Aug. 27th 2022
Avalon’s Separation Rapids Project is 70 kilometres north of Kenora. It’s a pegmatite deposit enriched in lithium minerals, namely petalite and lepidolite, coveted by manufacturers in the electric vehicle battery sector and manufacturers of high-strength glass and ceramic. The deposit has a 20-year mine life, according to a 2018 preliminary economic assessment.
The permitted quarry site is two kilometres north of the Sand Lake Road and seven kilometres south of the project site.
The site being cleared will house a demonstration-scale processing plant, known as a dense media separation (DMS) facility.
SOW will handle all the aggregate production, road repairs, site prep, and the crushing and hauling of a 5,000-tonne bulk sample excavated at the site last year. After the sample is crushed, the material will be returned to the quarry and run through the DMS plant.
The purpose of the DMS plant is to produce large samples for Avalon to present to potential customers in the international glass and ceramic market. There’s also a by-product that includes rubidium-bearing feldspars, used in certain ceramic applications.
The DMS plant will be installed this fall and is expected to be operating by spring 2023.
Avalon is on the path to establish Ontario’s first lithium chemical processing plant in Thunder Bay. The refinery would make lithium hydroxide for the battery manufacturers involved in the electric vehicle (EV) sector.
It would be vital piece to the critical minerals supply chain that the provincial and federal governments want to establish - and fund - to bridge the gap between mining and the battery manufacturing plants in the automotive industry.
The company said it’s made a purchase offer to acquire an undisclosed brownfield property in Thunder Bay to host the plant, which could handle lithium concentrate from Separation Rapids and from other potential lithium miners in the region.
Refinery construction would start in 2023 to be ready for production in 2026. Avalon said it expects to close the land deal in September once debt financing has been arranged.