- Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX:AVL) has posted its COVID-19 update
- The company has four projects which it is currently working to get off the ground
- Avalon’s Separation Rapids project is it’s flagship and the furthest along in the development cycle
- The company has shut it’s head office in Toronto pending the resumption of field work
- Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX:AVL) is holding steady at 3.5 cents, with a market cap of C$11 million
Avalon Advanced Materials (TSX:AVL) has posted its COVID-19 update, announcing stops to all field work, and its head office closure.
The mineral development company has four projects in lithium, tin, indium, and rare earths.
Avalon’s COVID-19 response has followed most junior miners, which have suspended all exploration activities and field work. These suspensions are due to Government shutdowns, shelter-in-place orders, and movement restrictions.
Most companies have sent workers to be with their families during shutdown periods, rather than keeping them in a camp.
The company has stated that its main aim is to get the Separation Rapids Lithium Project up off the ground.
Seperation Rapids is a lithium project, where Avalon has petaline samples currently in production.
Avalon is currently working to optimise its process flowsheet, to produce the highest quality product for the lowest cost possible.
The company is looking at sensor-based ore sorting and dense media separation floatation techniques to best produce the lithium product it wants.
Work is ongoing at the facilities of the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon.
This summer, Avalon is planning to expand its trials with the recovery of larger bulk samples for processing. The company hoped that these could then lead to takeoff agreements for full-scale production at the site.
Avalon is looking at what new extraction technology it can use to recover rare earths from closed mine sites.
Most mines in the past have discarded rare earths during the extraction process of Gold and Silver from Poly-metallic breccias. This was because the mineralisations were simply not profitable enough to extract.
That has changed substantially, and Avalon is experimenting with extracting rare earths from acid mine drainage. The company has identified the Will Scarlett closed coal mine in southern Illinois as an ideal candidate.
Currently, laboratory testing on the process has encouraged Avalon enough to participate in installing and operating a demonstration facility to scale-up the process at the Will Scarlett mine.
Avalon Advanced Materials (TSXV:AVL) is holding steady, trading at 3.5 cents per share with a C$11 million market cap.
