Although tantalum and niobium are metals vital to the world economy, there actually are very few operating mines that are producing the metals. As a result, Commerce is in an enviable position to quickly become a major force in a market that has seen an average 8 to 12% yearly growth rate in tantalum demand.
       Approximately six million pounds of tantalum, a high performance, rare, blue-gray metal, are consumed annually with more than 60 percent of the world’s tantalum supply consumed by the electronics industry. Tantalum’s major end use is in capacitors, devices that regulate the flow of electricity within an integrated circuit. These capacitors are found in mobile telephones, computers, and automotive electronics. Alloyed with other metals, tantalum is also used in making carbide tools for metalworking equipment and in the production of superalloys for jet engine components.
       Tantalum has the highest capacitance known, which is defined as the ability to hold and release instantly more electrical charge per gram than any other material. A telling application of the capacitance of tantalum is that it is used in capacitors that fire the air bags in most automobiles.
       Unlike most other metals, tantalum is not traded in a central market, making it difficult to determine current tantalum prices. However, one indicator of the strength of tantalum demand is the metal’s inclusion in the United States Defense Logistics Agency strategic metals stockpile. Tantalum is sold in a number of different forms – capacitor grade metal powder, vacuum-grade metal ingots and carbide powder – and at differing prices, depending on the form.
       Demand for niobium jumped 38% in 2006, largely as the result in the demand for high strength low alloy steel (HSLA steel) used in vehicles, bridges and oil and gas pipelines, construction steel, oil and gas pipelines, nuclear plant pipelines, the automotive industry and aerospace. Niobium is also used in high technology applications such as superconductors, capacitors, optics and medical technologies.
       Niobium, currently trading at nearly four times its price of six months ago, is an economic alternative to vanadium, which late last year went over $100 per kilo. Both niobium and vanadium triple the tensile strength of steel.
       Australia, Brazil, and Canada are the major producers of tantalum mineral concentrates, while Brazil and Canada are the major producers of niobium mineral concentrates.

       Commerce’s advanced Upper Fir deposit, along with the Fir and Verity deposits, are known collectively as the Blue River Tantalum/Niobium Project and it is located in Central Eastern British Columbia.
       Commerce recently tripled the size of its Blue River property to an area approximately 25 km east-west by about 20 km north-south, totaling more than 500 square kilometers. The 134 contiguous claims are 100% owned by Commerce Resources. The claims covering a total land area of more than 53,236 ha, are 100% owned by Commerce with no underlying royalties.
       There is little question that the Upper Fir is a major tantalum deposit. Exploration last year encountered significant intersections of carbonatite over a north-south strike length exceeding 1,000 meters. It is up to 99 meters thick, nearly flat-lying, and remains open in three directions. The Upper Fir has an indicated resource of 8.6 million tonnes and an inferred resource of 5.5 million tonnes, grading at 208.2 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,372.6 g/t Nb2O5 and 208.2 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,349.9 g/t Nb2O5, respectively.
       “The Upper Fir is our pride and joy,” says Hodge. “It is a very large deposit where we expect higher recovery rates and lower production costs than most competing mining operations as it lies near surface with the potential for open pit mining.”
       Assays are pending on 17 drill holes completed in the last month on the Upper Fir, and drilling continues to the south of the known tantalum and niobium bearing carbonatite. Infill drilling is also planned. The 2007 exploration program is designed to locate and assess new carbonatite bodies that have the best combination of grade, thickness and location.
       In addition, according to an independent geological report, the company’s second deposit, the Fir is host to an indicated resource of 5.65 million tonnes grading 203 g/t Ta2O5 (tantalum oxide) and 1,047 g/t Nb2O5 niobium oxide), and an inferred resource of 6.74 million tonnes grading 203.1 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,047 g/t Nb2O5.
       Just 10 kilometers to the north, the Verity property hosts an additional inferred resource of 3.06 million tonnes grading 196 g/t tantalum and 646 g/t niobium. The Verity-Paradise Carbonatite Complex has been traced by intermittent surface sampling over a strike length of more than 5,500 meters. Like the Fir, the Verity deposit remains open for expansion in three directions.
       A major advantage for Commerce is Blue River’s excellent infrastructure – the Yellowhead Highway, the Canadian National Railway, and BC Hydro power lines all cross the property. The Upper Fir, the Fir and Verity Carbonatite deposits are accessible from well-maintained logging roads.

       Commerce recently acquired a 100% interest in the Eldor Carbonatite Complex in the Labrador Trough area of Quebec. Historic exploration has shown an elliptical shape 7.75 km by 2.5 km with localized, high concentrations of niobium and tantalum and significant grades of niobium mineralization in two areas: the Southeast and Northwest Zones.
“There is a high potential for a very favorable type of pyrochlore mineralization rich in both tantalum and niobium. The mineralization is coarse-grained, with a size of grain that is large and similar to the pyrochlore found at the Blue River carbonatite complex. The Eldor clearly merits a concerted exploration effort to further enhance this high potential,” says Anthony N. Mariano, PhD, Mineralogy and Economic Geology, Boston University.
       A comprehensive exploration program is expected to confirm historic mineralization at the property, from samples that range from >1.0 to 11.0%.
       The Eldor Complex is similar in size to the present and past producing carbonatite complexes Oka and St. Honore, both located in Quebec. It is also comparable in size to the world’s current producing leader, the Araxá Carbonatite Complex in Brazil, which is about 4.5 km in diameter, and which has historical grades of 2.5 to 3.0%.

       Commerce is well financed, recently closing a private placement of C$32.7 million. The proceeds from this financing are to be used to accelerate the company’s continued exploration and development program on its tantalum and niobium properties near Blue River, to conduct an exploration program at the newly acquired Eldor Carbonatite in Quebec, and for working capital.
       “The closing of this financing puts Commerce Resources in a strong position in the tantalum and niobium world,” says Hodge.
       Commerce expects to complete a scoping study by the end of the year. An environmental study, required for permitting, is already well underway. According to Hodge, a 3,000 t/d production rate would supply 10% of the world’s current demand for tantalum.
       “Commerce’s focus has positioned us with high-quality tantalum and niobium projects in a market with a robust demand for its target minerals,” says Commerce President David Hodge.