TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Rare earths project developer Pele Mountain Resources has rebranded its subsidiary, which holds the flagship Eco Ridge property, in Elliot Lake, Ontario, in the wake of growing international interest in project development at Eco Ridge, the company says.
The TSX-V-listed Pele rebranded subsidiary First Canadian Uranium to Eco Ridge Development Corporation (ERDC). Pele director and former Ontario Cabinet Minister John Wilkinson had been appointed chairperson of ERDC.
Pele stated that the unique attributes of the Eco Ridge project – being host to significant volumes of uranium and rare-earth resources and, more recently, as the proposed site for Canada's first rare earth processing centre – were now also attracting interest from the renewable-energy sector.
Eco Ridge was located in the historic Elliot Lake mining camp, the only place in Canada to ever produce rare earths commercially. As one of Canada's great historic mining camps, Elliot Lake is endowed with outstanding local and regional infrastructure.
Pele had spent a decade in Elliot Lake, developing relationships and rooting itself in the community, while acquiring and consolidating the company's strategic property holdings. ERDC owned a 100% interest in its Eco Ridge property, which included more than 8 600 ha comprising a combination of real estate and mineral rights tenures, including 394 mining claim units, two mining leases with Ontario covering 1 550 ha, and a lease of surface patents (with an option to buy) from the City of Elliot Lake, covering about 800 ha.
According to a June 2013 economic review of the project, Eco Ridge could potentially produce 141.6-million pounds of rare-earth oxides and 42.7-million pounds of uranium oxide during the first 14 years of the mine life.