Avalon and fort william first nation to collaborate on development of thunder bay lithium battery materials refinery. Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. and (OTCQB: AVLND) (“Avalon”) announce it has entered into a Letter of Intent (“LOI”) with Fort William First Nation (“FWFN”) to collaborate on the development of a lithium battery materials refinery located on industrial lands owned by FWFN in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
This facility would be designed to accept lithium mineral concentrates from Avalon’s Separation Rapids Lithium Project (70 km north of Kenora) and Rock Tech’s Georgia Lake Lithium Project (145 km northeast of Thunder Bay), as well as potentially other emerging, new lithium mining operations in northern Ontario, to produce lithium hydroxide and other lithium battery materials.
Avalon and FWFN have determined the next steps would be as follows:
- Identification of a specific location for the refinery on the waterfront with access to transportation infrastructure, hydro-power and natural gas.
- Conduct the necessary engineering, site preparation and construction design studies to prepare for initiation of refinery construction in 2022, once all necessary permits and authorizations are in place.
- Finalize the initial design capacity facility of the refinery once firm off-take commitments have been secured from interested battery manufacturers and design the facility to accommodate future expansion as demand for the products increases. The anticipated initial design capacity will be to produce at least 15,000 tonnes per year of lithium hydroxide and/or lithium carbonate as well as lithium sulphate, the precursor chemical for making either the carbonate or hydroxide.
- Secure the necessary capital required to proceed with construction in 2022.
Don Bubar, Avalon’s President and CEO commented,
We are delighted to have the opportunity to create a new precedent for collaboration with Indigenous Business toward establishing a lithium battery materials supply chain in Northern Ontario.
“I share FWFN Chief Peter Collins’ vision for how this operation can inspire other Indigenous Businesses to become future suppliers of lithium mineral concentrates for the refinery and how FWFN can become the Hub of the North for all First Nation communities in Northwestern Ontario.”
Separation Rapids Project Update
The bulk sampling program on Avalon’s 100% owned Separation Rapids lithium deposit announced on February 1, 2021 is progressing well with roughly 80% of the total 5,000 tonne sample having been trucked to Kenora for temporary storage before crushing and shipping for processing.
The balance of the 5,000 tonnes is expcted to be trucked to Kenora over the next week, depending on weather conditions. The bulk sample will be used to finalize the process flow sheets for both the lithium hydroxide product and for making petalite product samples for glass-ceramic industry customers that have expressed interest.
Near term plans also include resuming exploration work on the western part of the property for other lithium pegmatites including drilling the new Snowbank petalite pegmatite discovered in 2018, that is highly enriched in petalite assaying up to 2.51% Li2O in a 1.1m channel sample.
AVALON AND FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION SIGN LETTER OF INTENT TO COLLABORATE ON DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDER BAY LITHIUM REFINERY, Toronto, Ontario, March 31, 2021
