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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Shareholders crowded the room for Avalon Rare Metals Inc.'s recent annual general meeting, eager to hear the latest on the junior exploration company's flagship Nechalacho rare earths project.

Don Bubar, director, president, and CEO of Avalon Rare Metals Inc., said attendance was good at the junior exploration company's annual general shareholders meeting on Jan. 26. - NNSL file photo

Attendance at the Jan. 26 shareholders meeting was pegged at up to 80, said director, president and CEO Don Bubar, telling Yellowknifer he was pleased by the level of attendance, the interest, and support for the rare metals deposit at Thor Lake, located about 100 km southeast of Yellowknife.

"The room was full and these things are often lightly attended," Bubar said. "So it's always gratifying to see a good turnout; it shows interest."

There was no special business on the agenda for the meeting held at the Toronto Board of Trade, aside from an update on business activities, prospects for the coming year, and basic formalities including the re-election of Avalon's board of directors.

The election of Yellowknife-based mining engineer Richard Morland to the board was "well-received," Bubar said.

"The shareholders recognize having someone like that on the board is very valuable for us," Bubar said, adding Morland's wealth of Northern operating experience, with more than 30 years as a mining engineer, including work with BHP Billiton in his native Australia and in the North.

Morland has held the positions of vice-president of operations at the Ekati Diamond Mine and president and COO of BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc., the owner and operator of Ekati.

Morland joined Avalon's board last September. He said he was drawn by the company's corporate values, which he told Yellowknifer, align with his own.

"They had a compelling vision for what Avalon could be," Morland said. "I enjoy the North and I want to see the North prosper and Avalon has a project that I believe could contribute to the North for many years to come."

Yellowknifer David Connelly was also among the slate of eight directors re-elected at the meeting. Connelly was renominated because of his social and political experience in the North, Bubar said.

"He has really good knowledge of aboriginal issues in the North, knows all the players, and has been active politically there," Bubar said of the strategic consultant and past president and CEO of the Inuvialuit Development Corp.

"I think the Nechalacho rare metals project offers a huge opportunity for Northerners to sustain the development of their economy and communities over the long term," Connelly told Yellowknifer.

Nechalacho is one of the few potential sources of heavy rare earth elements outside China, with indicated resources of at least 57 million tonnes in its Basal zone, according to the project's pre-feasibility study.

The company aims to have the feasibility study for the project completed by the end of the year, with production at Nechalacho by 2015 and initial sales by 2016.

Avalon currently has 30 employees in its Toronto and Vancouver offices.

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