Avalon Rare Metals Inc. has estimated a compliant inferred resource for its East Kemptville project in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, Canada of 16.95 million tonnes of ore averaging 0.148% Sn, equivalent to 25,000 tonnes of contained tin.
The project is the site of an old tin mine operated by Rio Algom (which subsequently became part of BHP Billiton) between 1985 and 1992. It was North America’s only primary producer of tin before its closure in response to the economic pressure of low tin prices following the tin crash of 1985. With strong tin prices of recent years Avalon has shown interest in potentially reopening the mine, where additional revenue from zinc, copper and Indium by-product production is also a possibility.
The resource estimates are based on results of a seven-hole drilling program that aimed to confirm and update historical resource estimates to conform to NI 43-101 mineral resource standards. The tonnages and grades reported are purely for the historically mined “Main” and “Baby” zones, hence there is good potential to expand the resource estimate to incorporate the numerous undeveloped mineral occurrences in the area. The current estimate will be utilised in a Preliminary Economic Assessment to be completed by the end of 2014 while discussions continue to obtain licenses that will permit site development through to production.
