Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. (TSX: AVL, OTCQB: AVLNF): Developing Separation Rapids Lithium Project, Re-Activating Cesium-Tantalum-Lithium Project and Recovering Critical Minerals from Historic Mine Wastes; Don Bubar, President and CEO Interviewed | By Dr. Allen Alper, PhD Economic Geology and Petrology, Columbia University, NYC, USA
on 5/12/2021
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. (TSX: AVL, OTCQB: AVLNF) is a Canadian mineral development company, specializing in sustainably produced materials for clean technology. Avalon is currently focusing on developing its Separation Rapids Lithium Project, near Kenora, Ontario, while looking at several new project opportunities, including re-activating its 100%-owned Lilypad Cesium-Tantalum-Lithium Project, in northwestern Ontario. We learned from Don Bubar, who is President and CEO of Avalon Advanced Materials that the Company is committed to producing critical minerals, for clean technologies, in sustainable ways, including from historic mine wastes. Plans for 2021 include more metallurgical testwork, on its Separation Rapids lithium bulk sample, to finalize process flowsheets and produce samples of the product for interested customers, as well as re-activating our Lilypad Project, with a focus on its cesium potential.
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc.
Dr. Allen Alper: This is Dr. Allen Alper, Editor-in-Chief of Metals News, talking with Don Bubar, who is President and CEO of Avalon Advanced Materials, Inc. Don, could you talk about your participation in the Wall Street Green Summit panel on sustainable mining and about Avalon Advanced Materials and the situation with critical minerals? Also discuss the role Avalon is playing in this arena.
Don Bubar: Sustainable mining is a general theme and encompasses a number of aspects of what we're doing. Number one we are trying to produce these critical minerals for clean technologies, in sustainable ways that are very ESG friendly (ESGI, in Canada now to include Indigenous). It requires more innovation, in terms of extraction processes, and more R&D on how we can better use some of these more obscure elements, in the periodic table, in beneficial ways, in clean technology. That helps create the demand to justify creating a supply, to serve the needs in clean technology.
It just makes sense to produce them in sustainable ways. We have the opportunity now to look at historic mine wastes as opportunities to recover some of these non-traditional commodities, that were often present in mineral deposits, mined in the past for one traditional commodity, but weren't recognized as having any value and just went into the waste. One example we have been looking at for 15 years is the old East Kemptville tin mine, in southwestern Nova Scotia, which closed prematurely in 1992 after a drop in the price of tin. Such tin resources also contain other critical minerals, including indium, gallium, germanium and even lithium, where there are opportunities to recover these elements from the wastes, using new more efficient recovery processes, remediate the long-term liabilities while you do it, and contribute to the circular economy. The mining industry hasn't been thought of as being able to participate in the circular economy, but this is certainly one way that it can.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds like an excellent approach for the environment and for mining, making available critical elements. Don, could you also give our readers/investors an overview of Avalon Advanced Materials and touch on some of the critical minerals you are exploring for and developing?
Don Bubar:Avalon is a Canadian mineral development Company, based in Toronto, with most of our assets in Canada and northern Ontario, where we have been in business for 26 years. We first started looking at these non-traditional commodities, like lithium, cesium, and tantalum 25 years ago. Maybe it was a bit early then, but it looks like our time has come. We're generally recognized as one of the leaders here now, in trying to initiate these critical minerals supply chains. We learned along the way that a lot of the challenges, are just timing in terms of being ready to serve new demand in the market often created by new applications for critical minerals in clean technology. You need to be positioned, with a resource that you can get started quickly, in order to be able to meet that new demand.
We learned that the hard way, over the years and now realize that a good strategy would be to have a diversified asset base that would give us exposure to a broad range of these critical minerals, so that we could react more quickly to a sudden surge in demand for one of these minerals, often triggered by new technology. That is the approach we are taking and why we've re-branded the Company as Avalon Advanced Materials to reflect our diversified approach and focus on new technology. But I guess we really couldn't anticipate that they'd all be in demand at the same time. That's the circumstance we are in right now, kind of a nice problem to have. We have potential to bring along new supplies of all the ones we've been working on in the past, including rare earth elements.
Dr. Allen Alper: That sounds excellent. I know you have an advanced lithium project, as well as rare earths. You also have rare earths, cesium and tantalum opportunities. I wonder if you could update our readers/investors about those projects.
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