Would you refer to collective deposits on the entire zone approaching 1/2 of 1 percent as showing only trace element concentration? That's starting to look fairly substantial, imo. Especially when one considers the price of Niobium to be as high as 43 dollars per pound on contract and 26 per pound on the spot market. Fact is the payzone seems to contain approx 5 billion dollars worth at current prices.
""The D Zone historical reserve estimate of 20,000,000 tonnes grading 0.47% Nb2O5 is within the range currently considered economic in carbonatite-alkalic rock complex literature for commercial production. Tantalum and REE are commonly associated with these niobium occurrences."