Secutor Capital Management Corporation provides an update on rare earth element explorer Commerce Resources Corp. The update was released December 22, 2014.
Secutor Capital Management Corporation Update on Commerce Resources Corp. (December 2014)
1. SECUTORCAPITAL MANAGEMENT CORPORATION
22 December 2014
COMMERCE RESOURCES CORP
Commerce Resources Update
Positive Metallurgical Results at Ashram
Price:
Market Cap:
Common Shares:
Fully Diluted:
52 Wk Range:
30 Day Avg Vol:
Source: Yahoo Finance
$ 0.18
$ 42.5 MM
236 MM
241 MM
$ 0.05 - 0.34
256,000
Project:
Loca on:
Ownership:
Commodity:
Status:
Resource:
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Project:
Loca on:
Ownership:
Commodity:
Status:
Resource:
Catalysts:
Ashram Deposit (Eldor)
Nunavik Region, Northern QC
100 %
REE
Pre-Feasibility Stage
29.3 Mt 1.90 % TREO (M&I)
220 Mt at 1.88 % TREO (Inferred)
PFS, metallurgical results, joint
venture partnership
Upper Fir Deposit (Blue River)
250 km north of Kamloops, BC
100 %
Tantalum, Niobium
PEA complete
48.4 Mt at 197 ppm Ta₂O₅,
1610 ppm Nb₂O₅ (Indicated)
5.4 Mt at 191 ppm Ta₂O₅,
1760 ppm Nb₂O₅ (Inferred)
PFS, joint venture partnership
COMPANY SUMMARY
MARKET DATA
TOP HOLDERS
Marquest Asset Management Inc
Zimtu Capital Corp
UBS Global Asset Management
Zurcher Kantonalbank
4.70 %
2.25 %
1.16 %
0.40 %
Company Update
Arie Papernick
Equity Capital Markets
apapernick@secutor.ca
(416) 847-1220
Maria Kalbarczyk, CFA
Analyst
mkalbarczyk@secutor.ca
(416) 545-1015
V-CCE
On December 10th, Commerce Resources provided an update on its metallur-
gical programs for the Ashram project in Quebec, where the Company has
con nued to advance bench tes ng and op miza on of the flowsheet.
Commerce is targe ng the produc on of several kilograms of mixed rare earth
carbonate/chloride concentrate from a mini pilot plant during the summer of
2015. With trial produc on of mixed rare earth carbonate concentrates and a
mixed rate earth chlorides on the near-term horizon, Commerce will be in a
posi on to demonstrate the en re flowsheet for Ashram and to demonstrate
the viability of its product to poten al customers.
Improvements in Ashram Flota on Circuit Recoveries. Earlier this year,
Commerce completed bench scale tes ng on the deposit and confirmed a
mineral processing flowsheet which included a grinding circuit, a flota on
circuit, a weak hydrochloric acid (HCl) leach to remove carbonate, and a Wet
High Intensity Magne c Separa on (WHIMS) stage to remove fluorite. This
mineral processing flowsheet achieved metallurgical recoveries of 70.7%,
producing a 43.6% TREO mineral concentrate with a 3.1% mass pull. With a
resultant mass pull of 3.1%, Commerce also showed that the deposit would
require minimal downstream hydromet processing.
As a part of its metallurgical test work op miza on, Commerce showed
improved grades and recoveries in flota on test trials. Commerce’s baseline
flowsheet produced a flota on concentrate with a 9% TREO grade, with recov-
eries of 81% and a mass pull of 17%. Commerce’s most recent test work has
shown improved concentrate grades and recoveries, with one trial producing
a 9% TREO concentrate, corresponding with an 87% recovery and 18% mass
pull, and another trial producing 13% TREO concentrate, based on a 78%
recovery and a mass pull of 12%.
These advances in the hydrometallurgical op miza on work for Ashram will
result in increased recoveries in the overall circuit. In me, Commerce will be
able to improve on the parameters of a 43.6% TREO grade, 70.7% recovery
and 3.1% mass pull it a ained through the flota on + leach + WHIMS
flowsheet.
Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) Recycling to Reduce Opera ng Costs Materially. As
part of its op miza on work, the Company also looked at ways to regenerate
the acid used during processing, which may ul mately result in further reduc-
ons in acid consump on and consequently opera ng costs. Commerce’s
ini al bench tests showed that Ashram consumed 25 to 90 kilograms acid
(100% HCl basis) per tonne of whole rock without op miza on.
With subsequent hydrometallurgical tests, Commerce achieved HCl recoveries
of up to 66% from the pre-leach circuit based on tes ng of a synthe c
solu on. Commerce was able to produce an HCl solu on grading between
24% and 26%, which can be fed back into the circuit. Commerce forecasts that
HCl recoveries from pre-leach material liquor will ul mately be higher than
the levels achieved from the synthe c solu on tests. The Company has
completed three tests on the HCl regenera on, and will run addi onal tests,
which will poten ally result in improved HCl recoveries. Tests on pre-leach
2. SECUTOR
CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CORP
Commerce Resources Corp 22 December 2014
material liquor are expected to begin in February or March 2015, using concentrate material produced from the mini
pilot plant.
Trial Produc on of Rare Earth Chloride Concentrate Opens Up the Poten al Customer Base. Commerce announced
plans to produce a mixed rare earth chloride concentrate from the Ashram deposit, in addi on to the produc on of
a mixed rare earth carbonate concentrate (REC), previously outlined in the flowsheet. Commerce will use feed from
a mineral processing mini pilot plant, an cipated to come online in late January 2015, to produce several kilograms
of REC and 500 grams of a mixed rare earth chloride concentrate. These two products will be used to demonstrate
the viability of Ashram’s products to third party processors and poten al end users, as well as its versa lity. We also
note that mixed rare earth chloride is the feed most commonly supplied to separa on plants. Commerce an cipates
first produc on of mixed rare earth chloride in summer 2015.
The addi on of mixed rare earth chloride concentrate produc on to the produc on circuit should not have a mate-
rial impact on the flowsheet. Commerce an cipates that the produc on process will be the same for REC and the
mixed RE chloride up to the sulpha on roast or sulpha on pot diges on phase, where the material will be divided
into two streams for final processing.
Summary. The Ashram Project has the poten al to be one of the world’s largest REE producing mines. While China
s ll dominates the world’s REE produc on, commanding approximately 90% of the market, companies have success-
fully developed rare earth mines outside of China in recent years. Ongoing concerns about the detrimental environ-
mental impact of Chinese mines, as well as concerns about China’s status as the prevailing REE supplier will con nue
to increase the a rac veness of projects like Ashram.
Commerce’s May 2012 PEA outlined a project NPV of C$2.3 billion, an IRR of 44%, and a 25 year-mine life based on
only 15% of the total resource. Importantly, the project’s mineralogy is simple (rela ve to other REE deposits) due to
the presence of the minerals monazite, bastnaesite, and xeno me, which dominate commercial processing in the
REE space. Consequently, Commerce should be able to use standard processing techniques for Ashram. In the base-
line flowsheet, Commerce showed that the deposit could produce a high-grade mineral concentrate, allowing the
Company to achieve much lower processing costs than many other projects. Commerce will con nue to op mize pH
levels, temperature, and the consump on of other reagents, mineral libera on and metallurgical recoveries of
Ashram, con nuing to further improve the project’s economics.
levels, tempe
A
Simplified Flowsheet for the Produc on of a Rare Earth Mineral Concentrate
Source: Commerce Resources
3. SECUTOR
CAPITAL MANAGEMENT CORP
Commerce Resources Corp 22 December 2014
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CCE-V Commerce Resources Corp. X X X