Avalon Rare Metals Inc plans to launch a small exploration drilling program to confirm historic resources and conduct a NI 43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of a re-opening of the East Kemptville mine near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. East Kemptville was Canada’s only major tin mine, a large low-grade (0.2% tin) open pit operation owned by Rio Algom, producing some 4,000 tpy of tin-in-concentrate up to its closure in 1991. Avalon was granted a special licence by the Nova Scotia government to explore the former mine site in 2006 (and also owns several exploration licences neighbouring the property) but was unable to proceed without permission from Rio Algom (which was subsequently absorbed into BHP Billiton), which had retained ownership of the surface rights.
Agreement has now been reached and, subject to approval of the program details, will allow Avalon to begin its proposed 1,000 metre drilling program, designed to confirm historic tin-copper-zinc-indium resources. In a statement the company said it “plans to proceed with the drilling program in early summer and complete the PEA over the next four to six months. A preliminary budget of $500,000 has been established for this work. Immediate next steps include finalizing environmental and safety protocols for the drilling program and conducting community meetings with First Nations and local environmental groups. …..For future feasibility study work, Avalon plans to partner with a larger corporation with expertise in environmental management and remediation around closed mine sites.”
