This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Will Purcell

The critical and specialty minerals stocks box score on Friday was an enthusiastic 114-51-145 as the TSX Venture Exchange added 23 points to 938. Richard Quesnel's Consolidated Lithium Metals Inc. (CLM) jumped two cents to eight cents on 1.36 million shares Thursday, following word of an updated preliminary economic assessment of its Kwyjibo rare earth project, northeast of Sept-Isles in the Cote-Nord district of Quebec.

The dream sheet is based on an updated resource estimate listing 8.48 million tonnes grading 2.44 per cent total rare earth oxides, of which 1.09 per cent are deemed critical oxides. Another 1.83 million tonnes are inferred at 3.27 per cent total rare earth oxides, with 1.46 per cent being the desirable critical oxides. The resource is spread across two areas, Josette Northeast and Josette Southwest, each of comparable size.

The study proposes a 1,060-tonne-per-day mine that would cost $881-million to construct, and which would run for 10 years while averaging 9,800 tonnes of rare earth oxides per year. It would do so with a head grade of 3.35 per cent total rare earth oxides, given the plan to mine a higher-grade portion of the resource. And so, based on an estimated average value of $79.75 per kilogram for the basket of produced oxides, the study pegs the internal rate of return at a healthy 35 per cent after taxes.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS