Montreal-based Orbite Aluminae (ORT-T) (previously named “Exploration Orbite”) has been given the go-ahead to extract a bulk sample of up to 3,000 tonnes of aluminous clay over the next year from its Grande-Vallée claystone deposit in Quebec.
The authorization from Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Wildlife allows Orbite to extract sufficient quantities of mineral substances from Grande-Vallée expanded testing, and enables the junior to build a sample product inventory.
“This gives us a large amount of material that we can work with to experiment and establish the high-purity alumina facility, which we plan to have in the next few months in Cap-Chat,” Richard Boudreault, the company’s president and chief executive, explained in a telephone interview. “It is extremely good news.”
Boudreault adds that the authorization is also “probably a good sign that we’re on our way to getting the full mining lease,” which he says can take a year from the time the documents are filed with the government. The company has already filed its documents and is waiting to hear whether any other documents
are required.
Orbite has patented a process to extract metallurgical alumina and high-purity alumina from the Grande-Vallée deposit, which is in the Gaspé region, 32 km northeast of Murdochville.
In May the company produced its first samples of aluminum from alumina at its 28,000-sq.-ft production facility in Cap-Chat, also in the Gaspé.
Orbite holds 100% of the mining rights on its Grande-Vallée property, which has an indicated resource of more than 1 billion tonnes of aluminous clay in part of the deposit. The company says the deposit represents a half-century of imported Canadian alumina.
“We’re on time, on schedule, and on budget for developing our high-purity facility by 2012 and our smelter-grade facility by 2013, barring any unforseen economic issues, or if the market collapses,” Boudreault says.
He believes production of high-purity alumina could start near the end of 2012 and production of smelter-grade alumina “hopefully” before the end of 2013.
The junior is trading at $2 per share within a 52-week trading range of 28.5¢ on Sept. 24, 2010, and $5.69 on April 12, 2011.
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