February 4, 2008
INDUSTRY BULLETIN: A Consumer Electronics Boom keeps Rare Earths in High Demand
Dear Shareholder:
In our ongoing efforts to provide you with broader communications and industry information, we are pleased to issue another Industry Bulletin discussing recent trends in the markets of various rare and strategic metals. In this edition we focus on the demand for consumer electronics as witnessed at the recent International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, January 8th through the 11th. The theme of this year’s show was “the growing array of home, work and mobile gadgetry and services that can be knit together through wired and wireless networks”. Essentially, there will continue to be an ever-increasing demand for electronics that will enable everyone to more efficiently connect with each other.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/ces/gizmo-show.html
The show also unveiled the first 108-inch LCD and the thinnest LCD TV to hit the market. As many of us are well aware, the sales of both plasma and LCD TVs have been soaring, especially with the advent of high definition digital broadcasting.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/01/09/tech-sharp.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22531061/
What do consumer electronics and televisions have to do with rare metals? If you have been following Avalon Ventures, then you know that rare metals are integral to all of these devices. Indium, gallium, beryllium, tantalum, lithium and the rare earth elements are in every cell phone and new TV. Rare earths in particular, are vital to television screens, computer monitors, and other visual displays that employ either liquid crystal display or plasma display panel technologies. The colours displayed on the screens are created with phosphors that contain europium, yttrium, and terbium; the glass is doped with cerium and yttrium, and the electronics contain neodymium or praseodymium supermagnets.
Avalon is well positioned to benefit from the new demand for rare metals from the consumer electronics industry through the development of its large rare metals resources at the Thor Lake deposit in the Northwest Territories, where a $5.0 million work program is now underway. 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
