AVALON/GLOBAL/BSAV TANTALUM DEAL CLOSES
TWO NEW TANTALUM PROPERTIES OPTIONED
Avalon Ventures Ltd. (the "Company") announces that the tantalum exploration
joint venture and warrant subscription agreement, announced on October 11,
2000, closed today with the issuance of 2,000,000 non-transferable share
purchase warrants to BSAV, Inc. The warrants are exercisable in four equal
tranches under certain conditions (as disclosed in the Company's news
release dated October 11, 2000) into common shares of the Company at an
exercise price of $1.00 per share. The warrants expire on July 31, 2005 and
any shares acquired upon their exercise will be subject to a hold period in
B.C. and Alberta expiring on April 18, 2001.
The Company is also pleased to announce that it has entered into option
agreements to acquire two new tantalum exploration properties in Canada.
The first property is called the Coldwell Tantalum property and is located
near Marathon, Ontario. The property consists of 15 claims totalling 6280
acres that cover tantalum occurrences in syenites of the Proterozoic-age
Coldwell Alkaline Intrusive Complex. The Coldwell property has excellent
potential to host a large tonnage disseminated tantalum deposit, similar to
the Motzfeldt Centre deposit in Greenland which is currently being
reevaluated by Angus & Ross PLC and hosts a reported geological resource of
80 million tonnes grading 0.01 - 0.03% Ta2O5. Initial sampling on the
Coldwell property has produced similar tantalum values of up to 0.03% Ta2O5
in select grab samples from altered syenites.
The Company can acquire a 100% interest in the Coldwell property by making
$50,000 in cash payments, issuing 80,000 shares and making $600,000 in
exploration expenditures on the property over 4 years, subject to a 2% NSR
royalty interest retained by the vendor, of which 1% can be bought back at
any time for $1.0 million. The initial firm commitments are a $5,000 cash
payment and issuance of 40,000 shares.
The second new tantalum property, called Shatford Lake, is located near
Bernic Lake, Manitoba, just 6 km southwest of the Tanco mine and adjoining
the mine property. Tanco, which is wholly-owned by Cabot Corporation
(CBT:NYSE), is North America's only current producer of tantalum and
historically was one of the world's richest tantalum deposits (2 million
tons @ 0.216% Ta2O5). The Shatford Lake property covers an intriguing
geological target for a buried Tanco-type tantalum-lithium-cesium-rubidium
pegmatite. Several narrow (0.5-2.0 m) tin-tantalum bearing pegmatites occur
on the property similar to those which occur above the Tanco orebody. Grab
samples from historical work on these pegmatites have reportedly returned
tantalum values of up to 0.05% Ta2O5.
The Company can acquire a 100% interest in the 1205 acre Shatford Lake
property (subject to a 2% NSR royalty of which 1% can be bought back at any
time for $1.0 million) by issuing 60,000 shares to the vendor in two
tranches of 30,000 shares, one upon regulatory approval of the agreement and
the second in one year (optional). A diamond drilling program to test this
target is planned for the property in 2001.
Under the Tantalum Joint Venture Agreement referred to above, Global Canada
Company has the right to participate in any new tantalum properties acquired
by the Company in Canada, on the same basis as the three properties which
are already subject to this agreement. Global have 30 days from the date of
receipt of technical data for the two new tantalum properties to make this
election.
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* |
