• Bindi now owns the Schryburt Lake REE-niobium project in Canada
  • The project is comparable to Canada’s biggest niobium mine Niobec
  • Niobium is a potential substitute for cobalt in lithium-ion batteries

 

Bindi Metals has successfully completed the acquisition of its Schryburt Lake Rare Earth Element (REE) and niobium project in northern Ontario, Canada. 

Made up of 318 mining claims across ~62.4km2, the project lies within the highly prospective Western Superior Province region that is also home to advanced REE projects including Hecla-Kilmer (TSX:VVR) with drill results of 461m at approximately 1 % TREO, and Montviel (TSX:GMA) with resources of 267 million tonne at 1.5 % TREO and 0.14 % Nb2O5.

Bindi says the results of surface sampling, historical drilling and detailed geophysics indicate the carbonatite hosted REE-niobium project shares many geological and geophysical similarities to the Niobec deposit in Quebec, Canada.

Niobec has been in production since 1976. It is one of only three global producers of niobium, and the only producer located outside of Brazil, with a resource of 1.1Bt at 1.7% TREO and 697Mt at 0.4 % Nb2O52.

 

Acquisition complete

Bindi Metals (ASX:BIM) will pay the vendor 900,000 fully paid ordinary shares and 5.2m performance rights based on three milestones:

  • 1 million shares when Bindi finds at least one rock sample at +1% TREO or equivalent in two separate prospect areas
  • Another 1 million when Bindi announces a drilling intersection of >10m at 1% (or greater) TREO or equivalent; and
  • 2 million shares when the company announces the determination of an inferred resource of greater than 10,000t contained TREO equivalent at a cut-off grade of 0.5%.

 

Blue Jay leads the way

The company is keen to get under way with drilling as results from exploration to date at the project have returned high-grade assays from new discoveries at Blue Jay and Blackbird, as well as confirmed high-grade niobium mineralisation at Goldfinch.

Notable results include:

  • Up to 3.6% TREO and 0.7% Nb2O5 in surface sampling along an extensive 2.8km magnetic low at Blue Jay;
  • Up to 5.7 % TREO in historical drill samples at Starling;
  • Up to 1.8 % Nb2O5 from 7.5m at 0.3% Nb2O5 in historical trenches and up to 130ppm Sc2O3 and 25% NdPr in recent sampling along a prominent 1.6 km magnetic high at Goldfinch; and
  • Up to 0.4% TREO and 0.2% Nb2O5 in surface sampling along the same magnetic low as Blue Jay and over 800m apart at Blackbird.

“The discovery of high-grade surface REE and niobium mineralisation at Blue Jay along an extensive magnetic low is highly encouraging and demonstrates the Schryburt Lake carbonatite is prospective for major REE and niobium deposits similar to the Niobec deposits,” the company said.

 

Niobium vital element in EVs

These days, niobium – often confused and misinterpreted as part of the rare earths family – has seen growing demand  for its ability to cut charging times and fire risk in lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

Experts believe its use case as a substitute for cobalt in lithium-ion batteries is showing promise in the form of oxides for both cathode and anode production in high-power, long-life, safer, and ultra-fast charging batteries.

The discovery of high-grade surface REE and niobium mineralisation at Schryburt Lake is also significant given the recent success of WA1 Resources (ASX:WA1) and its niobium discovery on the Luni carbonatite at the West Arunta project in Western Australia, which highlighted the potential of these systems, Bindi says.

Minerals exploration in Canada over the past few year has ratcheted up a notch with a wealth of juniors spelunking for a variety of critical metals.

“Ontario is a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction with world class REE and niobium deposits,” Bindi executive director Henry Renou told Stockhead. “Schryburt Lake shares many geological and geophysical similarities to the Niobec mine in Quebec which contains over 1bt at 1.7% TREO (that is under development) and almost 700mt at 0.4% niobium (that is in production).”

Canada at the provincial and federal level has made strides in investment and legislation to shore up its supply of critical metals in country.

“The Government has prioritised Canada to become a global supplier of choice for critical minerals with over CAD$4B invested in the 2022 budget alone to develop the critical minerals industry which includes REE and niobium,” Renou explained.

 

Maiden drilling kicks off this quarter

The exploration program at Schryburt Lake is under way with surface sampling and detailed geophysics completed.

“Drill permitting is underway at Schryburt Lake,” Renou also told Stockhead. “We have secured a drill contractor for the upcoming drill program. We will very shortly release results of a detailed radiometrics survey, magnetics survey and biogeochemical assays and also the results of a hyperspectral survey.”

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with Bindi Metals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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