FMS: TSX-V
GraphiteStocksBlog.com a website dedicated to the needs of investors and companies in the fast growing Graphite industry, is pleased to announce that Focus Metals (FMS:TSXV) has become a sponsor of our site.
Focus Metals is a Canadian junior explorer and owner of the 16% carbon grade Lac Knife crystalline flake graphite deposit located in the Côte Nord region of Quebec.  Focus is fast-tracking the exploration program at Lac Knife with the aim of developing one of the lowest cost producers of industrial and technology-grade graphite in the world. A NI 43-101 compliant feasibility study on the project was completed in December 2011.  As a junior explorer with significant cash holdings, the company states it is poised to assume a leading position for graphite supply on a global scale and plans an aggressive program of acquisition, mergers and joint-venturing.
Focus Metals is managed by a great team and led by President and CEO, Gary Economo.  Mr. Economo enjoys a long history of graphite marketing and sales for high-tech applications. Over the span of his business career, Mr. Economo provided strategic consulting and representation services to technology companies in North America and Asia.  Beyond sharing a growing friendship with him, I respect and admire Gary for his work ethic, expertise and deep knowledge of the world’s technology needs.
As always, assume I am horribly conflicted by the fact Focus Metals is a sponsor of our site and conduct your own thorough due diligence.  To this end, in addition to the helpful links above, here is some information provided by the company to help get you started.
Top 5 Reasons to Consider Focus Metals
1. The company has two properties each containing a strategically important mineral – graphite and neodymium – needed for green initiatives and U.S. national and industrial security.
2. The Lac Knife graphite property has a proven history. Nearly developed in the early 2000s in a joint venture between Graftech and Ballard Power Systems, previous studies are being recast to NI 43-101 standards, and discussions with funding and/or development partners are currently underway.
3. The Kwyjibo REE property has as a strategic partner in the government of Quebec. SOQUEM, the wholly owned subsidiary of SGF, an industrial and financial holding corporation of the government of Quebec, holds 50% of the Kwyjibo property. SOQUEM/SGF are known for their long-term vision and successful development within the Quebec economy.
4. Market applications favour the company. Incremental demand for graphite and neodymium will be driven by green initiatives. Li ion batteries, fuel cells and magnet demand in the next five to seven years have the potential to consume more graphite than all current uses combined. Neodymium is one of three REEs projected to be in deficit supply.
5. Supply conditions favour the company. China controls the current global market in graphite and in REEs. Over 80% of the world’s graphite is produced in China and over 95% of the world’s REE production is in China. China is restricting supply and controlling and manipulating the price.
Lac Knife – Graphite Project
The Lac Knife graphite deposit is located on the Labrador border, south of Fermont, Quebec. It contains a NI 43-101 compliant resource of some 8 million tons grading 16% graphite, making it the highest grade graphite resource in the world. The deposit absorbed 7,600 metres of historic exploration drilling that defined mineralization over 600 metres of strike, that averaged 20 metres in width, and remains open in all directions and at depth.
An expanded drilling program is planned for 2012 to further define and expand the graphite resource.The area hosts excellent infrastructure, with cheap Quebec electric grid power, and nearby access to road, rail and port facilities. Lac Knife is also close to Fermont, Wabush, and Labrador City which serve as bases for three iron ore mines in the area, one being the largest open pit mine in North America. Lac Knife is currently at the pre-development stage but Focus plans to fast track development and commence annualized production of 20,000 tonnes of 95%graphite in 2013, and commission a secondary enrichment and refining facility capable of producing an additional 3,000 tonnes per year of 99.9% graphite in 2014.
Kwyjibo – REE (Rare Earth Elements) & Copper Project
Focus Metals’ Kwyjibo, Quebec, rare earth elements (REE) and copper property being developed in partnership with Soquem, the Quebec Government’s commercial mining corporation, is on a fast-track for development.
The property, located some 10 kilometers north of Lac Manitou, was designated by the Quebec government in 2010 as a priority economic development target. It sits in one of the province’s historically-rich iron ore, copper and gold (IOCG) mineralized zones.
Discovered during the early 1990s, Focus Metals 2010 summer drilling program produced significant initial results for rare earths, primarily neodymium – a critical alloy in super-strength magnets used in hybrid and electric vehicle motors, representing about 20% of total rare earth oxides.
Romer & Labrador Trough Project
Focus Metals’ longer-term development project in the Ungava-Labrador Trough region of Northern Quebec holds potential economic prospects for the discovery of gold, platinum, palladium, copper, zinc and nickel.
Focus Metals owns 100% of these 13 properties covering some 668 square kilometres running north-south from our Lemming property in southwestern Ungava Bay to Fox, some 75 kilometers east of Schefferville, Quebec.
Our Romer property, however, showed potential interest from 2009 geologic surface samplings and we decided in late 2010 to formally assay those findings.
Positive assay results for gold, silver and copper from earlier work conducted in 2009 confirmed historical showings and identified several new mineralized zones on the Romer Property.
Significant gold values included 8.54 g/t Au on the Lac Plissé Showing and 2.03 g/t Au from a pyritic boulder which represents a new discovery and a new type of gold mineralization on the property.
Tags: Focus Metals