In our ongoing efforts to provide you with broader communications and industry information, we are pleased to alert you to the availability of new commentary by respected Rare Metals industry analyst Jack Lifton, on the extraordinary demand for both Toyota and Honda hybrid vehicles, their continuing reliance on the NiMH rechargeable battery, and the challenge of securing adequate supplies of rare earths (notably lanthanum) to meet the growing demand for these batteries.
Mr. Lifton points out that Toyota will be ramping up its production of NiMH batteries from 1000 to 3000 per day (1 million per annum) with Honda expecting to produce 500,000 per annum by 2011. The impact on rare earth supplies will be amplified because the new generation of these batteries will require approx 44 pounds of rare earths per battery (compared to the current 26 pounds) to increase fuel economy from the current 50 miles per gallon to 71 miles per gallon.
As Mr. Lifton has described in his recent articles, the Japanese automakers cannot rely on China as a sole source of supply of rare earths. The only way Toyota and Honda can meet their new production targets “is to find additional rare earth sources outside of China”. Mr. Lifton identifies two potential sources in Australia, two in the US and two in Canada – including Avalon Ventures’ Thor Lake project as being able to “be in full production within the next five years”.
The complete article may be found on the Resource Investor website at: http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebb...
If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to post them on Avalon’s official investor relations hub at:
http://www.agoracom.com/ir/Avalon.
Regards,
AGORACOM Investor Relations
