Name: Strange Lake mine.

Location: The Strange Lake mine is situated about 1 100 km north-east of Canada’s Quebec City, the capital of Quebec.

Controlling Company: Quest Rare Minerals.

Brief History: Over the past three years, Quest has progressed the Strange Lake project from a small discovery evaluated on the basis of a limited data set to a substantial mineral development that has grown significantly in terms of footprint and importance to the company. In October this year, Quest completed a positive prefeasibility study on the project. Basic engineering for the  project is under way.

Brief Description: The Strange Lake mine project comprises 552 individual mineral claims, covering about 23 680 ha.

Mining Method: Standard truck-and-shovel openpit operation.

Products: Rare-earth element minerals.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment:  The Strange Lake mine site facilities will comprise an accommodation camp, a multifunctional building and maintenance workshop building. Access roads will link the mine with the ore stockpiles, waste rock storage, landfill site and airstrip. The port and mine site will be linked by an all-weather 168 km all-terrain gravel access road.

The processing infrastructure, which includes the process plant and the industrial-residue containment facility, will be located in southern Quebec. The process plant site will include sulphur storage, an acid plant, a solvent extraction plant, ore stockpiles, utilities and supporting systems. The residue containment facility will include the residue storage structure, the dewatering building and related ponds and piping between the two lots.

Geology/Mineralisation: The Strange Lake Alkalic Complex (SLAC) is situated within the Mesoproterozoic post-tectonic Napeu Kainiut pluton, which includes monzonite, granite, granodiorite and rapakivi-type granitic phases. The SLAC lies along the western margin of the Napeu Kainiut where it is in contact with heterolithic Archean gneiss of the south-eastern Churchill province. The SLAC, a six- to seven- kilometre-wide circular intrusion of peralkaline granite, is the host rock of rare-earth elements (REE) minerals of the Strange Lake B-Zone deposit. The B-Zone mineralisation occurs within multiple stacked, subhorizontal sheets and lenses of highly fractionated and REE-enriched pegmatite and aplite, hosted by peralkaline granite. By volume, within the block-modelled resource, pegmatites comprise an estimated 20% and granite 80%.

Within the B-Zone, the subsolvus granite is light rare earth (LREE) enriched, relative to heavy rare-earth elements plus yitrium (HREE+Y). In absolute terms, however, pegmatites exhibit the highest grades and at high cut-off grades, HREE+Y concentrations are equal to LREE concentrations that is 50% HREE+Y. Within zoned and differentiated pegmatites, REE concentration increases from the margins of the sheet-like pegmatites inwards and the HREE+Y/LREE ratio also increases inwards. HREE+Y mineralisation is concentrated within the volatile-rich cores of these pegmatites and is commonly associated with fluorite and iron-rich (hematite, aegirine, arfvedsonite) zones and generally where alteration is most intense. Hydrothermal brecciation within these volatile-rich zones may also host high-grade REE mineralisation. Although primary REE phases are preserved throughout the B-Zone, replacement textures indicate that secondary minerals comprise the majority of REE mineralisation.

Resources: As at August 31, 2012, the Strange Lake B-Zone deposit had an indicated resource of 278.13-million tonnes at 0.93% total rare-earth oxides (TREO), 1.92% zirconium oxide (ZrO2), and 0.18% niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5), and an inferred resource of 214.35-million tonnes at 0.85% TREO, 1.71% ZrO2 and 0.14% Nb2O5.

Prospects: The Strange Lake project could potentially provide an important base for establishing a major new North American industrial sector and can address the chronic HREE+Y supply deficit over a long period of time.

Based on the prefeasibility study completed on the project in October this year, 47% of Strange Lake’s yearly rare-earth oxide production and 56% of its total revenues will be derived from HREE+Y concentrate, which will make Quest one of the world’s leading suppliers of HREE+Y.

Contact Person: President and CEO Peter Cashin.

Contact Details:
Quest Rare Minerals
Tel + 1 416 916 0777
Fax +1 416 916 0779
E-mail info@questrareminerals.com
Website www.questrareminerals.com