Resource World Magazine

56 www.resourceworld.com F E B R U A R Y / M A R C H 2 0 1 9 Hudson Resources' [HUD-TSXV; HUDRF- OTC] wholly-owned White Mountain Project will soon transition from a devel- opment project into a producing mine. This is a feat very few resource companies achieve. Most projects are hindered by economic constraints and the few that are robust enough to succeed are often swal - lowed by larger companies looking to feed their production supply line. What's special about Hudson Resources is that its product, anorthosite (a calcium- rich, feldspar), is rather unique. High quality anorthosite (CaAl 2 SiO 2 O 8 ) is an industrial mineral with four potential revenue streams; it's also very green, envi- ronmentally speaking. Hudson is marketing its anorthosite product as "GreenSpar" which has been trademarked. The name reflects the fact that its unique calcium feldspar product originates in Greenland. The company cur - rently has a minimum 10-year off-take sales contract with one of the world's leading fiberglass producers. E-Glass fiber is most commonly used in the high-end fiberglass industry for wind turbines, cars, boat parts and sporting equipment. Major mar - kets are concentrated in Asia, Europe and USA. The E-glass fiber market is expected to grow to US $17.4 billion by 2024. Hudson's GreenSpar can be used as a superior replacement for kaolin - ite (Al 2 Si 2 O 5 (OH) 4 ) in the production of E-Glass with significant technical, finan- cial and environmental advantages. • Energy savings of +10% • Reduced melt time by up to 33% • Lower heavy metal content • Lighter stronger fibers with less waste • Reduced NOx, SOx and CO 2 emissions • Reduced wear and tear on refractories "We are very excited to have reached this key milestone of delivering our anor- thosite from the mine to the plant and watching it being processed into product for our customers," commented James Tuer, Hudson's President. "We expect commissioning will take approximately 4-6 weeks. We are in negotiations with shippers to move the first load of finished product to the US east coast in January." The company also discovered that it can produce a strong, heat resistant, white cement by adding phosphoric acid to its GreenSpar product. Initial studies have shown that this cement (dubbed Anocrete) is at least as hard as Portland cement (30 Mpa) and has a very high tolerance to heat (1,000 degrees C.) and is significantly more resistant to acid than ordinary Portland cement. Company studies have also indicated that GreenSpar is also a superior prod - uct for use as a new source of filler and coatings material, which are used by the plastics, paints and paper industries. Another potential revenue stream can come from producing alumina from GreenSpar with no waste products. Alumina production from bauxite pro - duces two tonnes of toxic waste for every tonne of alumina using the Bayer Process. Hudson's White Mountain Project has been fully permitted for 50 years with a minimum 100-year lifespan. The deposit has very few impurities and a high alu - minum oxide content (30%). Current NI 43-101 compliant resources stand at 27 million tonnes of indicated and 32 mil- lion tonnes of inferred resources and the deposit remains open in all directions. The mine site boasts a deep-water port and it's situated only 80 km from a major airport. Mining and processing of the ore is straightforward and produces no waste which translates to a very green min - ing operation. No water or chemicals are required to mine or process the host rock anorthosite into the final Greenspar product. Typically, calcium-rich anorthosite deposits are small, irregular and contain too many impurities for commercial appli - cations. The company's White Mountain project hosts an ore body that is geologi- cally massive and homogeneous and has no real competitors. According to a prefeasibility study, published by the company in 2015, the economics of producing specialty grade alumina were quite robust. Highlights include: • After Tax Net Present Value of US $205 million using a 10% discount rate, • Internal after-tax rate of return (IRR) of 23.5% and a 3.9-year payback assuming a 20-year mine life. • Initial capital costs of US $180 million which included a contingency of US $33 million and working capital of US $17 million for a 1,100 tonne-per-day open- pit operation and an off-shore processing facility in North America, • Operating costs of US $115/tonne including shipping costs of US $25/tonne between Greenland and North America, • Revenue of US $287/tonne of mined rock based on an average Specialty Grade Alumina selling price of US$850/tonne, an Amorphous Silica selling price of US $75/ tonne and a Calcium Silicate selling price of US $75 per tonne. The mine will ship about 200,000 tonnes of product annually to Metro Ports, a company operating a bulk stevedor - ing terminal near the port of Savannah Georgia. From there, it can be either micronized for paints and plastics custom- ers or transferred, as is, by a variety of delivery methods to E-Glass manufacturers in the US and globally. Hudson Resources currently has a mar- ket capitalization of $78.3 million with 178 million shares outstanding (238 million fully diluted). n Turning anorthosite into a proverbial green gold mine by Thomas Schuster MINING

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