DRILLING EXTENDS TANTALUM-BEARING PEGMATITES AT LILYPAD LAKES. SHORTAGES
CAUSE TANTALUM CONCENTRATE PRICES TO SOAR TO OVER US $300/lb
Avalon Ventures Ltd. ("Avalon") and Global Canada Company ("Global") are
pleased to announce the completion of an eight-hole, 1094 metre diamond
drill program at the Lilypad Lakes tantalum property near Pickle Lake,
Ontario. The first three holes tested each of the Pollucite, Rubellite and
South Pegmatite Dykes to depth. The final five holes continued testing of
the Rubellite Dyke, which displays the greatest thickness near surface and
appears to be widening with depth. Hole LRD00-11 showed that the Rubellite
Dyke widened from 24 m near-surface to approximately 28 m at a vertical
depth of 130 m. Two-hole step-out sections drilled 20-25 m north and south
of LRD00-11 showed a similar pattern with the dyke widening from 14 to 22 m
and 12 to 16 m to vertical depths of 50 and 80 m respectively. Assay
results from these holes are pending.
Assays have been received for hole LPD00-10 which traced the depth extent of
the Pollucite Dyke to 165 metres below surface, where it assayed 0.023%
Ta2O5 (0.5 lbs. tantalum oxide per tonne) along with very high grade cesium
values averaging 2.154% Cs2O (cesium oxide) across an estimated true width
of 8.0 metres. A new dyke swarm was encountered 25 metres below the
Pollucite Dyke which averaged 0.034% Ta2O5 over 10.10 metres core length,
including individual pegmatite intersections of 0.044% Ta2O5 over 1.15
metres, 0.049% Ta2O5 over 4.30 metres and 0.079% Ta2O5 over 1.05 metres.
Tantalum and cesium values were determined by XRF at XRAL Laboratories, Don
Mills, Ontario. A grade of 0.045% Ta2O5 is equivalent to approximately l
lb. Ta2O5 per metric tonne of rock. Remaining assays are expected before
Christmas and significant results will be announced as they become
available.
Demand for tantalum, particularly from the electronics industry, continues
to grow rapidly and is now expected to exceed 5.5 million lbs. for the year
2000, up from approximately 4.2 million lbs. in 1999. This has created
severe shortages and upward pressure on concentrate prices. Last week, the
U.S. Defense Logistics Agency announced that a sale of approximately 200,000
lbs. of tantalum mineral concentrates from the US National Defense Stockpile
was effected on an auction basis at a price of US $363.55/lb Ta2O5. This is
a 142% increase over the price of a similar sale done just three months ago
in September, 2000 and a more than 7-fold increase over 1999 sale prices.
Tantalum is a high-technology metal used in the production of miniature
high-efficiency electronic capacitors and in a variety of specialty metal
alloys used in the chemical and aerospace industries where its high
capacitance per unit volume, strength and resistance to corrosion make it
especially valuable. Tantalum capacitors are presently in particularly high
demand, accounting for 60% of the world tantalum market, because they are
now an essential component of cellular phones, pagers, computers, video game
systems and a host of other popular electronic products. These products are
experiencing explosive growth in popularity worldwide and new sources of
supply of tantalum will be required to meet anticipated future demand for
this strategic metal.
The cesium in the Pollucite Dyke occurs in the cesium ore mineral Pollucite.
Pollucite is presently mined at the Tanco mine at Bernic Lake, Manitoba,
where it is used by parent company Cabot Corporation to produce Cesium
Formate. This is a newly-developed specialty drilling fluid designed for
high-temperature, high-pressure oil wells. Cesium also has many other
high-technology applications which are limited in their development only by
the lack of defined cesium ore reserves, currently estimated at less than
500,000 tonnes worldwide. Concentrates of pure pollucite grading 24% Cs2O
have historically sold for in the order of US $1,000/tonne.
The Lilypad Lakes property is one of three tantalum projects being explored
under a joint venture agreement between Avalon and Global which gives Global
the right to earn up to a 75% interest in any one property by providing
financing for all exploration and development work to production. The
current program has a budget of $750,000 to be spent by December 31, 2000.
Avalon Ventures Ltd. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration and
development company with a focus on the "Metals of the Future", specifically
the high-technology metals tantalum, lithium, cesium, rubidium, platinum and
palladium. For further information contact Donald S. Bubar, at (416)
364-4938 or Blair Naughty, Manager, Investor Relations at (416) 536-7281.
Corporate information may also be accessed on the internet at
www.avalonventures.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Donald S. Bubar"
Donald S. Bubar, President
* The Canadian Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release* |
