Commerce Resources

Commerce Resources (TSXV:CCE) is looking at the potential to produce fluorspar as a by-product at its Ashram rare earth deposit in Quebec. The company first reported the project’s fluorspar by-product potential in 2013.
As quoted in the press release:

The evaluation of the fluorspar concentrate as a by-product has advanced with the production of more than 50 individual fluorspar concentrates using Ashram’s base case beneficiation flowsheet, comprised of flotation, leaching, and magnetic separation. The fluorspar is concentrated along with the rare earth minerals through the beneficiation flowsheet until the final stage of processing, where they are separated into two distinct concentrates; a fluorspar concentrate, and a rare earth mineral concentrate.
One of the best overall rare earth mineral concentrates achieved to date (42% TREO at 76% recovery, see news release dated October 19, 2015) also resulted in a fluorspar concentrate with a grade¹ of ~75% CaF2 at 80% recovery as the final tails product of the rare earth mineral beneficiation process. Of the fluorspar concentrates produced to date, the average CaF2 grade is ~75% to a peak of 94%, indicating metallurgical-grade (met-grade) fluorspar with advantages that include:

• Potentially saleable as met-grade fluorspar without further processing
• No additional cost to produce as the met-grade fluorspar is the final tails product of the primary REE recovery process
• No negative impact on REE flowsheet or recoveries
• Potential for a reduced volume of tailings, and thus, size of tailings facility, if the fluorspar is confirmed to be saleable by-product

In addition, a test program is being designed to evaluate the potential for upgrading the met-grade fluorspar concentrate to acid-grade, with testwork anticipated to begin shortly.

Click here for the full press release.