Ann: Thompson Brothers Lithium Project Update, page-16

The primary source of Cesium is Pollucite ore.

Until 2015 Canada was the main source of Cesium.

https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cesium/mcs-2015-cesiu.pdf

( these figures are in US tons ... 1 US ton = 0.907 metric tonne )





Then there was a mine collapse at the Bernic Lake mine and it was determined no longer economic to mine Cesium there:

https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cesium/mcs-2019-cesiu.pdf


( these figures are in US tons ... 1 US ton = 0.907 metric tonne )




Cabot have sources of Pollucite from Pioneer Resources PIO (via an Offtake Agreement), however their reserves are quite small and I would guess it is very expensive to ship Pollucite all the way from Western Australia. This little project only started last year.

At Cabots Bernic Lake Mine, Lithium / Cesium / Tantalum were all processed out of the same facility. The Chinese have now bought this and it seems they are having trouble sourcing ore.

From the FAR Resources NI 43-101, our neighbour have Pollucite in their pegmatites.



From FAR Resources NI 43-101 they have 198 ppm Cesium ( or 0.0198% Ce in their resource ).



Now Ce sold as 1 gram ampules is USD $61.80.

https://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/cesium/mcs-2019-cesiu.pdf

If all the Zoro Dyke 1 Ce was processed by someone like Cabot and sold as 1-gram Ampules it would sell for USD $13.15B! This isn't necessarily a realistic scenario but gives some perspective of the value of the Cesium in the resource.

I also calculated that this would require 760 tonnes of Pollucite.


Now extrapolating for Thompson Bros ... subject to the Cesium grade being the same ( 198 ppm ):



At the moment it is a bit hard to fathom what the Pollucite ore would sell for. As this could be feedstock for a downstream processor.

Key point in all this is that the Cesium may significantly improve margins if sufficient quantities (grade) of Pollucite is present in the resource.

Likewise for Tantalum ( in the same way the PLS and TAW/A40) have Tantalum in their resources. They are both applying Tantalum credits in their cashflow figures.