Resource World Magazine

34 www.resourceworld.com a p r i l / m a y 2 0 1 5 MINING Orbite Aluminae Inc. [ORT-TSX; EORBF- OTCQX] has a clear vision of how it intends to become a great company and make the world a better place. Their objective is to become a key player in the minerals pro- cessing industry by commercializing their alumina, or aluminum oxide, technology to address inefficiencies, supply issues and environmental liabilities. In other words, they want to turn problems into solutions. The company is based in Saint Laurent, Québec. Development of its proprietary technology goes back to 2004. It was origi- nally focused on the extraction of alumina from aluminous clay, and ongoing research led to the production of high-purity alu- mina (HPA) in the lab. Orbite filed for its first patent in 2007. To further its prog- ress towards commercialization, Orbite built a pilot plant, where the process for the production of HPA was proven in an industrial setting. Today, with much hard work, private risk capital, and good support from both the Québec and federal governments, Orbite is finalizing its first commercial HPA production plant in Cap-Chat, Québec. Basic engineering was completed for a proposed smelter-grade alumina (SGA) production plant, which would use clay mined from its Grande-Vallée deposit on the Gaspé Peninsula. Orbite anticipates commercial production at its $117 million, 28,000 square foot HPA facility to begin in the third quarter of 2015. Initially produc- ing at a rate of 3 tonnes per day, the facility will be expanded to 5 tonnes per day and converted to the chloride process; allowing the company to use different feedstocks and demonstrate its technology for subse- quent applications. Orbite's chemical technology is com- prised of an intellectual property portfolio of 15 property families, a similar number of existing patents, and 98 patents pend- ing. The Orbite process is a unique and potentially disruptive technology that extracts all value added products from a wide variety of feedstocks, including industrials waste. (see technology sidebar) That means recovering valuable metals, such as magnesium, gallium, scandium, and rare earths from red mud, fly ash, waste rock and tailings – both making the environment cleaner and generating rev- enue from recycling. Emerging technologies in energy and electronics depend on the consistent avail- ability of materials such as rare earths and rare metals, which can be difficult to obtain. Energy, lighting and electronics displays depend on the supply of high- end materials of consistent quality, such as high purity alumina which can be refined into aluminum metal. Orbite's process leads to a market plan with three distinct business lines: 1. Producing specialty products of valuable, highly sought after materials, such as high- purity alumina, rare earths and rare metals. 2. Waste monetization: the utilization of industrial waste as a feedstock for the extraction of all valuable materials, with only a small and inert residue remaining. To that end, the strategy is to strike a partner- ship agreement with a global player that has a financial interest in the venture and a plat- form for global expansion. Orbite plans to leverage the benefits of waste monetization rather than remediation to ensure strong buy-in from waste owners. Following start-up and conversion of the HPA plant, the facility will serve as an industrial-scale technology demonstration unit in prepara- tion for full-scale operations and licensing of the technology on a global scale, while continuing to produce HPA. 3. Focused on the low-cost and strategi- cally located production of commodities such as smelter-grade alumina (SGA) and others. Québec is the world's third largest aluminum producer, with a limited domes- tic supply of alumina. Orbite has access to vast deposits of aluminous clay in the region; therefore, they are well positioned to become a low-cost alumina producer with a competitive advantage. The go-to- market strategy for commodities is similar to that for waste monetization. clEaning Up The technology has the potential to improve the environmental footprint of an entire sector. Orbite believes its technology will play a key role in addressing a number of substantial environmental liabilities: rEd mUd Red mud is the caustic by-product from the Bayer process, the principal method of producing alumina from bauxite, which has been around, essentially unchanged, THE ORBITE PROCESS step 1: Feedstock is ground into small particles to maximize the surface area for acid leaching. step 2: Particles are acid-leached at high temperature using hydrochloric acid. All the metals (except titanium, but including rare earth elements) dis- solve as chlorides. Specifically, alumina and iron dissolve to form aluminum chloride (AlCl 3 ) and ferric chloride (FeCl 3 ). Silica and titanium remain insoluble and are removed by filtering. step 3: The leachate is processed by first precipitating the aluminum chlo- ride and removing it as aluminum chloride hexahydrate (ACH), the pre- cursor of alumina. step 4: ACH then goes through calcina- tion and is transformed into alumina. The ferric chloride, which is still in the leachate, is hydrolyzed, using a low-temperature process, producing a pure ferric oxide precipitate while regenerating hydrochloric acid. The ferric oxide (hematite) is very pure and can be sold commercially as a specialty by-product. Orbite Aluminae setting the stage for production by Patrick Moore

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