Commerce Resources has employed the services of Gartner Lee in anticipation of the Blue River tantalum-niobium project entering the regulatory permitting process to become a producing mine in BC, Canada. Gartner Lee has initiated preliminary baseline data compilation and scoping for the approvals required for the project.
Under the supervision of Charlotte Mougeot, the environmental team will work closely with the geological and engineering team to provide an integrated baseline programme using public sources of information and site-specific field programmes. This follows a recent property inspection by Commerce’s technical team.
Environmental field programmes are expected to start in late August and will include water sampling, fisheries work and preliminary soil and vegetation surveys. This work will coincide with the trenching and drilling scheduled in the ongoing work programme.
Commerce Resources is focused on the development and exploration of its Fir and Verity tantalum and niobium projects covering 49 km² in BC. The company is conducting detailed exploration of its Fir and Verity deposits. Exploration to date at the Fir deposit has outlined an indicated resource of 5.65 Mt with 203.1 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,047 g/t Nb2O5. The Fir deposit is also host to an inferred resource of 6.7 Mt with 203.1 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,047 g/t Nb2O5. The Verity deposit, 10 km north of the Fir property, is host to an estimated inferred resource of 3.06 Mt with 196 g/t Ta2O5, 646 g/t Nb2O5 and 3.20% P2O5.