Orbite Announces Successful Development of High-Purity Silica Process

Orbite Aluminae today announced that, leveraging its patented processes for high-purity and smelter-grade alumina production, the Company 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 – 96% – 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 – and given the high proportion of silica in Orbite's Grande-Valle clay deposit – 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.