Avalon shares the Northern Miner’s East Coast Snapshot: Eight juniors on the hunt in Atlantic Canada

Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. is pleased to share a recent article from the Northern Miner’s August 7-20 edition with our followers, supplemented by additional comments on recent progress from President and CEO, Don Bubar.

East Coast Snapshot: Eight juniors on the hunt in Atlantic Canada

Digitized aerial view of Avalon Advanced Materials’ past-producing East Kemptville tin-zinc-copper project site east of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Credit: Google Earth.

Posted by John Cumming
August 2, 2017
The Northern Miner
Volume 103 Number 16

Although many of the mineral deposits in Atlantic Canada are on the smaller side, the region is nonetheless home to dozens of junior explorers and developers with active programs in precious and base metals. Below is a sampling of eight such juniors.

AVALON ADVANCED MATERIALS

Don Bubar-led Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX: AVL; US-OTC: AVLNF) is focused on its Separation Rapids hard-rock lithium project in northwestern Ontario and Nechalacho rare earth elements project in the Northwest Territories, but it also has a third advanced materials project: the East Kemptville tin-indium project east of Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

The property hosts the former East Kemptville mine, which was North America’s only primary tin producer while it was in production from 1985 to 1992. A 10,000-tonne-per-day on-site mill was subsequently removed, and the open pit flooded.

According to a 2014 estimate, East Kemptville still hosts an indicated resource of 18.5 million tonnes grading 0.18% tin, 0.17% zinc and 0.06% copper. Another 17 million tonnes at slightly lower grades lie in the inferred category.

The resource is based on 275 holes totalling 29,600 metres drilled between 1979 and 2001 by previous operators, and seven holes totalling 984 metres drilled by Avalon in 2014.

In 2015, Avalon finished a conceptual redevelopment study to restart production at 10,000 tonnes per day, and in 2016 optimized the gravity-processing flowsheet, and revisited the 7 million tonnes of stockpiled mined material still on-site.

In mid-2017, Avalon was negotiating with surface landholders for the transfer of full tenure over surface rights, and was contemplating building a small-scale operation at the site to target the stockpiles.

For further reading, Northern Miner subscribers can find the article online at http://www.northernminer.com/news/east-coast-snapshot-eight-juniors-hunt-atlantic-canada/1003788417/

Don Bubar adds that, “the Company is presently talking to potential off-takers of tin concentrate interested in providing financing for the small-scale gravity concentrator now contemplated for the East Kemptville Project. This could produce 1200-1500 tonnes per annum of high quality tin concentrate and start producing in 12-18 months from when financing is in place. The cost for installing the small-scale plant is not expected to exceed $25 million.

Ultimately, the operation can be scaled up if tin demand and prices justify the additional investment, but the small-scale operation currently contemplated could be economically sustained for 13 years. Further, by treating the large stockpile of sulphide-containing tin mineralization, the operation would be removing a source of acid rock drainage and significantly reducing the long term environmental liability at the site.”