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Developing two of the world’s most critical metals:
Niobium & Tantalum
June 2015
Forward Looking Statements
This presentation contains certain “forward-looking statements”, including, but not limited to, the statements regarding the Company’s strategic plans, its anticipated benefits and the use of proceeds resulting thereof, in particular, future financial results, production targets and timetables, the evolution of mineral reserves and resources, mine operating costs, capital expenditures, work programs, development plans, exploration programs, objectives and budgets, the possible determination of additional reserves, and the Company's eventual success to execute its strategy to focus on building its portfolio of properties. Forward looking statements express, at this date, the Company’s plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, factors associated with fluctuations in the market price of metals, mining industry risks, exploration risks, risks associated with foreign operations, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral reserves, requirement of additional financing or additional permits, authorizations or licenses, risks of delays in construction and production and other risks referred to in the Company’s Annual Information Form.
Claude Dufresne, engineer, acted as the qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101. He reviewed and approved the technical and scientific content of this presentation.
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Board of Directors
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Claude Dufresne – President & CEO Mr. Dufresne is recognized worldwide for its expertise in the niobium market. He was responsible for the sales and marketing of ferro-niobium produced by the Niobec mine from 2001 to 2012. He also founded Camet Metallurgy Inc. in 2007, a sales and marketing company involved in various mining project development and raw material sourcing for the steel industry.
Serge Savard – Chairman of the Board Former NHL star, he played in eight winning Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1986. Son of one of the co-founders MDN Inc., Mr. Savard has been a Partner in Thibault, Messier, Savard & Associates since 1993 and is also involved in numerous fundraisers.
Jean-Sébastien David – Director Mr. David is currently CEO of Arianne Phosphate Inc. a company developing the Lac à Paul mining project. Before joining Arianne Phosphate Inc., Mr. David was Vice President Sustainable Development of Osisko Mining Corporation (2007-2012).
Raymond Legault – Director From 1997 to 2005, Mr. Legault was an investment executive at ScotiaMcLeod. He was also president and general manager of his own publishing company for 14 years and, prior to that, he held different senior management positions for a major telecommunications company.
Jacques Bonneau – Director Mr. Bonneau graduated as a geological engineer from Laval University and holds an MSc degree from the same institution. He has more than thirty years’ experience in the mining industry and has been an officer of Soquem, Falconbridge Copper Corporation, Groupe Vior-Mazarin, Minéraux Sequoia Inc and Azimut Exploration Inc..
Claude Boulay – Director Mr. Boulay co-founded and acted as President for the Everest Group from 1976 to 2000. He was then President of Draft Worldwide Québec Inc., a subsidiary of Inter-Public Group. Since 2003, Mr. Boulay is involved in various businesses in the fields of real estate, tourism and finance. .
Company profile
Mineral exploration company listed on TSX:MDN.
Developing two of the world’s most critical metals: Nb & Ta.
Projects in Canada:
Crevier
Samaqua
Prairie Lake
Gold assets in Tanzania:
Ikungu et Ikungu East
Isambara
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Niobium & Tantalum
Niobium (Nb) and Tantalum (Ta) are two transition elements that are essential in high-tech applications.
The scarcity of their supply and their usage in national defense makes them strategic and critical for the USA and EU.
Conflict-free sources of tantalum are being favored and regulated (Dodd Frank Act).
Only 3 niobium producers in the world (ferro-niobium market).
Recent transactions around niobium suggest high value assets. Niobec mine sold to Magris Resources for US$500 million.
Niocorp’s market capitalization at + US$100 million.
CBMM sold 30% of their operation to an Asian consortium for US$ 3,9 billion.
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Niobium & Tantalum: End-Markets
Nb
Source: Roskill, TIC
(Ferro-Niobium)
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Targeted end-markets
Ta
2 shared end-markets Strong demand
growth fundamentals Well established
customers base in North America
Superalloys Aerospace industry Aircraft jet engines Land based turbines Petrochemicals
Electronics Laptops, Cell phones GPS, Video games Automotive Aerospace, Military
The electronic industry accounts for near half of the global Tantalum consumption.
Mostly in the form of tantalum capacitors, widely spread in most home and industrial electronic devices.
Also common to Niobium and Tantalum; Niobium capacitors is however a fairly small market in tonnage terms.
Capacitor manufacturer keep developing new products using Tantalum to meet the miniaturization trend.
Image: Cell phone interior containing tantalum capacitors
Electronic Industry
Image: Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II
Superalloys in the aerospace industry constitute an important end-market for MDN.
Second biggest end-market for Niobium consumption after standard grade Ferro-Niobium in high-strength steel products.
Common end-market to Niobium and Tantalum.
Very positive growth history and outlook.
Aerospace Industry
Crevier Project
Located in the Lac Saint-Jean region, Quebec, Canada
Crevier Project Canada
Development update
Location
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Located in the Lake St-Jean region, province of Quebec, Canada.
CREVIER PROJECT
SAMAQUA PROPERTY
NIOBEC MINE
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MDN’s most developed project
$8 M invested to date.
Preliminary Economic Assessment completed (2011).
Feasibility study started. In stand-by because of lack of capital required to complete the metallurgical work.
Growing demand in high-tech end-uses.
Shareholders: MDN: 72.5% and Niobec Inc (recently acquired by Magris Resources): 27,5%.
Part of the Plan Nord
Crevier
Resources (43-101)
Tonnage
(Million tons)
Grade
Nb2O5 (%) Ta2O5 (ppm)
Measured 12.5 0.20 234
Indicated 12.9 0.19 234
Total (M+I) 25.4 0.20 234
Inferred 15.4 0.17 252
NI 43-101 Resources update on Crevier property, July 2010.
Mineral resource within the geological deposit, 0.1% Nb2O5 cutoff grade.
Niobium: High grades cut to 0.5% Nb2O5.
Tantalum: High grades cut to 550 ppm Ta2O5.
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Comparable grades to actual mines and developing projects.
25+ years of mine life at 1 million tons per year throughput.
Flowsheet
Open-pit mining
Grinding
Flotation & gravity separation
Tantalum oxide / K-salt (Ta2O5 Pure / K2TaF7)
Leaching
Bulk SX
(MIBK loading)
Selective Strip
(MIBK)
Concentrate
Niobium oxide (Nb2O5 Pure)
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Best results obtained in laboratory Concentrate of 35% to 37% (Ta+Nb)2O5
Recovery of 67% - 70% Ta2O5 et 68% to 69% Nb2O5
Mass Pull of less than 0.5%
Pilot plant at SGS Lakefield (2012) Concentrate of 32% (Ta+Nb)2O5
Recovery of 40%
Bulk sample from the surface
Pilot plant atCOREM (2013) Concentrate of 9.6% (Ta+Nb)2O5
Recovery of 63%
Metallurgical works summary
%
0
20
40
60
80
Lab SGS COREM
Recovery Grade
Pilot plant
Environment & Social Acceptability
MDN takes all necessary needs to protect the environment. Identify any environments incompatible
with the development and the need for an impact statement for the BAPE.
The opinion and the participation of the communities are very important for MDN. Establishment of a liaison committee with
the First Nation.
Maintain a good communication campaign on the Crevier project development.
Respect of the traditions and the environment.
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Budget & Planning
16 1: Environmental Impact Statement
Improve metallurgy & Corporate development.
Resources update (NI 43-101)
Preliminary Economic Assessment (NI 43-101)
2010 2012 2013
2016 2017 2018-2019 2020
Production
Pilot plant SGS
Pilot Plant COREM
Complete Feasibility Study Permitting, EIS1, Engineering
Financing & construction
2 $M
8 $M
~270 $M
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2
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MDN waits for suitable market conditions before financing the required amount to finish the feasibility study.
Samaqua Property
Located in the Lac Saint-Jean region, Quebec, Canada
Samaqua Property Canada
Exploration campaign results
Magnetic signature
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Samaqua property
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7,242 hectares
129 mining claims
Exploration campaign
Exploration campaign 2014-2015
Airborne geophysic survey
September 2014
Ground IP survey
November 2014
Drilling campaign
February 2015
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Results
Disappointing results Best result from hole #8: 0.021% Nb2O5 on 1.2m
Indications suggesting the presence of an intrusive but the results do not justify the continuation of exploration works
Presence of an alkaline system but very low REE, Ta & Nb values.
A total of about $530,000 were invested in which $380,000 were flow-through expenses.
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Prairie Lake Property
Canada
Prairie Lake Property
Located in the Killala Lake Township, Ontario, Canada
High grade potential deposit
Prairie Lake Properties
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Exploration work took place on the property in 2011 by Canadian International Minerals Inc but the focus was on REE.
Prospecting, rock sampling et spectrometer surveys.
Prairie Lake
Properties optioned in February 2015.
Located 45km northwest of Marathon, ON, Canada.
Carbonatites in Eastern Canada
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Archean
Pro
téro
zoïq
ue
Crevier
Saint-Honore
Oka
Ancient Rift Zones
Prairie Lake
Toronto
Carbonatites-rich Alkaline Complexes
(modified from Goutier 2006: Sage 1991; MRNF; Gold 1972; Chevé et Machado 1988; Doig et Barton 1968; Vallée et Dubuc 1970)
Undetermined age
Paleozoic
Neoproterozoic
Paleoproterozoic
Archean
Paleozoic Rocks
Grenville Province
Ungava & New Quebec Orogeny South Province & sedimentary proterozoic rocks
Churchill & Nain Province
Superior Province & Abitibi Sub-province
Montreal
High Grade Samples
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Prairie Lake Properties 247 Claims - 4,000 hectares
High Grade surface samples Site #28: 1.63 % Nb2O5
20.66 % P2O5
Site #30 0.89 % Nb2O5
Trench #7 0.19 % Nb2O5
Site #21a 0.98 % Nb2O5
9.89 % P2O5
Site #21 520 ppm Ta
2 km
Nuinsco
Prairie Lake South 37 Claims - 592 hectares
Prairie Lake 210 Claims - 3,360 hectares
Site #28 High Grade Zone
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0.45 % Nb2O5
0.04 % Nb2O5
0.14 % Nb2O5
4.83 % P2O5
0.38 % Nb2O5
11.52 % P2O5
0.89 % Nb2O5 7.30 % P2O5
0.66 % Nb2O5
7.14 % P2O5
1.63 % Nb2O5 20.66 % P2O5
0.80 % Nb2O5
0.59 % Nb2O5
0.41 % Nb2O5 3.05 % P2O5
0.12 % Nb2O5
0.70 % Nb2O5
9.11 % P2O5 TBD
MAG Gradient and Nb2O5, Prairie Lake
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Vertical gradient of the provincial magnetic airborne survey:
Low MAG in blue
High MAG in pink and black
New discovery from Rudy Wahl:
Best samples (>0.8% Nb2O5) are all within low MAG.
The most northern samples were identified as carbonatites (Joly M. 2014).
This suggests wide zones of carbonatites (low MAG) over the Property, particularly around the Nuinsco Alkaline Intrusive that is mainly made of Ijolite (high MAG).
Nb2O5
Nb2O5
Nb2O5
Nb2O5
Nb2O5
Deal & Commitment
Prairie Lake Property: 210 mineral claims in 16 blocks covering 3,360 ha.
$190,000 and issuing a total of 2,850,000 common shares over 4 years.
Exploration expenditures totaling $305,000 over 4 years.
Prairie Lake South Property: 37 mineral claims in 3 blocks covering 592 ha.
$93,000 and issuing a total of 1,300,000 common shares over 4 years.
Exploration expenditures totaling $115,000 over 4 years.
NSR of 3%; option to redeem 2% for $2,000,000.
Deal structure allow progressive capital expenditures.
Engagements: 2015: Amount of $30,000 spent + $100,000$ in exploration expenses.
2016: Amount of $40,000 to spend + $75,000$ in exploration expenses.
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Exploration program
Hiring of Jacquelin Gauthier, geological engineer. 38 years of experience
Knowledge of carbonatites (Montviel project)
Beginning of ground works in June 2015 Phase I will consist in mapping and trenching of sites of interest.
Subsequent phases will consist in: Phase II, high definition airborne survey with radiometry.
Phase III, drilling campaign on the sites identified in steps I and II
Funding will be required to complete phase II and III.
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Prairie Lake visit
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Discovery of the year
Bernie Schnieders discovery of the year award for Prairie Lake in Northwestern Ontario.
Awarded to Rudy Wahl by the NWOPA.
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Tanzania
Gold assets
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Dar Es Salaam
Ikungu & Ikungu East
Isambara
Nikonga
Tanzanian projects
Lake Victoria area
Activity in Tanzania
Ongoing negotiations with several groups:
Joint ventures and/or divestment
Ikungu is one of the most advanced gold projects in Tanzania although it remains an exploration project. Property generating the most interest
MDN is confident that an agreement will be concluded during the year of 2015.
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Strategy 2015
Sale or joint venture in Tanzania.
Continue the search of funding to carry on with the development on Crevier.
Prospecting work on Prairie Lake: Mapping
High definition airborne survey
Ground IP survey
Drilling
MDN reinforce its position in the niobium niche market while searching for added-value projects.
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Contact
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1693 St-Patrick Street, Suite 106, Montreal (Quebec), Canada, H3K 3G9
Claude Dufresne President & CEO
Tel: (514) 866-6500 x 221
Cell: (514)-996-5728
developing two of the world’s most critical metals