Rare earth riches in the mine waste pile – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – November 25, 2020)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Avalon Advanced Materials looks to clean up, extract value from tailings dumps

Shuttered mine sites with legacy environmental issues pose a unique opportunity for Avalon Advanced Materials to recover rare earth minerals.

Don Bubar, CEO of the Toronto-based lithium and rare earth producer, talked strategy last week in a web call to shareholders, a day after announcing a partnership with Rock Tech Lithium on a possible processing plant for Thunder Bay.

Avalon is carving out a space in the clean and green tech economy with a diverse mix of Northern Ontario exploration properties in lithium, rare earth metals, cesium, tantalum and other non-traditional minerals that the company hopes to advance over the next couple of years.

These elements are experiencing a market resurgence and are expected to be in high demand by manufacturers in clean energy, electric vehicles, aerospace and defence, electronics and communications, and the medical fields.

Rare earth magnets, in particular, are used in electric vehicle motors and in generators for wind turbines.

For the rest of this article: https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/industry-news/mining/rare-earth-riches-in-the-mine-waste-pile-2909620