Avalon Ventures: Rare Earth - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Panem]

http://www.avalonventures.com/

- INFORMATIONEN DER HOMEPAGE ENTNOMMEN -

- ALLE Informationen sind öffentlich zugänglich -
---------------------------------------------------------
Avalon konzentriert sich auf Yttrium in Niob - hat aber auch andere Elemente am Thor Lake vorzuweisen.

Man möchte zunächst ein PP durchführen:

"October 24, 2007

Avalon Ventures Ltd. TSX-V: AVL (“Avalon”) is pleased to announce today that it has entered into an agreement with Research Capital Corporation (“Research Capital” or “Agent”) to act as its lead agent, of a syndicate including TD Securities Inc., for a private placement offering (the “Offering”) of up to approximately $15,000,000 of equity securities."


Drillresults:


Avalon concludes Phase 1 drilling on Thor Lake Rare Earth Elements Target

October 15, 2007

Avalon Ventures Ltd. TSX-V: AVL (the “Company”) is pleased to provide the following update on the Phase 1 drilling program on its 100% owned Thor Lake Rare Metals project located near Yellowknife, NWT.

The target of this program was the southern part of the Lake Zone Rare Earth Elements (“REE”) target, where 16 holes totaling 2551 metres were drilled. The 16 holes (of which three were abandoned short of the target depth due to drilling difficulties) tested previously undrilled portions of the southern part of the Lake Zone REE deposit where historical drilling has produced significant intersections such as a 5.2m interval in hole 81-1 which averaged 0.70% Y2O3 (‘yttrium oxide”) and 4.11% TREO (“Total Rare Earth Oxide”) having a high proportion of neodymium and the heavy rare earths. A location map for these holes and an interpretive cross section is available on the Company’s website. The program which began in late July, 2007, was concluded prior to the completion of the planned 3000 metres due to the early onset of winter conditions. A second phase program is scheduled to commence after freeze-up in January, 2008.

The current program has confirmed the presence of two mineralized alteration zones which form distinct dark-coloured horizontal layers within the tabular Lake Zone deposit. The zones vary in thickness from 10 to 35 metres and have now been traced laterally over distances of 1100 metres where they remain open for expansion. A total of 1160 samples of split drill core and standards have been submitted for assay, but due to extensive sample backlogs at the analytical labs, assay results are not expected for at least 6 weeks. This program is the first to be conducted using modern analytical methods that determine all the rare earth elements and modern QA/QC protocols. All drill core has been split and sent to the Acme Laboratories facility in Yellowknife for sample preparation. Assays will be performed both by Acme and Activation Laboratories of Ancaster, ON.

Preliminary petrographic work was carried out on a suite of 14 small split core samples collected from hole L07-54 by Dr. A. N. Mariano, consulting mineralogist, and a recognized expert in REE mineralogy. Dr. Mariano confirmed that the mineralized zones contain a complex suite of REE-bearing minerals including bastnaesite, allanite, synchisite, parasite, monazite and fergusonite along with zircon and magnetite. Fergusonite is an yttrium-niobium-tantalum oxide mineral which contains a high proportion of heavy REE’s such as terbium (Tb) and dysprosium (Dy) as well as the valuable light REE neodymium (Nd) in the following relative proportions:



Dr. Mariano’s mineralogical work confirmed previous observations that the fergusonite is primarily concentrated in the lowermost mineralized horizon which forms a 10 to 25 metre thick mineralized layer at depths of 140 to 175 metres. This horizon is considered the primary target for development due to its relatively high enrichment in the the heavy REE’s, which are in the highest demand because of their critical importance in new hybrid car technology and many popular consumer electronic products such as flat screen TV’s and portable music players.

The Lake Zone contains a very large inferred resource of rare metal mineralization as determined by independent consultant, Wardrop Engineering and first reported on January 22, 2007, as follows:
Lake Zone: Summary of Inferred Mineral Resources


The objective of the current work is to define indicated resources in the higher grade sub-zones within this large inferred resource that would be of sufficient size and grade to justify development. Large parts of the deposit covered by Thor Lake remain untested. These will be tested during the upcoming winter program, once a sufficient thickness of ice has formed. Drilling operations were supervised by J.C. Pedersen, P.Geo. and D.L. Trueman, P.Geo., under the overall direction of the Company’s Vice-President, Exploration, Dr. William Mercer, P.Geo.

About Avalon Ventures Ltd.

Avalon Ventures Ltd. (TSX-V: AVL) is a Canadian junior mineral exploration and development company, with a primary focus on rare metals and minerals with high technology applications or offering environmental benefits. Avalon currently holds a portfolio of five such projects, including three that are at, or close to, the feasibility stage. The Company operates with high standards for environmental protection and community engagement that meet or exceed current industry norms.

To find out more about Avalon Ventures Ltd. (TSX-V: AVL), please visit our website at www.avalonventures.com. Shares Outstanding as at the date of this release: 52,518,623. Cash resources: $1.3 million. This news release is available on the Company’s official on-line investor relations site for investor commentary, feedback and questions. Investors are invited to visit the “Avalon Ventures” IR Hub at http://www.agoracom.com/ir/avalon. In addition, investors are invited to e-mail their questions and correspondence to [e-mail] or phone Don Bubar, P.Geo., President, at 416-364-4938. Mr. Bubar is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this news release.

[Panem]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 32.137.208 von Panem am 24.10.07 18:02:19

Im Juni wurde eine Scoping Study zum Thor Lake veröffentlicht:

"Avalon Announces Results of Scoping Study on Thor Lake REE Resources

June 18, 2007

Avalon Ventures Ltd. TSX-V: AVL (the “Company”) is pleased to announce the results of a Scoping Study (or “Preliminary Economic Assessment” in accordance with NI 43-101 terminology), (the “Study”) on the rare metal resources delineated on its 100% owned Thor Lake project, located near Yellowknife, NWT. The Study was prepared by independent consultants, Wardrop Engineering Inc. (“Wardrop”). New NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimates for two of the six known mineralized zones at Thor Lake (Lake Zone and North T deposits), also prepared by Wardrop, were announced on January 22, 2007 and summary tables are reproduced for convenience at the end of this news release. The Study provides an initial development model and a preliminary economic analysis for the project based on the resource estimates for these two deposits.

The Study was commissioned by the Company in 2006 to evaluate the potential viability of recovering rare earth elements (“REE’s”) as a primary product from among many rare metals present in the resources known at Thor Lake. This was in response to growing demand for these elements in new environmental applications, especially from the automotive sector, where the REE’s are vital to the new technologies developed for more fuel efficient (“hybrid”) automobiles. Hybrid cars use rechargeable batteries along with electric motors and generators to power the car at low speeds and while idling, thereby reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases. REE’s are used in all three components but are most critical in the high-intensity permanent magnets which are key to making electric motors with the strength and efficiency required to power an automobile. Demand for hybrid cars is growing rapidly.

For an independent analysis of REE markets, complete with supply and demand forecasts, Wardrop relied on a recent research report produced by BCC Research (“BCC”), an industrial research firm based in Connecticut, USA. This report was purchased by the Company early in 2007 and provided to Wardrop as a basic reference. The BCC report forecasts growth in global demand for REE’s arising mainly from the automotive sector, at a rate of 10% year over year until 2010 from approximately 100,000 tonnes in 2006 to over 150,000 tonnes by 2010 expressed as “TREO” (Total Rare Earth Oxides or the sum of all 14 REE’s plus yttrium). During this period, primary supply sources located mainly in China are not expected to significantly increase production creating a growing supply-demand gap. As discussed below, this is already causing significant price increases for certain REE’s such as neodymium, required for the magnet applications. This also creates opportunities for new primary suppliers to enter the market. Wardrop concludes that the REE resources at Thor Lake, while requiring significant further work to bring them to the feasibility level of analysis, represent an attractive potential development opportunity for the Company.

The development model utilized by Wardrop for the Study contemplates initiating production on the more advanced Indicated Resource in the North T deposit, then following depletion of that resource after approximately 4-5 years of operation, transitioning production to the much larger Inferred Resource in the Lake Zone deposit. In accordance with NI43-101, it must be stated that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

In the base case scenario, a conservative production rate of 500 tonnes per year (tpy) TREO was forecasted. Discounted cash flow analysis of this scenario using 2006 commodity prices and capital and operating costs as documented below, yields a positive result of a 18.7% return on investment (“ROI”) and a net present value (NPV) of $111.5 million at a 5% discount rate and on a pre-tax basis over a mine life of 35 years. With the likelihood of significant growth in demand over the next 3-5 years for REE’s as forecast by BCC, two other production scenarios were modeled with longterm production rates of 1000 tpy and 2000 tpy TREO, since the large size of the resource in the Lake Zone deposit could likely support a higher production rate if there is sufficient demand for the product.

At 2000 tpy, economies of scale lead to increased profitability with an ROI of 26.7% and an NPV of $356.1 million as documented below. An 18 year mine life was used in these scenarios to reflect the more rapid depletion of the resource at these production rates, although there is scope for expansion of the resource with further drilling. The economic analysis includes by-product credits for beryllium recovery from the North T deposit (it is not known to occur in the Lake Zone) plus by-product credits for tantalum and zirconium recovery from the Lake Zone (where they occur with the REE’s), but does not include other potential rare metals products such as niobium, lithium or gallium.

Production Case tonnes per year Y+TREO


ROI


NPV @ 5%


Mine Life (Years)

North T + Lake Zone @ 500 tonnes / year


18.7%


111,574,000


35

North T + Lake Zone @ 1,000 tonnes / year


21.8%


159,180,000


18

North T + Lake Zone @ 2,000 tonnes / year


26.7%


356,104,000


18

The reader is reminded that in accordance with NI43-101, a preliminary economic assessment such as the foregoing includes Inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that this Preliminary Economic Assessment will be realized. In fact, it will almost certainly change as new information is generated on the mineral resources and processing methodology.

The capital cost estimate for the base case production scenario involving initial development of the North T deposit at a mining rate of 215,000 tpy followed by development of the Lake Zone with a mining rate of 429,000 tpy is $123.2 million spread over an 8 year period. Operating costs for the T Zone ores are estimated at $69.59 per tonne of ore milled, and a preliminary estimate for the Lake Zone ore, for which a flow-sheet has not yet been established, is $134.73 per tonne milled. The model assumes mining by open pit methods and processing of the ore on site to produce mineral concentrates by flotation methods. REE recoveries of 65.7% are assumed based on preliminary bench scale testwork but these have yet to be confirmed. The model further assumes construction of a plant at another site in Alberta with access to lower cost power, to process the REE mineral concentrates to produce individual rare earth oxide products to 99% plus purity levels. Beryllium concentrates would be sold to an existing processor.

The REE resources at Thor Lake are of significant current interest to the market because of their relatively high proportions of contained heavy rare earths such as terbium and dysprosium. These are in growing demand from the automotive sector but typically occur in very low concentrations in the majority of known REE deposits. The Lake Zone contains sub-zones enriched in an yttrium-tantalum-niobium oxide mineral called fergusonite which has high a proportion of heavy rare earth elements plus neodymium, according to the following proportional distribution:

Element


Y


La


Ce


Pr


Nd


Sm


Eu


Gd


Tb


Dy


Ho


Er


Tm


Yb


Lu

Oxide %


29.05


0.30


4.40


1.70


15.6


10.4


1.60


14.3


1.80


9.80


1.20


4.10


0.70


4.40


0.7

Y denotes yttrium, La=lanthanum, Ce=cerium, Pr=praseodymium, Nd=neodymium, Sm=samarium, Eu=europium, Gd=gadolinium, Tb=terbium, Dy=dysprosium, Ho=holmium, Er=erbium, Tm=thulium, Yb=ytterbium, and Lu=lutetium.

In the North T deposit, the principal heavy rare earth bearing mineral phase is xenotime, which has the following proportional distribution of REE’s.

Element

Y


La


Ce


Pr


Nd


Sm


Eu


Gd


Tb


Dy


Ho


Er


Tm


Yb


Lu

Oxide %


55.31


0.10


0.02


0.10


0.20


1.80


0.70


11.6


2.50


15.6


3.10


5.41


0.60


2.20


0.70

The price assumptions used by Wardrop for the REE oxides range from US$2.00 and 1.70/kg for lanthanum and cerium to US$20, $21, $120, and $500/kg for praseodymium, neodymium, dysprosium and terbium respectively, as at December 31, 2006. Recent price quotes for these elements as oxides on an FOB China basis, as reported on May 17, 2007 by Metal-Pages.com, are $1.70 and $1.20/kg for lanthanum and cerium respectively. The elements needed for the magnets including praseodymium, neodymium, dysprosium and terbium were quoted by Metal-Pages at US$29, $30, $85 and $575/kg respectively. Since most REE deposits have a distribution with >80% cerium plus lanthanum, these two REE’s are now in oversupply as current REE producers seek to increase production of praseodymium and neodymium to meet the growing demand from magnet manufacturers. This underlines the need for new producers with mineral resources having an REE distribution which is more reflective of current market demand, such as that indicated for the xenotime and fergusonite at Thor Lake. A complete list of price assumptions used is provided in the Study.

The economic model tested by Wardrop envisions a 25% market share capture specifically for yttrium and the heavy rare earth elements such as terbium and dysprosium, an assumption based on the lack of a North American supply source and reduced supply from China (the present supplier of approximately 95% of world market demand) in response to growing domestic demand.

The results of the Study demonstrate that the Thor Lake REE project can achieve acceptable returns on invested capital and therefore warrants further investment to advance the project to a pre-feasibilty or feasibility level of analysis. Increased rates of return are achievable through any combination of higher prices, increased product sales, higher reserve grades or metal recoveries. Wardrop recommends that the Thor Lake project proceed to completion of at least a Pre-feasibility level analysis. The recommended work includes further drilling of the Lake Zone to better define REE resources to an Indicated level of confidence, metallurgical testwork on both the Lake Zone and North T REE mineralization, environmental studies, and continuing community engagement. The estimated minimum cost of this work program is $3.2 million with the work to be conducted in two phases beginning with a $1,200,000 summer drilling program anticipated to start in July, 2007, following receipt of requisite land use permits. Funding for the first part of this program is already in place.

The minimum $2,000,000 Phase II program budget involves further definition drilling of the Lake Zone, metallurgical testwork leading to pilot plant commercial testing, market and environmental studies, community consultation, engineering design and economic modeling. This would begin in January, 2008, subject to positive results from Phase I and arranging additional project financing.

Kevin Palmer, P.Geo. was the qualified person from Wardrop Engineering Inc. responsible for this resource estimation. Tim Maunula, P.Geo. of Wardrop Engineering reviewed his work and assisted with the development of the estimation parameters. Paul Franklin, P. Eng. and Peter Broad, P.Eng. were the engineers responsible for the developing the capital and operating cost estimates and the economic models. David L. Trueman, Ph. D., P.Geo., who has direct experience with the project dating back to 1983, reviewed all the data on behalf of the Company and contributed to the interpretation and market analysis where requested by Wardrop. The full Study will be accessible on SEDAR and the Executive Summary will be available on the Company’s website."

QUELLE: AVALON VENTURES - HOMEPAGE

[Panem]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 32.137.208 von Panem am 24.10.07 18:02:19

Richtig müsste es heissen: "Yttrium und Niob"

[Fruehrentner]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 32.137.208 von Panem am 24.10.07 18:02:19

Hallo panem,

Avalon hatte ich immer mal sporadisch auf meiner watch list.

Diesen thread hier nehm ich in meine Favoritenliste

[Panem]

Freut mich!

Mal sehen, was man hier noch auf die Beine stellt.

Die NPV ist nicht sehr hoch, aber das ROI ist gut.

Das ist hier nicht zwingend mein Favorit, aber "worth watching".

[micdid]

FYI


Interview with Dr. Anthony Mariano on 6 July 2007.
The following are excerpts from our conversation:

COX: So how did you get interested in rare earths?

DR. MARIANO: How did I get interested in rare earths? I worked in a basic research lab with Kennecott Copper, and at that time, I was an earth scientist. I was able to do anything I wanted in research. One day one of the professors at Boston University, Arthur Brownlow, gave a talk. He had just visited the Fen carbonatite in Norway, and the Alno carbonatite in Sweden. He brought back a suite of rocks. As he talked about the mineralogy and the geochemistry of these carbonatites, I became fascinated with the unusual minerals that occur in carbonatites. Arthur Brownlow ended up giving me all of the rocks that he collected. While working for Kennecott in basic research, I discovered that Kennecott had 50% of the Bond zone, the Oka carbonatite in Quebec. I began working on Oka and conducting research on carbonatites from various world localities that were known to contain rare earths, niobium, and tantalum. Shortly after, the chief geologist from Molycorp, John Bryant at the time, (who used to be an ex-Kennecott geologist), invited me to go to Mountain Pass and look at the deposit. I did some research work on the Mountain Pass mineralogy and geochemistry, and also in rocks from Araxa, another carbonatite in Brazil that Molycorp owned. They invited me there in 1968. I continued to do research work –traveling to Africa, South America, and Canada to look at carbonatites. I became fascinated with the carbonatite at Blue River in British Columbia because of its unusual geologic occurrence in active orogenic environment and because of the high tantalum content. [Blue River is now owned by Commerce Resources].
Rare earths have an intrinsic property that allows you to differentiate carbonatites from non-igneous calcium carbonate or dolomite-rich rocks. I just became fascinated with the rare earths in mineralogy and their total geochemistry and distribution.

COX: And here you are, years later.
DR. MARIANO: Yes. But I’ve extended my expertise to include other rare elements that are often found associated with carbonatites, or alkaline igneous rocks. So I don’t just work on carbonatites. The Pitinga Younger granite, the Younger granites of Nigeria, the Thor Lake granite — they are not carbonatites — but they are enriched in rare elements, which now constitute my area of specialization.
COX: What other elements do you look at? What are some of the other rare metals that you follow?
DR. MARIANO: Titanium is not necessarily rare. It’s an industrial mineral, but it’s often concentrated in beach sands. The mineral apatite may also be concentrated in carbonatites. Agricultural apatite from carbonatites is mined in the Kola peninsula, Russia, extensively in Brazil and in Palabora, South Africa, and Ontario, Canada. I get involved in zirconium also — which can occur in substantial amounts in alkaline rocks and in carbonatites.

COX: How would you describe the present state of the rare earth market, or rare earth mining?
DR. MARIANO: There are so many demands now, particularly dealing with the use of the high field strength magnets in hybrid automobiles, and the use of the rare earths in catalytic converters. There are many unique properties of rare earth elements that cannot be substituted for by other elements. Years ago, people were talking about substituting copper with aluminum, but copper has unique properties, and aluminum could never take over the copper market. This is particularly true with the rare earths. The valence electrons of the rare earths are sub-orbital electrons that occur in a lower shell of the electron configuration of the rare earth elements. This introduces properties to the rare earths that are rather unique, and they’re not replaceable. So the demand is always going to be there. Research work continues to be done where we are constantly finding new applications for the rare earth elements. The outlook for the rare earth market is very good, and it’s going to continue to be — especially since rare earth elements and their utilization are of strategic importance.

COX: What do you see as the greatest risks for the rare earth market?
DR. MARIANO: There are 14 rare earths [promethium (Pm) is not usually counted because it does not occur naturally], 15 including yttrium, and if you want to include scandium, you get 16. The demands for the rare earths are very dynamic. One day there’s a big demand for a certain rare earth and tomorrow that demand diminishes and some of the other rare earths gain greater value. One has to be working on deposits that are enriched in the rare earths that are currently in demand. I think the best solution for that is to have a deposit that has all of the rare earths and the sophisticated technology of separating them and being able to produce high-grade products of oxides or metals. You have to be able to provide the world market demands.

COX: What do you think are the common misperceptions about rare earths? What are some of the things that people just don’t get yet?
DR. MARIANO: One of the big misconceptions in exploration is that people see anomalous rare earths in any deposit that they are working on, and then they immediately think they have a potential economic rare earth deposit. That’s the biggest misconception. Keep in mind that during the 70s and 80s, Molycorp — who pretty much had the rare earth market at that time –- would not look at any deposit if it had less than 2% total rare earths. A number of years later, the Chinese made the innovation where they could mine orders of magnitude less rare earths from the ion-absorbed South China clays, which currently play a very significant role in the world market for rare earths. People may discover a deposit, but they’re not able to make proper evaluations on the worth of rare earth deposits.

COX: How dominant do you think China is right now?

DR. MARIANO: They’re totally dominant. Who else is producing rare earths? Molycorp is going to start building up again later this year, hopefully, but their labor costs may still be very high compared to China. They are working on refining their extraction chemistry skills that can make them very competitive with the rest of the world — and that may be very much to their advantage. Right now, the rare earths are all coming from bastnaesite from Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia, bastnaesite from Sichuan in China, and the ion-absorbed rare earth clays in South China. Also there may be small amounts of monazite or xenotime that may be coming as a by-product of ilmenite and/or cassiterite mining in Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia. But that’s probably on a very small scale.

COX: What are some of the things that have surprised you the most during your involvement in the rare earths?

DR. MARIANO: Well, the thing that surprised me the most was the ion-absorbed clays. That was a fabulous innovation that the Chinese made. When I was a little boy playing with toys, if they were made in China or Japan, you threw them away. You used them a couple of times and then they broke. I think a lot of Westerners developed the idea — although totally incorrect — that the Asians are very good at copying, but they are not innovators. That is absolutely incorrect. And when you consider the research that Molycorp and Rhone-Poulenc put in to rare earths — they were just totally outdone by the Chinese with that fabulous innovation.

[micdid]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 32.178.053 von micdid am 28.10.07 00:43:26

Hallo Panem,

da hast du deinen Worten ja Taten folgen lassen und einen REE-Explorer vorgestellt.

Ja interessant ist Avalon, aber recht unübersichtlich, sowie noch im frühen Stadium.

Hier mal meine erste Einschätzung:

Chancen:
- sehr grosse Ressource (wenn auch bisher low grade)
- potentielle Highgrade Zone
- möglicherweise gute Verteilung teurer Elemente (HREE+Nd)
- Beryllium als By-Product interessant (ca. 770USD/kg)
- NI 41-101 , aber noch kleine Ressource, hpts. inferred
- Explorationspotential, da erst 2 von 6 Zonen bearbeitet
- Wahrer Wohlstand hat sie auf der Watch
- Einziger interessanter REE Titel in Nordamerika
- weitere Projekte u.a. mit selten Metallen wie Gallium 350USD/kg, Lithium ca. 6-7 USD/kg, Calzium-Feldspar ca. 100USD/t

Risiken:
- Ein Companymaker bei den versch. Projekten für mich noch nicht absehbar. Fokussierung unklar.
- Äusserst abgelegene Lage ohne Infrastruktur, daher grosse Abbaumengen + Minelife erforderlich.
- Grossteil der Ressource ist low grade
- Für Abbau im Hauptdeposit Lake Zone müsste der See abgelassen werden
- Beryllium ist erst abbaubar wenn zuvor die HREE-Separation geklärt ist
- Weder detailiertes Flowsheet, noch mineralogische oder metallurgische Tests durch geführt
- Daher wohl sehr lange Dauer bis zur Produktion, wenn überhaupt ( > 7 Jahre, imo)
- Selbst ohne die Erfahrungen mit der ARU-PFS gefällt mir das Ergebnis der Scoping Study gar nicht! Ich sage nur NPV @ 5% !!! Wer bei Aru raus ist müsste hier rennen, denn der Aru-NPV @ 5 statt 10% gerechnet würde grob gerechnet um das 4-5fache ansteigen!!! (Soviel noch mal, und dann ist auch gut, zum Verständnis von konservativen/agressiven Kalkulationen)


Ich bin nicht investiert und werde AVL zumindest solange nur beobachten bis sie:

- ihre Ressource aufwerten, also von inferred auf measured/indicated verbessern können,
- die Grades erhöhen können, und damit überhaupt erst die Vorraussetzungen für Infrastrukturinvestitionen etc entstehen können
- ein Modell für Separation der HREE entsteht, da hiervon wohl auch die Berylliumgewinnung als By-Produkt abhängt
- andere Wahnsinnsergebnisse kommen (z.B. Beryllium, Gallium)
- oder der Kurs sich halbiert…


AVL ist neben NAV und vielleicht noch ALK das einzig interessante Unternehmen im REE Sektor.
Bei Letzteren kommt die Fantasie aber eher aus Gold bzw. Zirkonium.

Allesamt sind sie aber weit hinter Aru und Lyc zurück was Grösse des Deposits, Grade und Metallurgie angeht.
Während LYC wegen Vorwärtsverkäufen und naher Produkion in einer anderen Liga spielt, sind Aru, Avl, Alk, und Nav eher vergleichbar was die MK und einen möglichen Produktionsbeginn angeht.

Speziell im Vergleich AVL und ARU sprechen alle Argumente bzgl. REE für Aru, sodass die Fantasie bei AVL für mich aus Beryllium oder anderen Projekts kommen muss.
Gallium oder Lithium klingen ja auch ganz gut, ich bezweifle aber das man darin einen Companymaker sehen kann.
Speziell auf Lithium würde ich nicht bauen, da man kostenmässig sicher nicht mit Firmen with SQM und anderen chilenischen bzw. argentinische Firmen mithalten kann und diese ihre Produktion ganz massiv ausweiten.

Vielleicht kann ich mit meiner Einschätzung eine interessante Diskussion anstossen insbesondere mit Investoren von Avalon die vielleicht schon tiefer in die komplizierte Materie eingestiegen sind. Ich lasse mich gern eines Besseren belehren.

So long,

Mic

[Popeye82]

[Panem]

Nochmal:

Es ist in zwingend so, dass ich Werte, welche ich vorstelle, für besonders GUT halte.

Das ist möglicherweise so - möglicherweise aber auch nicht.

Ich halte sie allerdings auf jeden Fall für interessant.

[micdid]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 32.272.622 von Panem am 04.11.07 08:40:01

Hallo Panem,

ist DAS deine Antwort auf MEIN Posting???

DAS war doch aus #5 schon bekannt...

Meine sicher unvollständige Ersteinschätzung liegt auf dem Tisch und ich fordere ganz allgemein zur offenen Diskussion auf.
Und dies gewiss nicht aus Desinteresse, denn ich geize eher noch mit Postings.

Da gibt es doch sicher genug Ansatzpunkte, dass es jetzt losgehen könnte, wie ich finde.

Also Leute, ich höre...

Mic


ps: Wieso denn "Nochmal"???
Grübel, Grübel... oder war das an Popeye gerichtet?
Weiss leider auch nicht was er uns sagen will...

[micdid]

Einer meiner Lieblingsinvestmentprofis aus USA, John Kaiser von http://www.kaiserbottomfish.com/, ist nun auch auf Avalon, und die kommende Bedeutung der REE aufmerksam geworden.
Gut auch für alle REE Werte, wenn REE endlich in den USA breiter wahrgenommen werden.
http://www.agoracom.com/executive/KaiserBottomFishOnline.htm…
Bei agoracom wird übrigens auch über Avalon diskutiert.

Letzte Entwicklungen: Vollständige Meldungen sind auf der website einzusehen.

24.10.07, Avalon Announces $15 Million Equity Financing

Im Gegensatz zum letzten ARU-PP hier mit den in Canada üblichen Warrants und Anreizen für den Broker + satte 7% Gebühren.
Ohne "Bezahlung" kein Support. But that's business in Canada, leider.

15.10.07, Avalon concludes Phase 1 drilling on Thor Lake Rare Earth Elements Target

Leider liegt das High Grade Haupttarget bis dato recht tief, in 140-170m Tiefe.
Schafft man es dieses Target zu vergrössern und in die indicated Kategorie zu überführen kommt eine ökonomische Entwicklung von Thor Lake in Sicht.
Ende des Jahre ist mit weiteren Ergebnissen zu rechnen.
Anfang 2008 sollen auch Targets der grossen Zone "unter" dem Thor Lake gebohrt werden, wenn dieser "zugefroren" ist.


Steht weiter unter Beobachtung.

[MONSIEURCB]

Press Release Source: Avalon Ventures Ltd.

Avalon Announces New Board Appointment and Grants of Incentive Stock Options
Tuesday November 27, 11:02 am ET

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Nov. 27, 2007) - Avalon Ventures Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:AVL - News; the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Peter McCarter to the Company's Board of Directors.

Mr. McCarter was Executive Vice-President, Corporate Affairs, Secretary and a director of Aur Resources Inc. prior to its acquisition this year by Teck Cominco Limited. Prior to joining Aur Resources in 1989, Mr. McCarter practiced law at the Toronto law firm of Aird & Berlis from 1978-1989, specializing in corporate, securities and resource law. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto (B.A., 1974) and York University (Osgoode Hall) where he obtained his LL.B and M.B.A degrees in 1978. Mr. McCarter is also a director of Thundermin Resources Inc. and has periodically served on several advisory committees to the Ontario Securities Commission.

Mr. McCarter has been granted 175,000 incentive stock options exerciseable at a price of $1.82 per share for a period of five years from the date of grant of the options. The options will vest at the rate of 25% per year. Any shares issuable on exercise of the options will be subject to a four month hold period beginning on the date of grant of the options. A second director is being granted 50,000 options on the same terms, to replace a similar amount exercised earlier this year prior to their expiry.

[micdid]

FYI

Avalon Präsentation

http://www.prospectsnorth.com/program/documents/presentation…

[MONSIEURCB]

Also ich für meinen Teil bin raus - der Wert bleibt auf meiner watchlist, wird aber wohl noch mindestens 1-2 Jahre herumdümpeln. Allen Investierten viel Erfolg!

[Nebiim]

Falls es jemand interessiert ...

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AVALON VENTURES LTD ("AVL-V")
Assays From Thor Lake Phase 1 Drilling Confirm Presence of High Grade Rare Earth Element Mineralized Zones in Lake Zone Deposit
1/8/2008

Avalon Ventures Ltd. (the "Company") is pleased to announce initial
assay results from the Phase 1 drilling program carried out from August 1 to October 15, 2007 in the Lake Zone deposit on its 100% owned Thor Lake Rare Metals project located near Yellowknife, NWT. The results from 7 of 13 completed holes received to date confirm the presence of several 4 to 23 metre wide intervals of relatively high grade Rare Earth Element ("REE") mineralization, within a broad mineralized envelope averaging over 100 metres in thickness.

Highlights include sub-intervals of 9.4m of 2.16% TREO in hole L07-58, 15.6m of 2.25% TREO and 23.4m of 1.90% TREO in hole L07-60 and 21.8m of 2.32% TREO in hole L07-61A, where TREO is defined as the sum of all 14 REE plus Yttrium, expressed in oxide form. Individual intercepts averaged as high as 3.59% TREO over 4.0 metres in hole L07-52 and 5.06% TREO over 5.5m in hole L07-58. The mineralized envelope typically averages around 1.0% TREO (Tables 1 and 2).

Of greater significance is the confirmation of a relatively high
proportion of the heavy rare earth elements Europium through Lutetium ("HREE") in all of these intercepts. The content of HREO (Heavy Rare Earth Oxides) as a percentage of TREO ranges from 7.9% to 17.2% over the entire mineralized envelope and selected sub-intervals average as high as 30.9% HREO over 4.0 metres such as the interval reported above in hole L07-52. By comparison, most known rare earth deposits are dominated by the light rare earths and typically contain less than 3% HREO. The Lake Zone is a very unusual REE deposit for its relatively high content of some of the more scarce and valuable heavy rare earth elements such as Terbium, Europium and Dysprosium compared to other known magmatic REE deposits.

Individual HREE values were as high as 1100 ppm terbium oxide, 210 ppm europium oxide and 1691 ppm dysprosium oxide over widths of 2.0 metres (Table 3). Bid prices for these oxides as reported for January 3, 2008 by Metal-Pages.com on an FOB China basis are: US$600/kg Tb, US$340/kg Eu and US$92/kg Dy compared to just US$3.60/kg for the more abundant Light REE cerium. These elements are in short supply yet are critical to many new applications in electronics (colour phosphors) and hybrid cars (high intensity magnets). In addition to the HREE, these zones contain high levels of neodymium oxide (Nd2O3), a light rare earth element also in high demand for high intensity magnet applications, that is currently quoted at US$29/kg on an FOB China basis. The high grade sub-zones typically contain in excess of 2,000ppm Nd2O3. Two 2.0 metre sub-zones produced assays of 6,083ppm Nd2O3 and 8,526 ppm Nd2O3, respectively (Table 3).

The main objectives of the Phase 1 drill program were to begin to
delineate higher grade sub-zones of REE mineralization within the Lake Zone deposit and increase confidence in the HREE content of this mineralization through the systematic use of modern analytical methods with appropriate quality control and assurance (QA/QC). These objectives have been achieved, although large areas of the known resource underlying Thor Lake remain to be tested. These areas will be drilled in a minimum 5,000 metre Phase 2 program set to begin within the next 2-3 weeks.

The assay results received to date confirm visual observations that the high grade REE mineralization occurs within a series of alteration zones which form 10-35 metre thick dark-coloured, horizontal to gently-dipping layers within the tabular Lake Zone deposit. The layers with the highest HREE content typically occur near the base of the deposit between vertical depths of 100 and 175 metres. Preliminary petrographic work indicates that the zones containing a high proportion of HREO are characterized by the presence of fergusonite, an yttrium-niobium, tantalum oxide mineral that preferentially concentrates the HREE along with neodymium.These layers are magnetic and also characterized by high contents of visible zircon mineralization. They appear to be laterally extensive over distances of 500-1000 metres but further in-fill drilling will be required to correlate individual intercepts and establish indicated resources.

In addition to the REE mineralization, these zones exhibit strong
enrichment in other rare metals notably zirconium, hafnium, gallium, tantalum and niobium as well as minor thorium (Table 4). For example, the 4.0 metre interval in hole L0-52 averages 17,620 ppm zirconium oxide, 388ppm hafnium oxide, 142ppm gallium oxide, 781ppm tantalum oxide 7,128ppm niobium oxide and 864ppm thorium oxide. Hafnium is a rare metal often found with zirconium that is now in increasing demand for new electronics applications in semi-conductors, but with few defined supply sources.

The locations of all the Phase 1 drill holes are listed in Table 1.
Complete assay data are now available for drill holes L07-52, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61A and 62. Hole L07-62 was drilled on the southwestern edge of the deposit and produced no REE values of economic interest. Assays are pending for holes L07-53, 54, 55, 56, 63 and 64. These will be reported once all remaining results have been received. Full analytical details of all intervals for all REE and other rare metals received to date are posted on the Company's website along with a drill hole location plan and sections at
http://www.avalonventures.com/projects/rare/thor_lake.

The 2007 drilling program was the first such program on the Lake Zone deposit to use modern analytical methods to systematically determine the full suite of rare earth elements. Accordingly, a rigorous QA/QC program was implemented for all of the program samples to ensure high quality data.
Analytical standards were prepared from crushed rejects of historical Lake Zone samples, then analysed at five separate laboratories to determine reproducible values. These standards were then routinely inserted into the sample batches to monitor core analyses. All drill core was split on site, bagged on 2m intervals and shipped to Acme Laboratories facility in Yellowknife for sample preparation. Acme then shipped pulverized splits from all the samples its laboratory in Vancouver, BC and also to Activation Laboratories ("Actlabs") in Ancaster, ON.

The results reported to date were produced by Acme and achieved
acceptable standard values. Additional assays from Actlabs are not yet available. All samples are being analysed in both laboratories by lithium metaborate/tetraborate fusion and dilute nitric acid digestion, followed by whole rock and 45 element multielement ICP analysis. Details of the factors used to calculate rare earth oxides are posted on the Company website along with complete analytical data.

Drilling operations were performed by Peak Drilling Ltd. of Courtenay B.C. under the supervision of J.C. Pedersen, P.Geo. and D.L. Trueman, Ph.D., P.Geo. The Company's Vice-President, Exploration, William Mercer, Ph.D., P.Geo. provided overall direction on the project.

About Avalon Ventures Ltd.

Avalon Ventures Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:AVL) is a Canadian junior mineral
exploration and development company, with a primary focus on the rare metals and minerals that are in increasing demand for numerous emerging "green" technologies in alternative energy and fuel efficient cars as well as many new electronics and aerospace applications. Avalon currently holds a portfolio of five such projects, including three that are at, or close to, the feasibility stage. Shares Outstanding: 63,856,748. Cash resources: $16.4 million.

To find out more about Avalon Ventures Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:AVL), please visit our website at www.avalonventures.com. This news release is available on the Company's official on-line investor relations site for investor commentary, feedback and questions. Investors are invited to visit the "Avalon Ventures" IR Hub at http://www.agoracom.com/ir/avalon. In addition, investors are invited to e-mail their questions and correspondence to
[e-mail] or phone Don Bubar, P.Geo. President, at 416-364-4938. Mr. Bubar and Dr. Mercer are the Qualified Persons responsible for the technical content of this news release.

The language used in this News Release may contain forward-looking
statements that may involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's
forward-looking statements and expectations.

[Fruehrentner]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 33.012.208 von Nebiim am 10.01.08 20:33:13

und, schon investiert?