Historical Exploration And Development

Rare metal mineralization was first discovered in the Thor Lake area in 1976 by Highwood Resources Ltd.  From 1976 to 2004, Highwood and its partners invested over $12 million in exploration and development work, including geological mapping, sampling, geophysical surveys and nearly 200 drill holes totalling some 13,000 metres, followed by underground development work, bulk sampling, metallurgical test work and market studies on the North ‘T' deposit.

In 1980 - 1981, Placer Development Ltd. (now Placer Dome Inc.) carried out geophysical surveys and drilled 18 holes in the Lake Zone (now Nechalacho deposit) to test its tantalum and niobium potential.  In 1982, Placer withdrew from the joint venture due to the complex metallurgy of the tantalum mineralization.

In 1983, Highwood reassayed drill core from early exploration holes in the R-, S- and T-Zones for beryllium, after the identification of phenacite. In 1983/84, more than 70 holes were drilled, which established beryllium reserves in both the north and south T-Zone deposits, and stimulated interest in niobium, zirconium, gallium, yttrium and REE as potential by-products.

In mid-1984, a 25 tonne bulk sample was collected from the high beryllium section of the North T-Zone for initial metallurgical testing. In 1985, a 500 metre decline was driven into the North T deposit.  Some of the infrastructure used for this program remains on the site, including a fuel tank farm.

In 1986, the property was optioned to Hecla Mining Company of Canada Limited for a potential 50% interest in the property by completing a feasibility study and arranging financing to bring the property into production. After extensive metallurgical testwork, market studies and in-house feasibility study, Hecla withdrew from the project in 1990.

Through the 1990s, additional engineering and market studies were carried out by Highwood periodically, focused primarily on the North T beryllium resource. Control of Highwood subsequently changed hands several times with little new work being undertaken.

In 2001, Navigator Exploration Corp. entered into an option agreement with Highwood related to the Nechalacho deposit (Lake Zone) in response to an increase in world tantalum prices. Navigator focused its efforts on improving tantalum flotation recoveries and developing a process for producing a marketable tantalum mineral concentrate. Although unsuccessful, subsequent review of this work by Avalon revealed that the tantalum bulk concentrate also captured a high concentration of rare earth bearing minerals thus a starting point for designing a flow-sheet for the Nechalacho REE ores. Navigator dropped its option in 2004.

In April, 2005, Avalon completed the outright purchase of the property from Beta Minerals Inc, a successor company to Highwood, for 2.5 million common shares priced at $0.12 per share and 250,000 share purchase warrants.

If you would like to learn more of Avalon's Work Programs over the periods 2005-2006 and 2007- 2008, you are invited to Archive Section of the Thor Lake Project Description