held this forever, rare earths come to the rescue again...

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/phoscan-chemical-to-conduct-tests-for-the-recovery-of-niobium-and-rare-earths-at-the-martison-property-2010-10-26-161610?reflink=MW_news_stmp

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Oct 26, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- PhosCan Chemical Corp.(CA:FOS 0.48, +0.04, +9.20%) announces it is commencing a program to evaluate the potential recovery of niobium and rare earths contained on the Martison Property.

The Martison Phosphate Deposit contains low grade niobium mineralization and is also overlaid by a higher-grade niobium and rare earth-enriched lateritic oxide cap in the northern portion of the Martison Property. The Company's NI 43-101 compliant technical report "Martison Phosphate Project Preliminary Feasibility Study" dated May 16, 2008 outlined a measured and indicated mineral resource containing at least 62.3 million in-situ tonnes of phosphatic material averaging 23.55% P2O5 (phosphorus oxide) and 0.34% Nb2O5 (niobium oxide) and a further 55.7 million tonnes of inferred mineral resources averaging 21.87% P2O5 and 0.34% Nb2O5. The Company has not completed an NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource calculation for the niobium and rare earth-enriched cap.

During 2008 PhosCan carried out a bulk sampling program on its Martison phosphate deposit to provide representative feed for a pilot plant operated by Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. in Lakeland, Florida. The program consisted of six clusters of two to six sonic drill holes spaced along 600 metres of the centre of the open pit proposed in the 2008 pre-feasibility study and one cluster of six sonic holes a further 600 metres towards the northwest pit perimeter. The holes drilled in each cluster were located within 10 to 25 metres of a central hole and were all inclined vertically.

The drill cores from the sites were composited to approximate the average characteristics of the Martison main phosphate deposit according to chemical criteria. The 28 tonne sample was processed in Jacobs' pilot plant to recover a phosphate concentrate. Two waste streams from the pilot plant, consisting of a high intensity magnetic product and coarse flotation tailings, were combined and dewatered in a settling tank. These two products, containing about 1.11% Nb2O5, 0.35% Ce2O3 and 0.16% La2O3, are considered to be possible feedstock for a niobium recovery plant.

Based on an assumed production rate of 2 million tonnes of phosphate concentrate per year, the portion of the phosphate plant waste that is considered to be potential niobium feed stock would amount to about 940 thousand tonnes per year. Given the quantity and grade of niobium feed available from the phosphate tailings, bench-scale studies will be conducted in order to establish the potential for a commercially acceptable niobium concentrate.

Recent studies have also focussed on the potential value of niobium and rare earth values in the lateritic oxide cap, an iron-rich oxidized unit currently classified as waste and lying immediately above the phosphate deposit.

The laterite was intersected in three of the hole-clusters: one cluster in the centre of the pit, another 225 metres northwest of this location and one a further 600 metres northwest near the pit perimeter. Thickness is highly variable, possibly indicating buried sink-hole topography.

Thirteen of 35 holes intersected laterite from 2.90 to 64.3 metres in vertical thickness and grades of:

0.67% to 3.46% Nb2O5 (niobium pentoxide)

0.26% to 0.68% La2O3 (lanthanum trioxide)

0.47% to 1.41% Ce2O3 (cerium trioxide)

0.73% to 2.09% La2O3 + Ce2O3

The arithmetic average laterite intersection of the 13 holes was 14.4 metres at a thickness-weighted average grade of 1.66% Nb2O5, 0.53% La2O3, 1.07% Ce2O3, 1.59% La2O3 + Ce2O3. In the absence of sufficient in-fill drilling the calculation assumes equal areas of influence for the holes used and no tonnage estimates can be made at this time. Individual drill-hole intersections are shown in the attached table.

Immediate steps will be taken towards finding an economic process to recover the niobium and rare earths in the laterite and assessing its resource potential. Further work will also be done to analyze the other rare earths in the deposit, particularly so-called "heavy" species which command very high prices.

"The ability to economically recover niobium from the phosphate tailings could be a game changer for the Martison Project," commented Stephen Case, President and CEO. "This could yield a sufficiently large enough by-product credit to possibly revisit the Martison project as a standalone phosphate concentrate producer, thus substantially reducing the project's overall capital and operating costs. The recovery of rare earths from the lateritic oxide cap, where the metal value per tonne has risen dramatically over the past year, could also substantially enhance the project economics."

Jim Spalding, P.Geo., is the qualified person responsible for the supervision of the technical information in this news release. ACME Analytical Laboratories Ltd. of Vancouver performed the analysis of niobium, cerium and lanthanum.