The following excerpt is from the company's
SEC filing.
Tel: (416) 364-4938 Fax: (416) 364-5162
ir@avalonraremetals.com
www.avalonraremetals.com
NEWS RELEASE
No. 15-08
Avalon provides update on Separation Rapids Lithium
Project Kenora, Ontario, Canada
Toronto, ON --
Avalon Rare Metals Inc
NYSE MKT
: AVL) (Avalon or the Company) is pleased to provide an update
on its $750,000 pilot plant program on the Companys Separation
Rapids Lithium Project (Separation Rapids Project or the Project)
located near Kenora, Ontario, first announced in its news release
of
August 17, 2015
The 30 tonne bulk sample of crushed ore that was shipped this
summer has arrived at its destination in Germany and process work
is now underway. The sample will be processed using the Companys
proven flow sheet to produce a high purity lithium mineral
(petalite) concentrate for the following purposes:
to deliver further product samples to potential customers in the
glassceramics industry who have already tested and approved smaller
samples;
to provide initial test samples to a number of new potential
customers; and
to generate concentrate for additional process development work
with the objective of producing high purity lithium chemical
products for the lithium ion battery manufacturing business.
The pilot plant program will be completed, and concentrate
available for distribution, in Q1 2016.
Lithium chemicals process optimization work continues at the
laboratories of the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) in
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Laboratory test work performed earlier
this year at SRC provided encouraging results with a battery-grade
lithium carbonate (>99.5% pure) being readily produced. Progress
is being made toward the production of an enhanced grade product
with a target purity of 99.9% . The potential for production of
high grade lithium hydroxide was also demonstrated previously and
optimization of this flowsheet is currently in progress. These
programs are being conducted under the direction of David Marsh,
Senior Vice-President, Metallurgy and Technology Development.
Rehabilitation work on the access road to the site initiated in
September has now been completed. This road will provide ready
access to the deposit for large scale bulk sampling in 2016.
Several hundred tonnes of petalite concentrate is expected to be
produced from this bulk sample and will be used for full-scale
production trials in the glass-ceramics industry and for piloting
the lithium chemical production processes.
Update on Lithium Markets
Growing demand for rechargeable batteries in electric vehicles
and home energy storage is expected to result in continued growth
in consumption of lithium. Critical materials consulting...
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