Thor Lake Rare Earth Elements Project

Canada / Northwest Territories / Yellowknife /

The Nechalacho Rare Earth Element Project located at Thor Lake, Northwest Territories, is Avalon's 100% owned flagship project and is recognized internationally for its exceptional wealth of heavy rare earth elements. The picture shows Thor Lake, the camp, and the core exploration tunnel area at north end of the lake. The Nechalacho was formerly the Lake Zone Deposit.


As of June 2010, over C$20 million and 42,783 metres of drilling has been completed in exploring and developing the property. Subsequent to the completion of the prefeasibility, and incorporating the results of the 2010 winter program, the Indicated Mineral Resources have increased to 20.45 million tonnes of 1.75% TREO with 23% HREO/TREO in the Basal Zone. The same update resulted in hte Inferred Mineral Resources increasing to 182.56 million tonnes of 1.4% TREO with 14.7% HREO/TREO.

Avalon has taken a multi-dimensional approach in terms of the environment and working with local communities, and in 2010, Avalon received PDAC's 2010 Environmental and Social Responsibility Award. The Projects' description that follows is rather extensive and as such, the material is separated out in sections.

The most current information on the Project is provided first. The Work Programs from years 2005-2008 and corresponding assessments are contained within the section entitled Archives. The Archives also contain links to an array of detailed reports, assessments and filings related to the Project.

In a formal First Nations ceremony in September 2009, Avalon re-named the Lake Zone Rare Earth Elements Deposit to the Nechalacho Rare Earth Element Deposit. Held at the Thor Lake work camp, the new name was officially unveiled with a traditional Feed the Fire Ceremony, co-hosted by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation Chief Edward Sangris and Chief Ted Tsetta.

To the knowledge of Avalon, this naming ceremony represents the first time that a mineral exploration project has been given an Aboriginal name by a First Nation in this way. In effect, the First Nation is lending the name to the project for the life of its operation.

Nechalacho (‘Nay - Cha - La - Cho') or "a point where you can almost dock" is the traditional place name for the northeast shore of the Hearne Channel on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake, near the deposit location. It evokes a distinct sense of place to traditional land users who have been there for many generations. It is a rocky shoreline with steep cliffs that prevented boaters from pulling ashore during windy weather for which the area is known.

The Nechalacho Rare Earth Element Deposit, Avalon's 100% owned flagship project, is located at Thor Lake in the Mackenzie Mining District of the Northwest Territories, about 5 km north of the Hearne Channel of Great Slave Lake and approximately 100 km southeast of the city of Yellowknife.

The Thor Lake property is comprised of five contiguous mining leases totalling 10,449 acres (4,249 hectares) and three mineral claims totalling 4,597 acres (1,860 hectares). The mining leases have a 21-year life and each lease is renewable in 21-year increments. The original property covered by the mining leases is subject to two underlying royalty agreements entitling the royalty holders to a cumulative 5.5% Net Smelter Returns Royalty, of which 2.5% can be purchased at anytime at a fixed, inflation-adjusted, price.

The property is situated in an area known as the Akaitcho Territory which is subject to a comprehensive land claim negotiation between several communities of the Dene Nation and Canada's federal government. There is, at present, an interim measures agreement in place and under this agreement an interim land withdrawal was implemented in 2007, which precludes new mineral title from being granted by the Crown in the Akaitcho territory for a period of up to five years while a land-use planning process is completed. The rights of existing mineral rights holders in the area are unaffected, including right of access to mineral rights and Avalon is actively consulting with the four nearest Akaitcho Dene communities with a view toward implementing a co-operative development approach for the Nechalacho Rare Earth Element Deposit.

Avalon Minerals reference:
avalonraremetals.com/projects/thor_lake/thor_lake_intro

Description article reference:
www.moneytalks.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=ar...

An excellent article about China's domination in Rare Earth Elements:
www.cacheexploration.com/investors/rare-earth-media-inf...
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   62°5'54"N   112°34'33"W
  •  111 km
  •  197 km
  •  220 km
  •  801 km
  •  806 km
  •  898 km
  •  1281 km
  •  1283 km
  •  1327 km
  •  1379 km
This article was last modified 12 years ago