The company said the shuttered site may evolve into a small mine for neodymium and praseodymium, or ‘magnet rare earths,' as interest grows in electric vehicles - the motors for which use both minerals.
"Rare earth magnets remain vital to many clean technology applications requiring high efficiency, lightweight electric motors and generators," the company said, noting that electric vehicles can require as much as 5-10kg of rare earth magnets per vehicle.
The surge in demand has created a demand, thus prices have improved to more than C$100 (US$77)/kg in oxide form. Supply for the world comes mainly from China, but the country is reportedly becoming an importer as well, it said.
Nechalacho, evaluated for the Nechalacho underground deposit in 2013, is host to several other easily accessible zones that are near-surface and contain high-grade neodymium-praseodymium resources. These zones, the Canadian firm said, hold potential for near-term and low impact development on a small scale to produce the concentrates.
It will be renewing its development work this year to bring the plan to fruition, though it did not indicate when first production could be seen. The complex will likely involve simple mining, crushing and optical sorting operation, which would be environmentally beneficial to the company versus the plan that had previously been approved.
"[Avalon] is currently participating in an independent scoping study, supported in part by the territorial government, on the East Arm-Yellowknife Road and hydro infrastructure corridor in order to provide clean power, year-round access to site and greatly simplified project logistics," it said. "It would also provide significant cost savings to Nechalacho and northern communities… through improved access."
Its plans for this year and next include confirming resources, preparing a scoping study, resampling of existing drill core, investigating dysprosium potential at the site and continuing the permitting process and community engagement with the hopes of finding local Indigenous business partners.
Avalon said it is in the process of renewing its land use permit for its new exploration push. It first received federal approval for Nechalacho in November 2013, though it shelved the project's construction a year later.
