Avalon - Northwest Territories

Recently another opportunity allowed Stan and myself to travel to Thor Lake, Northwest Territories to film for Avalon Rare Metals. An opportunity to do helicopter fly overs and to film the progress and development of the mining site. Don Bubar the CEO of Avalon had sent us to capture and update the video we had filmed several years back. 

Traveling via helicopter, It was an incredible view as it circled over top of the camp. It had grew tremendously from the last time I was here. As we landed we were greeted by Chris Pederson the head geologist on site. It was great to see him after several years. 

After Stan and I settled in, we mounted up the gyros and camera, and were once again up in the air, this time filming the site and the drill rigs. Before flying we also set-up a time-lapse across the lake, looking over towards the camp. (Check out the time-lapse here in a previous blog post). We shot until the sun was almost down - shooting the very interesting process of collecting and documenting core samples. Upon finishing the shoot, while stumbling back to the lake shore dock, we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the incredibly beautiful Northern Lights. A awe inspiring event which everyone should see at least once in their lives. 

The next day we went through the entire camp, filming and interviewing Chris about all the new things happening on site. It was great to see how Avalon had grown in the past few years and to realize that this site will soon be moving into production.

However, as fast as we came in it was time to leave. I have to say that the Northwest Territories is a beautiful and serene place to be. A place that I would definitely consider as one of my favourite places in the world. 

 Keith

Argentina - Lithium Americas

Back from Argentina…  well actually back for awhile. It took me a little time to put this post together. Wanted to wait until our great editor Josh completed the video before posting. 

We where commissioned by Lithium Americas to film the story of the lithium deposits they were developing, and their road to production.

It was an incredible trip to Argentina, but the flight was a hard one. 14 hours to Buenos Aires, another 45min drive to a local airport, 2 hour flight  into Salta, and yet another 2 hour drive into Juay Juay where we spent the night. With Victor and I only getting into bed at 1 AM, we were up bright and early at 5am for another 2.5 hour drive into the mountains to arrive in Susque; the location of the lithium deposits.

Upon arriving they told us that we were about 5000 metres above sea level and were advised not to run around or eat too much, for fear of obtaining altitude sickness. The altitude was making me a little light headed, but I had no time to get adjusted. The weather was perfect and the helicopter was ready to go. I harnessed myself in and mounted the 5D on the Gyros and we were up and away.

 

We had a lot to shoot in the 2 days. There was a lot of running around and Vic got altitude sickness. Too much running with heavy gear.

The scenery was beautiful and the army pilots were amazing to work with. Being down on the salt flats was incredible, it was like standing on big sheets of corn flakes that would crunch like cereal when you walked on them. 

Waldo Perez the President of Lithium Americas was our tour guide and we got to see the whole operation first hand. It was definetly a memorable and breathtaking experience. Argentina is a very beautiful place and would love to return there again in the future. Thanks to Waldo Perez and everybody at Lithium Americas for the wonderful hospitality shown to us during our stay. 

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