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Commerce Resources Corp. reported that it has received the "Independent Technical Report, Blue River Property, Blue River, British Columbia, Canada" and dated March 30, 2010 prepared by Michelle Stone, Ph.D., P. Geo, and Julie Selway, Ph.D., P.Geo., independent Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"), of Caracle Creek International Consulting Inc. ("CCIC") (the "Technical Report").
In preparing the Technical Report, CCIC of Toronto, Ontario used all data available from exploration drilling programs carried out on the Upper Fir from 2005 through the end of 2008 to complete three dimensional ("3D") geological modeling and provide a resource estimation. Data was drawn from a total of 153 drill holes totaling 30,648 metres ("m"), which cut the Upper Fir carbonatite.
As previously disclosed, the results of the resource estimate, reported with a 175 grams per tonne ("g/t") Ta2O5 cut-off, show that the Upper Fir contains an Indicated resource of 7,384,000 tonnes with a grade of 217 g/t Ta2O5 and Nb2O5 grade of 1,202 g/t (3,533,000 and 19,568,000 lbs of contained Ta2O5 and Nb2O5, respectively).
Inferred resources at the same cut-off include 16,494,000t of 213 g/t Ta2O5 and 1,222 g/t Nb2O5 (7,746,000 and 44,436,000 lbs of contained Ta2O5 and Nb2O5, respectively).
The resource comprises a series of sill-like carbonatite bodies with up to 91.2m in estimated cumulative true thickness. This composite body extends more than 1,450m in a north-south direction and as much as 800m in an east-west direction. Tantalum and niobium are contained in the minerals pyrochlore and ferrocolumbite, which are present as microscopic grains as well as megascopic composite grains that exceed one centimetre in diameter.
As previously announced by the Company, the resource disclosure in the technical reports provided by the Company for the Fir and the Verity Deposits in the "Geological Summary and Resource Potential of the Fir Carbonatite Property, Blue River, British Columbia", prepared by Ruben S. Verzosa, P.Eng. dated March 6, 2003 (amended November 30, 2004) and the "Technical Report on the Upper Fir Tantalum-Niobium-Bearing Carbonatite" prepared by John Gorham, P.Geo. dated June 20, 2007 are not NI 43-101 compliant and the previous resource estimates for Fir and Verity should not be relied upon.
In 2005, management of the Company made a strategic decision to focus its exploration activities on the Upper Fir and as such, limited exploration has been undertaken on the Fir and Verity Deposits. In preparing the Technical Report, CCIC reviewed and audited the Fir and Verity resource estimates and it was determined that insufficient exploration was completed on each of the Fir and Verity Deposits to define a current NI 43-101 compliant resource. As such, both the Fir and Verity mineral estimates have been downgraded to estimates of potential tonnage and grade and re-classified as exploration targets.
The potential tonnage for the Fir Deposit is estimated to be 8-12 M t @ 190-240 ppm Ta2O5 and 950-1,150 ppm Nb2O5. The potential quantity and grade for the Fir Deposit is conceptual in nature and are based on previous drill results that defined the approximate length, thickness, depth and grade of the Fir Deposit. The potential tonnage for the Verity Deposit is estimated to be 1-3 M t @ 190-240 ppm Ta2O5 and 550-650 ppm Nb2O5. The potential quantity and grade for the Verity Deposit is conceptual in nature and are based on previous drill results that defined the approximate length, thickness, depth and grade of the Verity Deposit. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in the Fir or Verity Deposits being delineated as a mineral resource.