Building …on a Proven Track Record
Phosphate
The phosphate (“PO
4
” )-
bearing mineral apatite is of potentially huge economic
significance to the Prairie Lake project. Phosphate is a vital non-renewable
resource that is essential for sustaining the life of plants and animals.
Phosphate plays a key role in the formation and strengthening of bones and
teeth, forms part of the backbone of the structure of DNA molecules and also
plays a vital role in the biochemical reactions in cells that provide energy to
living matter. Phosphate is therefore one of the primary nutrients that are
essential for plant growth and crop production. It also happens to be one of
the most immobile of major plant nutrients so it must be applied in a soluble
form such as in fertilizer in order to be absorbed by plants. Approximately
90%
of all phosphate mined is used to produce phosphate fertilizers, while
about 5% is used to make animal feed supplements. The remaining 5% or so
is used in products such as detergents, food and beverages (e.g. soft drinks),
pharmaceutical and personal care products (e.g. toothpaste), metal coatings
(
to polish aluminum and aluminum alloys), in flame retardants and in the
treatment of potable water.
Niobium
Widely occurring in the rocks at the Prairie Lake Complex is the niobium
(“
Nb”)-bearing mineral pyrochlore. The Nb content of the rock at Prairie Lake is
sufficiently high to make the production of a Nb by-product a distinct possibility.
Nb is used in structural steels where the addition of small amounts imparts
strength to high-strength low-alloy (“HSLA”) steel. These alloys are principally
employed in the automotive industry, where their greater strength allows for
lighter structure and improved energy efficiency. Nb is also used in tubular
steels for gas pipelines, while super-alloys containing Nb are widely used in
aircraft engines and as bone replacements in medicine. In other applications
Nb is used in the manufacture of high refractive-index lenses, electronic
capacitors and in super-conducting Nb-titanium wire used in such devices as
magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) machines used in healthcare and particle
accelerators, and as catalysts for producing bio-fuels from vegetable crops.
LREEs
It is important to highlight the enrichment at Prairie Lake in the mineral apatite
of LREEs (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium and samarium), and
in particular its considerable content of neodymium (“Nd”). Small quantities
•
Phosphorus/Rare Metals
•
Prairie Lake Complex
A Deposit for Today and Tomorrow
Marathon, Ontario
-
Located about 45 kilometres northwest of Marathon, Ontario,
Nuinsco’s Prairie Lake property covers the entire 2.8 km
2
(
at surface) Prairie Lake
Carbonatite Complex, is easily accessible from the TransCanada Highway and
has exceptional rail and port access. Prairie Lake hosts a National Instrument
43-101-
compliant ETMI of between 515-630 million tonnes grading between
0.09-0.11%
Nb
2
O
5
(0.9
to 1.1 kg/tonne) and 3.0-4.0% P
2
O
5
.
By Paul Jones, P.Geo. and Laura Giroux, P.Geo.
World Mine Production and Phosphate Reserves
(
USGS, 2013)
MINE PRODUCTION
2011
2012
(
est.)
RESERVES
COUNTRY
(
x1000 tons)
(
x1000 tons)
(
x1000 tons)
United States
28,100
29,200
1,400,000
Algeria
1,500
1,500
2,200,000
Australia
2,650
2,600
490,000
Brazil
6,200
6,300
270,000
Canada
900
900
2,000
China
81,000
89,000
3,700,000
Egypt
3,500
3,000
100,000
India
1,250
1,260
6,100
Iraq
30
150
460,000
Israel
3,100
3,000
180,000
Jordan
6,500
6,500
1,500,000
Mexico
1,510
1,700
30,000
Morocco and Western Sahara
28,000
28,000
50,000,000
Peru
2,540
2,560
820,000
Russia
11,200
11,300
1,300,000
Saudi Arabia
1,000
1,700
750,000
Senegal
980
980
180,000
South Africa
2,500
2,500
1,500,000
Syria
3,100
2,500
1,800,000
Togo
730
865
60,000
Tunisia
5,000
6,000
100,000
Other countries
6,790
6,000
390,000
World total (rounded)
198,000
210,000
67,000,000
Prairie Lake Property - aerial schematic
6
NWI
:
TSX
Nuinsco Resources Limited
of rare-earth elements (“REEs”) are disseminated in products all around us,
in every computer, smartphone, DVD player, TV set, etc. They are popularly
viewed as “green metals” because a significant share of the REE market is
taken up by magnets used in wind turbines, hybrid electric vehicles, e-bikes
and maglev trains; by automotive catalytic converters, which minimize
toxic emissions into the atmosphere; and by phosphors, whose numerous
applications include energy-efficient fluorescent lighting. In particular, the use
of REEs in magnetic alloys (containing 30-35 wt% REEs) has made it possible
to produce magnet materials that generate very strong magnetic fields and
that strongly resist being demagnetized – so-called permanent magnets.
These characteristics have revolutionized magnetic design in recent years,
most notably in high-performance electric motors and generators used in, for
example, hybrid electric vehicles and in megawatt-scale direct-drive wind
turbines. In addition, rare-earth magnet materials have made it possible to
miniaturize motors, loudspeakers, hard-disk drives and other applications that
use permanent magnets to operate. The widespread adoption of Nd-based
permanent magnets in a broad range of new technologies has resulted in
them becoming a dominant source of global REE demand.
In summary, the elements found in abundance at the Prairie Lake deposit
are all around us every day. In step with the rising need for everything from
food to new smartphones and other innovations, demand for the elements
at Nuinsco’s Prairie Lake project is only going to grow.
Paul L. Jones, B.Sc., P.Geo. is President of Nuinsco. He has 30 years of Canadian and
international experience with more than 20 junior companies and acts as Nuinsco’s qualified
person in all exploration matters.
Laura Giroux, M.Sc. , P.Geo. is Nuinsco’s Senior Geologist. She has eight years of varied
mineral exploration experience in North America and has been with the Company for seven
years.
Location
Ontario, Canada
Ownership
100%
Commodity
Multiple commodities:
U, Ta, Nb, P, REEs
Project Status
Exploration
NWI
Did You Know
Did you know
that the US does not have
a niobium mining industry and must
import its entire supply?
Did you know
the vast majority of
phosphorus compounds are consumed
as fertilizers? Other applications include
detergents, pesticides and matches.
Did you know
Rare Earth Elements
(“
REEs”) are a group of chemical elements
that take their name from the fact that
concentrated deposits of the elements are
rare, even though the elements themselves
are widely dispersed in the Earth’s crust?
Additional drilling would likely increase the size of the deposit significantly, but so what? Prairie Lake is
already the second biggest deposit of its kind in North America. We know Prairie Lake is big, but why is it
important?
One major reason is that it contains a host of minerals and elements of economic significance including
phosphate, niobium and light rare earth elements (“LREEs”), all of which are in short supply and high demand.