Orbite receives notice of allowance for red mud monetization patent in the USA

Orbite Aluminae Inc. is pleased to announce that the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") has issued a notice of allowance for patent application No. 14/371,364, pertaining to Processes for Treating Red Mud. Orbite had previously received a notice of allowance by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office ("CIPO"), as announced on January 8, 2015.

Following the favorable opinion in terms of novelty, inventive steps, and industrial applicability received for its International Application, Orbite filed national phase entries in various countries and used the Patent Prosecution Highway, where allowed, to accelerate patent application examination and patent issuance. The US and Canadian Red Mud patent applications were treated under this accelerated process.

Red mud is the waste product generated by the Bayer process, the industrial process used for refining bauxite to obtain alumina, the raw material for the electrolytic production of aluminum. Red mud represents a long-term environmental liability for the entire alumina industry. The Orbite process is able to utilize red mud as a feedstock, extracting the valuable constituents, including rare earths and rare metals, alumina, magnesium oxide and titanium dioxide, while only returning a small fraction of material. In this way, the Orbite process contributes to converting an environmental and financial liability into an asset.

"With more than 3 billion tonnes of red mud stored globally, two patents confirmed and more on the way, as well as the recently announced $4.5M conditional grant from Sustainable Development Technologies Canada, Orbite is well positioned to pursue the commercial opportunity its groundbreaking waste monetization technology represents," stated Glenn Kelly , CEO of Orbite. "In addition to red mud, we see a considerable opportunity in using this technology for fly ash monetization. Fly ash, of which some 71 million tonnes is produced in the U.S. annually, like red mud, represents a significant financial and environmental liability for communities and companies. As fly ash has a similar composition to red mud, much value is currently wasted. With our technology, we believe it is possible to generate significant value from these waste ponds, simultaneously addressing economic and environmental issues."