Thanks for the note. My apologies for the delay in getting back to you.

As you've probably seen, shares of many of the rare earth companies have been moving up this week. This is a refreshing change and it is more than just a one-day "flash-in-the-pan". There are some glimmers of hope in the resource section now too.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been a few developments in the sector which have been attracting some interest. In early January, China announced that it was eliminating export quotas immediately and eliminating export taxes by May 2015 to comply with the WTO ruling of 2014. Many thought this would be bearish for rare earth developers/producers but, in fact, replacing the quota system with a special export licence requirement gives China much more control on rare earth exports than it had before.

China continues to attempt to further consolidate its domestic rare earth sector, focus more on environmental concerns related to mining, and clamp down on illegal mining activity (as it has been attempting to do for several years). As well, China is becoming a little more public and aggressive in sourcing heavy rare supplies outside of China, confirming what it has been saying for several years now - that it will be importing heavy rare earths to meet its internal demand. This bodes well for companies such as Avalon with a preponderance of heavy rare earths, especially at an advanced stage of development.

It may also be partly due to the "Molycorp Effect" with its recent run up from historic lows. Perhaps that is restoring some interest in the sector, in spite of the challenges that Molycorp is having these days. In addition, short sellers have may be coming back into the market to start cover their positions.

Otherwise, there has been no specific news out from Avalon that has generated this renewed interest, but we do welcome this interest.

However, as you know, Avalon is more than just a rare earth company, having other projects in Canada, besides its Nechalacho Heavy Rare Earth's Project and, specifically the East Kemptville Tin Project, and the Separation Rapids Lithium/Petalite Project. This diversification has been helpful in these tougher times, and might be providing some assurance that Avalon continues to move forward on other fronts as well. In any case, Avalon will issue news releases on the progress of its projects as newsworthy events develop.