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EarlyOne

07/19/09 7:15 AM

#58368 RE: jim1234 #58366

From your link:

WORLD RESERVES

Total world reserves of Nb2O5 are estimated at 5.4Mt (excluding the Seis Lagos deposit) being 88% in Brazilian soil.

Known ore reserves, at the most important producing mines, are
464Mt @ 2.5% Nb2O5 at Araxá (Brazil) and
16Mt @ 0.68% Nb2O5 at St-Honoré (Canada).

Other niobium resources are reported from
Tapira (179Mt @ 0.67% Nb2O5),
Catalão (1.4Mt @ 2.19% Nb2O5) and Salitre (Brazil),
Lueshe Lake, Panda Hill, Chilwa Island and Kalubwe (Africa),
James Bay, Nemegosenda, Lackner Lake, Oka (6.3Mt @ 0.32% Nb2O5) and Manitou Island in Canada.
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LowFlyer

07/19/09 7:27 AM

#58370 RE: jim1234 #58366

"Niobium has been promoted, during the last 20 years into a very important component of the world steel industry. Forecasters are predicting that the consumption will continue growing at the rate of 8-10%."
Another key statement from from the article.

Just as the Wright brothers built the first airplane only 100 years ago, the uses of Niobium are also being heavily pioneered. We are in the industrial revolution where stronger, lighter metals are at the forefront.

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LowFlyer

07/19/09 7:43 AM

#58371 RE: jim1234 #58366

Brazil Niobium Mine may not recieve permit:


"The president of the Environmental Protection Institute of Amazonas (IPAM) Vicente Nogueira has already communicated the local press that, while not officially consulted, he will not issue an authorization for mineral exploration in the area.

According to jurist Carlos Francisco Marés de Souza Filho, mineral exploration may be permitted within National Parks however only in very specific cases, when the park zoning so determines. When there is no zoning, as in the case of the Neblina National park, all activities are adamantly prohibited. The site where the ore body is positioned is considered as one of the most beautiful in the region. The occurrence of several minerals in Morro dos Seis Lagos makes each one of the lakes to have a different color, in different shades of green and blue."


Feasibility

According to CPRM data, Brazil is the largest niobium producer in the world. Domestic production is 22,000 tons of niobium oxide per year. Of these, 15% is consumed by the domestic market, and the remaining 85% are exported. This market is controlled by Companhia Brasileira de Mineração e Metalurgia (CBMM), whose mine in Araxá (MG) accounts for 80% of the world ore production and has enough niobium to supply the whole market for a millennium. The other great producer is located in Goiás. Canada and the United States subsidize, for strategic reasons, two other extremely low-yield mines. All of these factors, compounded by the difficult access to site, which is smack in the middle of the forest and near the Venezuelan border, and due to the fact the ore is associated to other ores, indicate the slight economic feasibility of any venture in Seis Lagos."

http://www.socioambiental.org/website/parabolicas/english/backissu/32/articles/pg7.html

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goforthebet

07/19/09 9:45 AM

#58382 RE: jim1234 #58366

alan, no worries here of any bigger competitor.

"Only in 1982 that company started a detailed exploration programme."

27 years they have not done anything there and I am sure they won't. This is a zone which is very difficult to explore and will cost too much money imo they will not even get the permission to mine in this zone for environment issues


the big advantage Sarissa has that there property is easy to mine, much easier than Commerce Resources's property :)