Overview
| SNAPSHOT | |
|---|---|
| LOCATION | Colombia (Caldas Province) |
| OWNERSHIP | 100% owned by Green Shift Commodities |
| STAGE | Development |
| PRIMARY MINERALS | Uranium, vanadium, phosphate and rare earth elements |
Berlin is a remarkable clean energy deposit that contains uranium, battery commodities including nickel, vanadium and phosphate, as well as rare earth elements.
Located in the Caldas Province, it is a sediment-hosted uranium deposit with positive initial metallurgical results show that we can efficiently extract the suite of commodities from the mineralized rock layer. Historical mineral resources are tabulated below.
Historical Mineral Resource
The mineral resource estimate referenced herein with respect to the Berlin Project is considered to be a "historical estimate" as defined under NI 43 -101 and is not considered by Green Shift to be current and is not being treated as such. The historical mineral resource estimate is contained in a report by Coffey Mining entitled "Berlin Project, Colombia - National Instrument NI 43-101 Report" with an effective date of March 2, 2012, and a preliminary economic assessment by Tenova Mining & Minerals (Australia) Pty Ltd. (formerly Bateman Engineering Pty Ltd.) entitled "Berlin Project, Colombia - Preliminary Economic Assessment, NI 43-101 Report" with an effective date of January 18, 2013. The historical mineral resource estimate contained in the above report was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical mineral resource estimate as a current mineral resource. The Company would need to use the existing drill intercepts to independently estimate the resource with check assays of core as appropriate GCOM to verify the historical resource estimate as a current mineral resource.
Highlights
One geological layer contains:
- Uranium for nuclear energy
- Phosphate for agricultural fertilizer & batteries
- Nickel and Vanadium used together with phosphate in lithium ion batteries
- Vanadium used in steel alloys and vanadium redox batteries
- Neodymium (a rare earth element) used in high-strength magnets for high-efficiency electric motors and for high-efficiency generators in wind turbines
- Yttrium (a rare earth element) used principally in laser technology and as a red phosphor in screens for electronics
Good infrastructure:
- Located 60km from the La Dorada port on the Magdalena River which is navigable by barge to Colombia’s largest port on the Caribbean coast
- La Dorada is also linked to the Caribbean coast by road and rail (which is currently being refurbished)
- The Project is located within 12 kilometres of 0.4GW hydroelectric dam;
Tried and tested process that was used for decades to extract uranium and rare earth elements at Elliot Lake in Ontario is effective in extracting metals and phosphate from the mineralized rock from the Berlin Project
The Berlin Commodities – tailored to the clean-energy, high-tech and agriculture industries:
Uranium for nuclear fuel: Nuclear is a clean source of energy – considered to be “low-carbon” because, although reactors don’t emit carbon or greenhouse gases, conventional fuel is used in the mining, processing and transport of uranium and its fabrication into fuel rods.
Phosphate for lithium-ion batteries and agricultural fertilizer:
Lithium-ion ferric phosphate (LFP)
Phosphate is one of the three principal components of agricultural fertilizer. The percentage of phosphate contained in a fertilizer is shown in the middle number in the label; for example, a 20-10-5 fertilizer contains 20% nitrogen, 10% phosphate and 5% potash. Phosphate is a primary nutrient for plants and is especially important for strong root growth. In addition to phosphate, the Berlin deposit could also produce five of the nine micronutrients used in speciality fertilizers: molybdenum, zinc, nickel from the deposit and manganese and iron that would be recovered after iron and manganese reagents are used in processing of the mineralized rock.
Nickel for lithium-ion batteries
Vanadium for vanadium redox flow batteries
Rare Earth Elements or REEs: All of the REEs would be precipitated in a mixed REE oxide that would be sent to a specialized refinery for further processing and separation into individual metals of required purity. In contrast to many other deposits where the extraction of REEs is complex and expensive, the REEs at Berlin dissolve into solution along with the other metals and phosphate with no extra effort or cost.
REEs are used in innumerable high-tech applications including components in electronics, phosphors in screens and components of superconductors. Of particular importance to the clean energy industry are the super-magnet metals: neodymium, dysprosium and samarium. Magnets made from alloys of these metals are 40 times as strong as ordinary iron magnets, and so they are critical components of high-efficiency electric motors and generators.
For context and comparative purposes, the REE content of the Berlin Deposit and the Elliot Lake (3). Deposit in Ontario, which is reportedly being advanced towards REE production, is shown below.
Rhenium: A resource estimate was made for rhenium in the Berlin Deposit. Rhenium is commonly a by-product of molybdenum production from porphyry deposits. It is used principally in nickel-based superalloys that have very high temperature tolerance and are used extensively in jet engines and rocket motors.
- Resource defined in compliance with NI 43-101. (see Disclaimer)
- Technical Report on the Eco Ridge Mine Project, Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada, June 20, 2012, for Pele Mountain Resources Inc. www.pelemountain.com
- Berlin Project – Based on exploration of other mineralized areas, there is an additional exploration target of 20-27Mt at 0.09% to 0.11% U3O8 (50-55Mlb) on the remaining 7.5km of the trend – see September 20, 2012 press release. Potential quantity and grades are conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource north of the current Berlin Deposit. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in additional mineral resources being delineated on the property.
National Instruments NI 43-101 technical reports on Green Shift Commodities Ltd.’s projects.
April, 2022 - Berlin Project, Colombia