging 2.01 kg per tonne TREO. The resource estimate also includes niobium and phosphate in oxides, which, along with the TREO, are expected to be key drivers of a preliminary economic assessment that is set to begin soon.

This exceptional tonnage places Prairie Lake well within the ranks of the largest carbonatite-hosted niobium deposits in the world, the company said.

“Although this initial [resource] demonstrates the scope of the mineralization present on the project, we regard it as a starting point. The surface expression of the [resource] encompasses approximately 46% of the total surface area of the Prairie Lake complex. Other work conducted by the company external to the [resource] has identified extensive domains with grades similar to those of the MRE,” Paul Jones, Nuinsco’s CEO, said.

“Given that more than 50% of the surface area of the project lies outside of the resource estimate and that mineralization is known to occur at surface throughout the extent of the property, expansion of the initial mineral resource is a distinct and realistic possibility.”

Further drilling to increase quantity and quality of the initial mineral resource is planned.

A previous study in 2018 showed that Prairie Lake hosts an “exploration target” totalling 515 million to 630 million tonnes, grading between 0.09% to 0.11% niobium and 3% to 4% phosphate, with additional rare earth and tantalum mineralization.