Quote, Watson plan to capitalize on large magnesium-rich stock

A large ultrabasic intrusive in Riggs Twp., near Wawa, Ont., is the focus of an intriguing industrial mineals play managed by Quote Resources (VSE) and Watson Lake Mines (ASE).

The equal partners (T.N.M., April 2/90) have stacked up most of the ground surrounding the 1.3 sq.-km Lochalsh olivine gabbro stock, believing it contains several million pounds of minable magnesium silicitate.

Although gabbro is typically rich in magnesium, recent grab samples from this stock have assayed as high as 32% magnesium oxide, wiht an average grade of about 27%. According to Quote, the gabbro presents excellent face for quarrying and lies near to railway and power lines.

The juniors are currently trying to raise about $200,000 for a pilot project that would test a low-cost method of extracting magnesim from the host rock.

The process would involve thermal reduction of the magnesium at temperatures of about 2500deg.F. One possibility, the partners, would be to make use of Algoma Steel’s idle sintering furnaces at its iron mines in Wawa, Ont. Debt-ridden Algoma plans to shut down the Wawa operation next year.

To date, other methods of extracting magnesium ffrom silicate have proved uneconomic. But by using the thermal reduction method, the partners sat htey could extract the magnesium at a cost of 60 cents per lb. Magnesium currently sells for US$1.43 per lb.

“It’s all there but someone has to go ahead and make it work,” said Quote agent Walter Harrison.

In a 1945 report on geology of the Missinaibi area, the Ontario Department of Mines suggested that the Lochlalsh stock had the potential to produce magnesium profitably.

“The high maghnesia content of the olivine gabbro may make the Lochalsh stock of commercial importance should the process of extraction of magnesium from silicates prove to be commercial,” the report says.

Magnesium is becoming increasingly important as lightweight alternative to many other heavier substances in several industries. All of the big three U.S. auto makers, for instance, are experimenting with magnesium as an alternative to aluminum in car parts.