|
CCE: Digging For Tantalum &
Niobium Deposits
by Glenn Wilkins - AllPennyStocks.com News Reporter
February 23, 2006 (AllPennyStocks.com Media, Inc.) - Analogies
such as “getting in on the ground floor”, when inducing
investors to “buy low, sell high” seem to apply to
Vancouver-based Commerce Resources Corporation
(TSX Venture:CCE). Its products are substances a lot of us
have probably never heard of, metals called tantalum and
niobium, thus bearing the lowest of low profiles. But if
bargain hunters hearken to this special report, they may find
a new issue truly worth their while.
Tantalum is used in the production of tiny capacitors,
powering devices we have heard of, and use every day – cell
phones, pagers, PCs, video cameras and VCRs, plus electronics
devices used in our cars, trucks and SUVs. As these inventions
have taken over our consciousness, tantalum has seen its value
soar 2,000% since the 1950s, dwarfing the increase experienced
by gold and platinum.
Also somewhat unorthodox is the manner in which the two
metals trade – not in an auction-style commodities market such
as that for gold, but rather, negotiated on a per-contract
basis between suppliers and processors or end-users. Commerce
boasts the ability to honour long-term contracts by purchasing
digging projects that have panned out.
Central British Columbia is home to Commerce’s most
promising tantalum and niobium deposits. The Fir Deposit has
produced high grades of tantalum since the company began
drilling around 2001 and 2002, with the prospect of more
high-grade deposits down the line. There is also the Verity
property nearby, which contains millions of tonnes of
high-grade tantalum, and which remains open for expansion.
Both Fir and Verity are located 300 kilometres north of
Kamloops, just 30 kilometres from the town of Blue River –
hence, collectively, they are known as the Blue River project.
The Fir carbonitate built on the four holes drilled by a
company known as Anschutz Mining in the 1980s. Commerce
drilled six holes in 2001 and another five in 2002. An
independent report showed that the Fir deposit is host to a
resource of 12.3 million tonnes, grading 203 grams per tonne
tantalum. Verity, meanwhile, was host to an inferred resource
of more than three million tonnes grading 196 grams per tonne
tantalum.
In January 2006, the company reported that Fir continued to
demonstrate a large tonnage potential. One portion of the
mine, the Upper Fir Carbonatite, had been drilled over the
previous fall, and carbonatite was intersected in five holes.
The findings from those drillings are now being analyzed.
The project benefits from excellent infrastructure – a huge
advantage for any exploration project hoping to become a mine
one day. The Yellowhead Highway, Canadian National Railway and
BC Hydro power lines all cross Commerce’s property, all of
which should help the company achieve its goal of the project
becoming a low-cost producer.
Figuratively speaking, Commerce Resources is not letting
the grass grow under its feet. The company started 2006 by
closing a private placement or more than 8.1 million units at
12 cents per unit (prices are in Canadian dollars unless
specified otherwise), totaling close to $1 million, in order
to finance the second and third phases of its exploration at
Blue River and for working capital.
Commerce’s management team comes with a wealth of
experience. President David Hodge is a veteran of over 10
years in the mineral exploration and investment industry, and
is routinely sought after for his securities regulation
expertise. Jody Dahrouge, vice-president, exploration, has
successfully operated his own consulting company since 1998.
Shaun Ledding, who is VP Corporate Compliance, brings seven
years of public company experience and is also a director of
International Zimtu Technologies Inc. (CNQ Exchange: ZMTU);
Commerce’s former parent company.
The last financial information available was handed down
for July 31, 2005, at which time the company was shown to be
in a deficit position of $2.8 million for the previous nine
months, but slightly ahead in cash, with about $226,000 at the
three-quarter mark for fiscal 2005, nearly double what it had
been the year before. Whether the private placement changed
that picture substantially remains to be seen.
The stock, which trades on the TSX under the symbol CCE,
appears to be on the climb toward 27 cents a share in the
early portion of February, threatening the 52-week highs
around 30 cents achieved last winter, following a gully around
11 cents in late May. Considering the market for this new,
mysterious product called tantalum, the availability of it
within the bowels of the earth in British Columbia and Brazil,
and the determination of management to conquer those markets,
this is a stock which ought to capture the imagination of
small-cap investors wherever they are.
Copyright © 2007 AllPennyStocks.com. All
rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of
AllPennyStocks.com's content is expressly prohibited without
the prior written consent of AllPennyStocks.com.
AllPennyStocks.com shall not be liable for any errors or
delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
|
