SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - In an on-site ceremony held Monday morning, Avalon Rare Metal's rare earth elements deposit at Thor Lake was renamed "Nechalacho" by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.

Chiefs Ted Tsetta and Ed Sangris of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation flank Don Bubar, president of Avalon Rare Metals, at the unveiling of the new name for the exploration's company's Thor Lake project, now called Nechalacho - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo

Around 50 visitors, including Premier Floyd Roland and Assembly of First Nations Chief Phil Fontaine, flew to the site, located approximately 100 kilometres southeast of Yellowknife, to join chiefs Ted Tsetta and Ed Sangris in unveiling the deposit's new name – marking the first time a company has asked the band to name a developing project, according to Tsetta.

"Avalon came to us at the chief-and-council level and they consulted with us. That's how you're supposed to consult First Nations – early in the process," Tsetta said as he toured the site moments before the ceremony, which kicked off with a traditional feeding-the-fire ceremony, a prayer and drumming.

"Nechalacho," the name elders use to refer to Thor Lake, means "a point where you can almost dock," said Tsetta.

"Thor Lake has a lot of history," he continued. "We've done mapping projects. We've identified all the cabins, trap lines, historical sites, sacred sites. I've been around here before, hunting and utilizing the land, like we always have done, for the last few thousand years."

Don Bubar, president of Avalon, said the band has essentially loaned his company the name for the duration of the project. Considering the future Nechalacho mine is expected to run for at least 100 years, beginning in 2013 or 2014, it could be a long time before the band re-appropriates the name, said Bubar.

"There's been cases like Ekati and Diavik and Gahcho Kue where there's been Dene names adopted for a project," he said. "But the way we've done it – in setting up this naming ceremony to formally implement it – I think has never been done that way, certainly not by a junior company at the stage of development where we are."

This summer Avalon spent close to $2 million drilling additional holes at Nechalacho, which boasts 64.2 million tonnes of rare earth elements, according to the company's latest estimate.

The summer drilling – as well the drilling the company hopes to conduct this winter – serves accomplish two things: provide data necessary for figuring out how to extract the metals from the rock, and help reclassify the resource at Nechalacho with a higher degree of confidence – to what is commonly referred to in the mining industry as the "indicated" state.

A feasibility study for Nechalacho, which will employ around 200 workers, is expected some time between 2010 and 2012

Having recently raised $17.5 million in capital, "We now have over $20 million in our treasury, so we're in pretty good to carry on, finish the pre-feasibility study and start the work on the feasibility study," said Bubar.

The company has spent close to $12 million in total so far developing the project, added Bubar.