Taseko announces mega-niobium project in northern Canada
A fresh resource update recently gave Taseko a measure of certainty regarding its mine in northern British Columbia, Mineweb reported. This news puts the company in good standing within the industry.
According to the news source, the Aley deposit in British Columbia is seen as a potential hot spot, and the company noted it was "the largest undeveloped niobium project in the world."
Taseko's resource update found that the Aley site came in at 286 million tons at 0.37 percent Nb2O5 in indicated resources and 144 million at 0.32 percent Nb2O5 in inferred resources. This mineral growth amounts to a 170 percent increase in total tonnage for the company.
According to Mineweb, the company's president and chief executive officer noted that the resource update "provides additional confidence that the deposit will support a long life, low cost mine." Russell Hallbauer noted that the firm aims to finish a feasibility study of the project in 2012 so that Taseko can make an investment decision in the coming year.
The company hopes that the new finding will help it to compete with other firms in the sector, as the competition in the industry has increased since the United States Geological Survey announced that prices for the commodity had nearly doubled since 2007.
NASDAQ reported that the resource estimate is based on drill data that was gathered from Taseko's drilling program, along with historical information from the region. The company could look for mine planning solutions to maximize the efficiency of its operations at the site.