Orbite Aluminae purifies silica with HCl leaching
Orbite Aluminae Inc (C:ORT)
Shares Issued 168,027,315
Last Close 9/18/2012 $3.29
Wednesday September 19 2012 - News Release
Mr. Richard Boudreault reports
ORBITE ANNOUNCES SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH-PURITY SILICA PROCESS
Orbite Aluminae Inc., leveraging its patented processes for high-purity and smelter-grade alumina production, has developed a purification technology to purify silica based on its hydrochloric acid leaching process. This development allows the Company to purify silica to the 99.9% (3N) level and provides a conceptual base to eventually reach purities of 99.999% (5N) to 99.99999% (7N).
"We are very proud of this technological development," stated Denis Primeau, the Company's Chief Engineer. "Utilizing Orbite's existing processes, we can now take a product that was already at acceptable levels of purity A 96% A up to levels of 3N and greater, making it a value added product."
Worldwide, metallurgical grade silica consumption was 1.37 billion metric tonnes in 2009 and 2.02 billion metric tonnes in 2010. Metallurgical grade silica of greater than 99.99% purity is used to manufacture photovoltaic cells and other high-technology products. In 2009, metallurgical grade silica was selling for approximately $3 per kilogram and higher quality silica (5N-7N) was selling for approximately $35 per kilogram.
Mr. Richard Boudreault, President and CEO of Orbite, added, "This is an important breakthrough, particularly considering that silica will be a by-product of our SGA and HPA plants and could provide a higher commercial value than we had anticipated. Our PEA assumption was for low-grade silica sold at a $25 per tonne."
Silica is present in virtually all the raw materials used within the Orbite process, and it provides an additional source of potential revenue for the Company. Since the process is well-suited to purify silica A and given the high proportion of silica in Orbite's Grande-Valle clay deposit A Orbite may become a significant producer of purified silica for mass production applications (e.g., cement, optical glass, etc.) as well as for specialty products, photovoltaic applications, electro-optics, and other industries.
Orbite's high-purity alumina (HPA) plant, on track to be completed by the end of 2012, is expected to produce silica of greater than 99.9% purity. The Company's smelter-grade alumina (SGA) plant, projected to begin its first phase of operations in 2014, will have the potential to produce up to 1.2 million tonnes of silica ranging from 95% to more than 99.9% at maximum capacity.
INDEPENDENT EVALUATION
Orbite's silica purification technology was developed in-house. The projected recovery rate of silica within Orbite's global process is now 99.97% and with known methods could reach 5N to 7N levels. The chemical analyses were obtained by an independent laboratory (AGAT Laboratories) while the physical characteristics were evaluated by the independent group Tekna.
The technical content in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Denis Primeau, Eng., a "qualified person" pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 A Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects (NI 43-101). Mr. Primeau is the Chief Engineer of Orbite, and as such, is not independent pursuant to NI 43-101. |
