Tomtor Nb and REO Project – Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation
The Tomtor project is one of the world’s premier deposits of niobium and rare earths in terms of scale and grade. The deposit is located in the north-west of the Russian republic of Yakutia. The license is held by a subsidiary of ThreeArc Mining Ltd.
Due to the site’s remote location and the complex processing methods required, it is planned to transport the ore several thousand kilometres, via ice roads, barges, ships, and rail, to the planned hydrometallurgical processing facility at Krasnokamensk (in south-east Siberia, near the border with China). The complex solutions required for moving the ore to Krasnokamensk and then extracting niobium oxide and REE products, are economically viable because of the exceptionally high grade of the deposit. The Ore Reserve estimate as at end of 2019 comprises 11.4 Mt of open pit ore, at 6.0% Nb2O5 and 14.5% Total Rare Earth Oxides.
SRK Consulting was engaged to review the various studies on the project and prepare an independent Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources estimate of the in accordance with the guidelines of the JORC Code, the first such estimate under an international reporting system. For this assignment SRK assembled a team of specialists with knowledge of the mineralisation, mining in the region, transportation across ice-roads and the processing flowsheet. Specialists from SRK visited the Tomtor site in 2019.
A Feasibility Study for the project is in progress. Further information about the Tomtor project is available from the Three Arc Mining or Polymetal websites.
