$1.25 Million Phase II Work Program Initiated On Tantalum Joint Venture Properties
Avalon Ventures Ltd. (the "Company") is pleased to announce that a Phase II work program, to be completed
by August 31, 2001, has been initiated on the Company's Lilypad Lakes, East Braintree and Raleigh Lake
tantalum properties, following approval of a new $1.25 million program budget by joint venture partner Global
Canada Company ("Global"). Under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement dated July 31, 2000, Global can
earn a 50% interest in any of the three subject properties by spending $5.0 million or completing a feasibility
study before December 31, 2002. Global can increase its interest in any one property to 75% by arranging all
production financing. Having irrevocably committed to funding the new work program, BSAV, Inc., the parent
company of Global, has now vested 1,000,000 share purchase warrants exercisable into 1,000,000 common
shares of the Company at an exercise price of $1.00, until July 31, 2005.
The new work program consists primarily of diamond drilling of priority tantalum targets identified from
geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys carried out during the $750,000 Phase 1 work program
completed in December, 2000. The top priority property with a budget of $908,000 is Lilypad Lakes located
near Pickle Lake, Ontario, where a 2500 metre diamond drilling program is scheduled to commence by early
March, once all fuel and equipment have been mobilized. The program is designed to continue testing of the
Rubellite Dyke to follow up on the encouraging results obtained in the December, 2000 drilling program (see
the Company's news release dated January 3, 2001), and test other targets identified from the survey work.
These include a 1.5 x 0.5 km positive gravity anomaly in the central part of the property interpreted to be caused
by a large, buried rare metals pegmatite. Follow-up geophysical surveys to detail this anomaly prior to drilling
are underway.
The second priority property, with a budget of $182,000, is East Braintree located near Falcon Lake in
southeastern Manitoba, where a 1500 metre diamond drilling program is set to begin next week. This program
will test the Lucy and Artdon pegmatite occurrences, which have produced tantalum intersections grading up to
0.021% (0.46 lb/tonne) Ta2O5 over a core length of 23 metres, and a previously undocumented swarm of
pegmatites 300 metres to the northwest, which returned assays from grab samples up to 0.048% Ta2O5 (1.06
lb/tonne). The recent geochemical surveys indicated continuity between the Lucy and Artdon showings, which
are located approximately 1 km apart, suggesting potential for discovery of a large Tanco-style pegmatite in
this area.
Fieldwork on the Raleigh Lake property, located west of Ignace in northwestern Ontario, will begin in May 2001.
The $160,000 follow-up program will consist of stripping, mapping and geochemical sampling designed to
explain several large geochemical anomalies outlined in the fall 2000 program. These anomalies are
interpreted to reflect the occurrence of large, buried tantalum-bearing pegmatites. Diamond drilling will follow
the surface program as soon as targets have been prioritized.
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 high demand, accounting for an estimated 60% of the world tantalum market,
because they are now an essential component of wireless communication devices such as cellular phones and
pagers. 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.
Worldwide demand for tantalum, particularly from the electronics industry, is growing at rates exceeding 20%
per annum, and demand in 2000 was an estimated 5.5 million lbs., up from approximately 4.2 million lbs. in
1999. This surge in demand has created severe shortages and upward pressure on concentrate prices. In
December, 2000, the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency announced that a sale of over 200,000 lbs. of tantalum
mineral concentrates from the U.S. 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 prior in
September, 2000 and a more than 7-fold increase over 1999 sale prices.
In other corporate developments, Ms. Anne Jamieson has been appointed to the position of Corporate
Secretary, following the resignation of Mr. R.A. Willoughby on January 15, 2001.
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 OF DIRECTORS
"Donald S. Bubar"
Donald S. Bubar, President
Contact: (604) 681-1909
The contents of this news release has neither been approved nor disapproved by the CDNX. |
