Rising tin prices, rare metals spark interest in old mine site

Tag : tin

Rising tin prices, rare metals spark interest in old mine site
BY MICHAEL GORMAN, TRANSCONTINENTAL MEDIA
The Nova Scotia Business Journal


EAST KEMPTVILLE – For a site that's seen no activity since1992, a lot could soon be happening at the former East Kemptville tin mine. Avalon Ventures , an Ontario -based mineral exploration company, is looking at the site topossibly open a mine for tin and rare metals.
During an interview with The Vanguard , Don Bubar , the company's CEO and president , said Avalon has created a modern database of the site based onthe mine's history. As the price of tin started to go up, Bubarstarted to think the tin project would once again be attractive aswell as the rare metals aspect to which he was first attracted. Thecompany conducted a desktop study to look at the project's economicestimates.
"Basically, at current prices, it looks attractive," hesaid. Bubar, a Truro native, has an extensive past in the Canadian mineral sector withmore than 30 years of experience. He's a geologist by trade withseveral degrees. He is also the director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada and chairs the group's Aboriginal Affairs Committee , which advocates for reaching out to First Nations communities when such projects are established near First Nationsgroups.
Bubar started Avalon Ventures about 13 years ago when it was adormant shell company. His plan to build the company started withgold and base metals. This was cut short in the last 1990s as aresult of turmoil in the gold world. Around that time the companyalso acquired a rare metals asset in Northwestern Ontario . That was the site that helped keep the company going in the faceof the difficulties with gold.
With the belief that there would be an emerging market for raremetals in high tech applications, such as the coating on TV screensand computer monitors, Bubar set out to find sites with rare metaldeposits. One such project that proved fruitful was in the Northwest Territories . The other was East Kemptville. Bubar said he was aware of theformer tin mine operation through his experiences working in NovaScotia and in the business in general, but it was while he attendeda government open house on the mining sector that focused on theformer mine that he started to think there could be rare metals atthe site besides tin.
Based on research, Bubar was able to conclude that the EastKemptville site has significant quantities of rare metals such asindium to make it worth investigating. Further investigation showedthe mineral title was available and he acquired it in 2005. Thenext step, said Bubar, is to take the desktop study further bydoing a preliminary economic analysis, which is basically an earlystage feasibility study.
"We're going to have an engineering firm that's independentaudit the historical resource numbers for what's in the ground fortin and rare metals," he said. "And then, based on that,do a little more rigorous economic assessment . . . It will help usbuild a business case as to why this merits furtherinvestment."
Needless to say, none of this is going to happen over night. Bubarestimates it will take three to four years to be sure if they canmove ahead with the operation. An added obstacle is obtaining thesite's surface rights, which are still held by Rio Algom and its parent company BHP Billiton , meaning at the moment Bubar's people are unable to get on thesite to do work. BHP is also held to an environmental obligation bythe province to deal with acid runoff from the former operation.
Bubar said he believes they have found a way to address theenvironmental issue, rectify it and then further develop the site."We really believe that there's a win-win-win opportunity herein that by renewing mining operations there we could potentiallyclean up the existing liability," he said. "We thinkthere's a real possibility you could reprocess that waste (at thesite), get out the rest of the tin and the rare metals and then putthe rest of the waste back in the hole in the ground and clean upthe site at the same time."
Further to this would be more modern technological approaches interms of the way the mine would be operated and managed, thusremoving the risk of future environmental liabilities. Bubar'sgroup is a long way from being ready to post job ads for a newmining site, however based on his calculations, expectations andknowledge of the industry, a new site could very easily be of thesame scale as past operations in East Kemptville.
"(I envision) something similar in scale to the historicoperation," he said. "I've been talking to some membersof the local community here — there's lots of memories stillof that operation. It was a very important contributor to the localeconomy and it's missed now."
His message to people at this point is that they want to gaugelocal support. "These days, development of a mining operationis as much a political exercise as it is an exercise in science andengineering. You need a social licence to develop a new mine andthis one has its challenges politically because of the past historythere and the existing environmental liability there has to bedealt with. Before we invest a lot more capital and advance in thiswe want to make sure the community is behind us in wanting to seethis happen."
To that effect, Bubar said he has talked with West Nova MP Robert Thibault , Yarmouth MLA Richard Hurlburt and also wants to speak with Chief Deborah Robinson of the Acadia First Nations Band , something Bubar said they make a point of doing any time theylook at working in territory that is near traditional First Nationsland.
"Whenever we work anywhere in Canada we always make sure wefind out which First Nation's territory we're working in andconsult with them early on to make them aware of our activities ontheir traditional lands and see if there's any partnershipopportunities with the First Nations and also with other businessesin the local community."
Feedback so far, he said, is positive. As for the possiblelongevity of the project were it to go ahead, Bubar said that willemerge as they conduct the economic assessment of the project. Withsuch a large resource the price of the minerals would in partimpact the operation. If they can get it going sooner than laterand repay the original capital investment, Bubar believes it couldrun for some time.
"There's lots of potential for adding to those resources inthe regional area. There's lots of indications for other potentialfor tin." – The Vanguard