Adex Mining Inc. is expected to make an important announcement next week regarding its indium and tin mine site in the south of the province.

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A conveyor and ore storage building are seen at the Mount Pleasant mine. Company officials are expected to make an announcement next week at a meeting in Fredericton.

Adex is holding a reception in Fredericton on Thursday to update progress at its Mount Pleasant site. It will also hold its annual general meeting the following day in the city, a break from the meeting's usual spot in Toronto.

Norm Betts, a director with Adex, said while it's unusual for a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange to hold its AGM in New Brunswick, the board of directors felt it important to have the meeting in Fredericton given its operations are based in the province, as well as many of its shareholders.

He said Adex's big investors will be in attendance, but wouldn't reveal what will be announced next week.

"The feasibility studies are wrapping up," said Betts. "Some technical people will be giving an update just of the project and what their plans are."

In mid-May, Great Harvest Canadian Investment Co. Ltd. purchased an additional 40 million shares of the junior mining company, an investment worth $7.2 million. The buy doubled Great Harvest's stake in Adex, giving it 45 per cent of the company's common shares.

Great Harvest is a Hong Kong-based investment company controlled by husband and wife team Yan Kim Po and Linda Lam Kwan. Last month's share purchase gave them each a seat on Adex's board of directors. Lam is acting as interim president and chief executive officer.

Betts said the Chinese industrialists are committed to the Adex property. Yan is the chairman and co-founder of Great Harvest Maeta Group Holdings Ltd., which has stakes in marine transportation.

"The Chinese economy is hungry for metal. These people are very much interested in the investment. They came to Mount Pleasant, they did their due diligence and they saw it as a good investment

"What we have now are partners that are committed to move to production and we have partners that have the financial wherewithal to move to production."

He said demand for indium in China has spiked in recent years, which bodes well for Adex's Mount Pleasant mine. Indium is used in the manufacturing of flatscreen TVs, iPods, iPads and cellphones.

Mount Pleasant contains the largest known deposit of the metal in the world, as well as the largest known deposit of tin in North America. Economically viable concentrations of tungsten, molybdenum and zinc are also under the ground.

Betts said Adex has developed an extraction process in New Brunswick called hydromet, which will allow the company to turn ore into its saleable concentrate form in the province, rather than ship it for processing elsewhere.

Hydromet tests in January produced indium concentrate that was 96.25 per cent pure and zinc nearly 99 per cent pure.

Mining infrastructure is in place at Mount Pleasant, built by the mine's previous owners, BHP Billiton Ltd. Adex forecast it could restart mining at the site next year.