Angus & Ross Explores for Tantalum on three Continents

FRZCR3QBPA3Y-The company is in discussion with third parties regarding the developmentof its Motzfeldt Complex prospect in Greenland.ANGUS & Ross plc, formed in 1999 and accepted on to London’s AIM market in 2001, originally targeted tantalum exploration and development in Ireland and Greenland.

While, today, the company is focused on reopening the Black Angel zinc-lead mine in Greenland and gold exploration in Brazil, it does retain an interesting portfolio of tantalum prospects.

The company has the advantage over other tantalum-exploration companies in that US-based Cabot Corp, the world’s leading tantalum processor,is a significant shareholder.

The largest, potential resource in Angus & Ross’portfolio remains the niobium-tantalum deposit at the Motzfeldt Complex in southern Greenland. Originallydiscovered in 1984 by the Greenland Geological Survey, it was subsequently estimated to contain a resource of 500 Mt, grading 250 g/t Ta2O5 and 700 ppm Nb2O5.

In 2000, the company was awarded the licence for the deposit, which was the subject of an extensive exploration programme in 2001 and 2002, including 1,622 m of diamond drilling. Independent consultants Behre Dolbear concluded, within the relatively small portion of the deposit investigated, “a ‘preliminary’resource of 15 Mt, with an average grade in excess of 500 ppm Ta2O5, and 6,000 ppm Nb2O5 is a wholly realistic target that is likely to be achieved”.

This resource target is the equivalent of about 17 Mlb of Ta2O5. For comparison, in 2005, it was reported that the world’s largest resource, Green bushes in Australia, contained 60 Mlb, but at a grade of only 157 g/t, while the Abu Dabbab project in Egypt contained some 22 Mlb at a grade of 252 g/t.