An interesting observation around NiobiumIn January TG6 released...

An interesting observation around Niobium

In January TG6 released the mineral makeup from its drill core which is below. This included 0.27% area identified as being Columbite - the green bits. I didn't think anything of it at the time but in trying to figure out what sort of iron risks there were, I when through the minerals identified and looked at their chemical makeup. I was wasn't aware the dominant mineral in Columbite is.... Niobium.

So nearby to CHR in the same broad geological system there DD core confirmation of 0.27% (by area) Columbite. If this was Columbite-Fe then it would be ~0.21% Nb₂O₆. By area this columbite observation is 2700 ppm so using any of the Columbite chemical formulae its over 1,000ppm Nb₂O₅. This isn't yet a commercial grade but CHR's soils were higher than TG6's re Nb. Its also shifting things from tiny observations to much higher one's. Its probably not enough to be commercial for TG6 while they focus on Lithium but it means what Charger may be looking for is a pegmatite system with perhaps 2 - 5% Columbite that ideally spikes to 10%. With Niobium being the dominant mineral in Columbite this would equate to Nb₂O₆ grades in the 1 - 8% range. Could CHR have peg's with more of those green spec's? That is the unknown answer.

I've also copied a couple of slides from WA's presentation that refer to Ferroniobium and some text from a website talking about how columbite is used to create Ferroniobium.