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Amalgamet Canada |
Press Releases 2002 Lithium Feldspar Product Marketing and Off-Take Agreements Signed With Amalgamet Canada Avalon Ventures Ltd. TSXV:AVL (the 'Company') is pleased to announce that it has entered into a sales and marketing agreement with Amalgamet Canada ('Amalgamet') for its new high-lithium feldspar products, to be produced from the Separation Rapids project, Kenora, Ontario. Under the terms of the agreement, Amalgamet will act as the Company's exclusive commissioned agent for lithium feldspar sales worldwide, for a minimum term of seven years from the commencement of commercial production. Prior to achieving full production, Amalgamet will be separately compensated to develop and expand the markets for the high-lithium feldspar product. In addition, Amalgamet has provided the Company with an off-take guarantee for a minimum annual quantity of 10,000 tonnes of the Company's high-lithium feldspar products, subject to these products meeting customers'specifications. Amalgamet is scheduled to begin market development work early in the new year. Amalgamet is the Canadian division of Premetalco Inc., which is a member of Amalgamated Metals Corporation PLC, ('AMC Group') of London, England. The AMC Group has been marketing ferrous and non-ferrous metals, industrial minerals and related chemicals worldwide for more than 75 years and is a major supplier of industrial minerals products to the glass and ceramics industries. Commented President Don Bubar, 'We are very pleased that an international industrial minerals supplier with the reputation of the AMC Group has enough confidence in the market potential of our high-lithium feldspar product to enter an agency agreement and provide an off-take guarantee at this early stage. We anticipate that Amalgamet's considerable experience in marketing raw materials to the glass and ceramics industry will facilitate more rapid penetration of the market than would have otherwise been achievable.' Project Engineering Update Project engineering and feasibility study work, being carried out under the supervision of Paul R. Schmidt, P.Eng., continued through the fall with a focus on process flowsheet design and transportation studies. Based on recent testwork, a simplified flowsheet using a dry process, was designed by metallurgical consultant Les Heymann, P.Eng. This new process will result in significantly reduced capital and operating costs for the proposed milling facility. Transportation studies indicate that the operation will have access to competitive freight rates into the main target market areas for the product in the U.S. To further evaluate the new dry process flowsheet, a five tonne 'mini bulk'ore sample was collected from the property in late November. Following completion of the access road to the property earlier in the month, the sample was trucked to Kenora and will be shipped from there to a test milling facility for processing in January-February, 2003. This work will allow for optimization of the flowsheet and will generate more lithium feldspar product for market development work and follow-up ceramic engineering tests. Preliminary results from ceramic engineering testwork on lithium feldspar produced earlier this year using a wet process, were recently received from the Powder Processing Facility at McMaster University. These results are encouraging as they indicate that the material does have several distinct advantages over competing feldspar products and the potential to be a superior ceramic raw material. Follow-up testwork using the lithium feldspar produced by the dry process is planned for the new year. Engineering, design work and cost/benefit analyses on a small-scale process plant are in progress. The project development schedule calls for this work to be completed by the spring of 2003, which would allow construction of the plant to commence in early summer. The Company's consultants now estimate that a small-scale plant using the dry process, with the capacity to produce up to 80,000 tonnes per year of high-lithium feldspar product can be constructed for an investment of less than CDN $3.0 million. Operated at capacity, this plant would generate a positive cash flow stream for the Company while providing the data necessary to design a full-scale production facility. Avalon Ventures Ltd. is a Canadian junior mineral exploration and development company with a focus on industrial minerals and rare metals with high technology applications. To find out more about Avalon Ventures Ltd. (TSXV:AVL) visit our website, www.avalonventures.com ON
BEHALF OF THE BOARD FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Avalon Ventures Ltd. (416) 364-4938 (416 ) 364-5162 (FAX) info@avalonventures.com www.avalonventures.com *The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release* |
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