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Once the pandemic coast is clear, Avalon Advanced Materials intends to extract a large mineral sample at their Separation Rapids Lithium Project, north of Kenora.
Avalon wants to extract a 5,000-tonne bulk sample to process large samples for potential customers in the glass and ceramic business,
The Toronto tech mineral exploration company released an April 13 update on their plan to resume field work this summer at their advanced exploration project, 70 kilometres north of Kenora, once conditions look safe to do so.
Avalon wants to develop the 2,421-hectare property into an open-pit mine and go into commercial production by 2022.
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The company calls Separation Rapids a rare pegmatite deposit enriched in the lithium minerals of petalite and lepidolite.
Petalite is used to make high strength glass and as a high purity feed to make battery-grade lithium hydroxide. Lepidolite concentrates are also used for production of battery grade lithium carbonate.
The company has been working on the metallurgical processing side of things with the aim of producing a high grade, low impurity petalite concentrate for specialty glass applications.
Avalon is hoping the samples taken will lead to off-take agreements from glass and ceramic manufacturers that will support the project’s development.
Back in 2018, Avalon released a preliminary economic assessment placing a 20-year mine life on the project.
The company has been working with the Saskatchewan Research Council on a processing method that involves sensor-based ore sorting and dense media separation.
Avalon also said they’re dusting off their Lilypad Tantalum-Cesium Project this summer.
The property is located near Fort Hope (Eabametoong First Nation and has been largely untouched since ran a work program up there in the early 2000s that producing “encouraging results” but were never followed up on.
The company said there’s renewed market interest in tantalum from non-conflict sources.
