Asian Metal visits Quest Rare Minerals at Strange Lake, Quebec

On August 21-23, Asian Metal analyst Brandon Tirpak visited with Quest Rare Minerals, a Canada-based exploration and mine developer, at the company’s Strange Lake rare earth deposit in northern Quebec along the Labrador border. During the visit, which hosted others from around the world, Asian Metal was able to take a closer look at the project’s progress and learn more about the next steps of development at the B-Zone, Quest’s current area of focus and development.

Strange Lake is located approximately 220km northeast of Schefferville, and to date, has returned promising values of many rare earth elements, specifically neodymium, europium, terbium, dysprosium and yttrium, which represent some of the most critical elements in danger of near-term short-supply. At present, among critical and near-critical elements, 85% of Quest’s in-situ value in the B-Zone alone is derived from these materials.

Furthermore, among the 230Mt resource with a total rare earth oxide (TREO) grade of 0.91%, both indicated and inferred, the heavy content includes 820,700t, which puts Quest first in its peer group. The total TREO resource, which is 2.1Mt, is only behind Avalon Rare Metals, whose project, Nechalacho, is located in Canada’s Northwestern Territories. The Strange Lake resource is also open in all directions, including at depth, and investigation is on-going.

On the first night of August 21, the group sat down to a warm and much anticipated dinner. The setting provided an inviting, fitting and informal atmosphere where those present were welcome to share their experiences and join lively discussions about the rare earth industry. Topics ranged from current policies in China to demand outlook among major global industries. It also gave many present the ability to catch up since last seeing each other at Asian Metal’s International Rare Earth Summit hosted in San Francisco in May.

Following the dinner that the camp’s kitchen staff prepared, Peter Cashin, President and CEO of Quest Rare Minerals, officially welcomed the group that had traveled from across North America to be present. At that time, Peter delivered a detailed corporate presentation that outlined the work completed to date, as well as the advancing progress taking place all around the site. Peter pointed out that a mini pilot mill plant would begin operations in Q4, 2012, and the full plant would subsequently commence in Q1, 2013.

The following morning, visitors and Asian Metal were given a tour of the company’s core shack, where Senior Geologist Patrick Collins gave a thorough and engaging explanation of the B-Zone. Patrick used this time to brief those present of the field tour, which took place immediately following. While on-foot, Patrick and Pierre Guay, Quest’s Manager of Exploration, offered an in-depth look at several outcrops and gave spectators a better indication of how the mineralization was laid out. After breaking briefly for lunch, the group set out to tour Quest’s main zone, which straddles the border with Labrador province. This zone represents great potential for the Strange Lake project.

In the evening, after another delicious dinner prepared by the on-site kitchen staff, Dr. William Anthony-Jones gave an engaging and animate presentation about the Strange Lake intrusion. That night, he made all of the participants feel like they were geologists and did a wonderful job explaining the nature of the deposit by providing more evidence as to the formation of the structure. The guests left the presentation with the appropriate information and a better understanding of Strange Lake.

Although the next morning brought a departure for all of the guests that had gathered, the trip proved to be a worthy excursion, and it was enjoyed by all. The visitors left with a more intelligent understanding of the work that the company was doing and better insight on future investigation. Asian Metal looks forward to additional developments from Quest Rare Minerals.