Production plans for 2015 on track, Orbite Aluminae says

Orbite Aluminae Inc. said Tuesday its high-purity alumina (HPA) project at Cap-Chat in the Gaspé region is well on track for commercial production early next year.

On Monday, Montreal-based Orbite announced that Claude Lamoureux, retired head of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is the new board chairman.

CEO Glenn Kelly said Lamoureux “will help Orbite’s transition from a technology development company to an operational commercial entity.”

Lamoureux joined Orbite’s board at a crucial time a year ago and takes over as chairman from Lionel Léveillé, who remains a director.

Kelly, who was also named a director, said federal funding has come through for the HPA plant’s new calcination system, which is being supplied by global mineral-process leader Outotec Oyj from its plant in Burlington, Ont., and from its German subsidiary.

“Orbite had $5.3 million of cash at March 31 and is sufficiently capitalized to reach the HPA plant’s commercialization,” Kelly told analysts. Process and quality validation continues at Orbite’s technology centre in Laval.

Plans to form a joint venture with Russian aluminum giant Rusal have been dropped because agreement could not be reached on terms, he said.

The Cap-Chat HPA plant will have capacity of three tonnes daily, while rising to five tonnes daily remains under study. Kelly joined Orbite in June 2013, as COO and became CEO after co-founder Richard Boudreault stepped down and left the company.

HPA alumina, 99.999 per cent pure, is used in the electronics, ceramics and coatings industries, and can be made from various feedstocks including Gaspé clays. Orbite’s patented process can also produce smelter-grade alumina for the primary aluminum industry without creating the toxic “red mud” generated by refining bauxite into alumina with the Bayer process.