NIOBIUM RESOURCES: Oka property numbers released

QUEBEC - Montreal's Niocan Inc. has new 43-101 numbers for its Oka niobium property in the Ste-Sophie range. The measured and indicated portion total 10.63 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.68% Nb₂O₅. The inferred portion totals 3.22 million tonnes at 0.61%.

The property also hosts historical resources of 5.9 million tonnes at 0.56 Nb₂O₅ in the HWM-2 deposit and 12.7 million tonnes at 0.44% in the SLC deposit below 300 metres.

Niocan will also have all of its mineral resources recalculated with a lower cutoff grade of 0.35% and 0.30% Nb₂O₅. The numbers will be used for a revised bankable feasibility study. The annual production rate in previous studies was set at 4,370 tonnes of ferroniobium or 6.3 million pounds of payable niobium product. The daily milling rate, for these studies, remained unchanged at 2,500 t/d.

In the fall of 2009, Met-Chem updated the project capital and operating estimates. The key parameters and the conclusions will be finalized before the end of February 2010. More information is available at www.Niocan.com.