Orbite Provides Alumina Samples to Prospective Customers

Orbite Aluminae Inc. (TSX:ORT,OTCQX:EORBF) announced that it’s entered the supplier qualification programs of five prospective customers by shipping them high-purity alumina samples.

As quoted in the press release:

The samples were produced by calcining aluminum chloride hexahydrate (‘ACH’), the precursor material for HPA, which was successfully produced at the Company’s HPA facility in Cap-Chat in a production run during the third quarter of 2014.

The ACH thus produced achieved purity levels in line with those required to produce 5N (99.999%) HPA. The ACH was subsequently decomposed and calcined using the Company’s old calcination system, which was modified during the fourth quarter of 2014, as announced in the Company’s November 5, 2014 press release.

Overall purity levels of the shipped samples achieved 4N8 (99.998%), or ‘sapphire grade’, as confirmed by an independent, third party laboratory. The sodium content, an impurity caused by the modified calcination system, was slightly above Orbite’s targeted value but well within acceptable industry tolerances. As reported on December 4, 2014, extensive testing of the refractory to be installed in the new calcination system, carried out at the Company’s Technology Development Centre (‘TDC’), showed that lower sodium levels will be achieved once the new calcination system has been commissioned and is operational. Orbite thus foresees being capable of producing 5N HPA at commercial scale.

Glenn Kelly, CEO of Orbite, commented:

This is an important milestone for the Company. Even if the capacity of the modified calciner is limited, these samples were produced at our industrial facility, as opposed to being laboratory-prepared. This is an important distinction, and one, we believe, that helps validate our technology at commercial scale.

Having indications of interest from over 30 customers with whom we have established agreed upon HPA quality targets, we are now moving to another important phase in our commercial outreach by entering customers’ qualification programs. We expect shipping further samples over the next weeks and months.

With the anticipated completion of the plant months away, we are now also gearing up for commercial activity. Supplier qualification programs in our sector are extensive and thorough, and we will be collaborating closely with our prospective customers to ensure our products meet with their exacting performance targets.

Click here to read the full Orbite Aluminae Inc. (TSX:ORT,OTCQX:EORBF) press release.