Warren TownshipThe Warren Township Anorthosite Project
Anorthosite is an unusual mafic igneous intrusive rock consisting of greater than 90% plagioclase feldspar. Previous work has demonstrated that this material can be processed to produce a high quality calcium feldspar raw material for the manufacture of reinforcing glass fibre and other industrial products such as mineral fillers. The location of the property near both road and rail transportation infrastructure and its proximity to markets in southern Ontario and the northeastern U.S. offers the potential for development of a low-cost, highly profitable industrial minerals operation. The project site is typical of much of northeastern Ontario and the Canadian Shield. The property is relatively flat, with the anorthosite outcrops on the property forming local topographic highs. The average elevation on the property is approximately 390 m above sea level. Within the claim boundary, outcrop exposure is approximately 40%, with the area of immediate mining potential being approximately 80% exposed. The Carty-Warren road overlies the centre of the deposit area. Project HistoryAvalon staked the property in October 2002. The Warren Township project was previously covered by claims owned by Purechem Limited, a private company which spent over $200,000 from 1993 to 2001 evaluating the property first as a potential producer of aluminum chemicals and later as a producer of high-purity calcium feldspar. This involved geological mapping, trenching, market development and percussion drilling to define mineral resources. Purechem's consultants prepared a resource estimate which reported 506,208 tonnes of measured resources and 351,796 tonnes of indicated resources in two separate areas. However, these resources have not been audited for compliance with current resource reporting standards under NI 43-101 and therefore should not be relied upon. Purechem was successful in identifying a major potential customer for the calcium feldspar product in southern Ontario and completed a positive pre-feasibility study for the development of the project on this basis. The glass company had indicated a willingness to purchase a minimum of 12,000 tonnes per year of the product subject to the successful completion of an in-plant evaluation of a 320 tonne bulk sample of the product. However, due to weak equity markets, Purechem was unable to secure the estimated $250,000 in new financing required to extract, process and deliver the bulk sample, and was forced to abandon the project in 2002. The calcium feldspar product was deemed to be well suited as a raw material for the textile glass reinforcement product and would replace high cost kaolin and high purity limestone presently imported from the United States. After staking the property, Avalon prepared a new pre-feasibility study and business plan updating the original study prepared for Purechem. (with the support of Hains Technology Associates the author of the pre-feasibility study for Purechem) The February, 2003 study concluded that the market opportunity in reinforcing glass fibre identified by Purechem still existed. (note: Since that time the fibreglass market has continued to grow with new applications emerging such as in composites for wind turbine blades). In 2004, Avalon carried out an $80,000 work program involving the collection and processing of a 10 tonne bulk sample to produce test quantities of the calcium product for two potential customers, one in the glass industry and the other in the paper industry. The Company also completed engineering work to design a pilot plant and work program for carrying out a larger scale bulk sampling program. The bulk sampling program did not proceed at the time after the glass industry customer concluded that the soda level in the product exceeded their limits and the specialty paper producer, considering the product for a filler application, indicated that it required a larger test sample to complete its evaluation of the material. In early 2006, Avalon received an expression of interest for the calcium feldspar product from a major US-based fibreglass producer. A longer term price for the material was established and an order was received for a 400 ton product sample for a full-scale furnace trial at one of the customer's plants in the United States. The process flowsheet is a relatively simple one involving dry grinding and magnetic removal of the very small amounts of contained ferro-magnesian minerals from the ore. In late 2006, arrangements were made for extracting up to 1000 tonnes of material for processing and delivery to the only available suitable toll milling facility (based in southern Alberta) in early 2007. This overall program, including the products integration into the batch of a production line furnace was completed over a nine month period from February to October, 2007. The program cost including sample extraction, shipping, processing and supervision was budgeted at $500,000 but due to operational inefficiencies, ended up costing $850,000, net of cost recoveries from the customer. The bulk sample program proved to be successful in delivering a 417 tonne of pure anorthosite product sample which was used in a furnace trial to evaluate its performance as an alternative raw material for certain fiberglass applications offering potential product quality, cost and environmental benefits including reduction of furnace greenhouse gas emissions. The tests confirmed that substituting anorthosite into the batch formula, whereby it partially or fully replaced the requirement for two other raw materials, reduced energy demand by at least 10% and significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The principles upon which these results were achieved were basically three-fold: the new formulation lowered the melting point of the combined batch feeds, the anorthosite has less contained moisture content so that it doesn't require energy to boil it off, and anorthosite (unlike limestone) does not contain any carbonate thereby reducing the production of carbon dioxide. Environment & PermittingThe Company continues its work toward securing a production permit for the Warren Township project under the Aggregate Resources Act of Ontario. This work, being carried out under the direction of Fudge & Associates of North Bay, Ontario, has included environmental baseline studies and community consultation work in the Foleyet area and with First Nations in the Chapleau area. The anorthosite is an environmentally-benign material and the processing does not generate any environmentally-hazardous waste products. In March 2009, Avalon entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chapleau Cree First Nation which laid out the parameters of a longer term partnering arrangement, with CCFN acting for a group of local First Nations. Discussions also continue with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources regarding the final size of the permit area and the operating conditions within that framework. Future PlansAvalon continues to work with the U.S. glass industry in a consultative manner. The recent economic downturn has had significant impact on their output, much of which goes into construction materials, resulting in reduced demand for raw materials like anorthosite. The project is on hold pending renewed demand from the glass industry and consequently, there are no specific timelines in place for initiation of any new work programs on the project at this time, save for project permitting. |
