PyroGenesis enters into MoU with Japanese Multi-Billion Dollar Corporation to jointly toll with DROSRITE™

PyroGenesis Canada has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with one of the largest Japanese trading houses, which outlines the understanding of how the Parties will move forward towards a potential joint venture partnership for the purpose of developing DROSRITE™ tolling services globally.

A tolling service arrangement is one in which a smelter provides dross to a third party to process either on or off-site. The Agreement envisions moving forward with test cases to provide tolling services. These test cases would serve as a basis on which to determine, if, and how, the Parties would jointly provide tolling services on a global basis, the company said in its press release.

“Before the introduction of PyroGenesis’ patented DROSRITE™ system to the marketplace, options for on-site tolling with a salt-free, high recovery rate technology were extremely limited, if not nonexistent,” said Mr. Pierre Carabin, CTO and Chief Strategist of PyroGenesis. “The advent of DROSRITE™ opens up an alternative for aluminium producers looking to maximize recovery of metal, while using a technology that is compatible with their operations, avoiding altogether the risk of salt contamination.”

The Partner is one of the largest Japanese trading houses (Revenues: > Can$5.4 billion; Profit: > Can$2.0 billion; Assets: > Can$25 billion) with more than 400 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide, and extensive relationships with smelters globally.

“Tolling is the ultimate recurring revenue stream for our DROSRITE™ business line. Teaming up with a large multi-national corporation, who has the experience and organizational depth required to execute this strategy, will help accelerate our time to market,” said Mr. P. Peter Pascali, President and CEO of PyroGenesis. “We know of no other process that can offer the same savings as the one we are offering the aluminum industry. Of note, in a separate industry, tolling steel slag on-site is a very profitable business model which has been the foundation on which several billion dollar blue-chip industrial companies were built. We intend to introduce this business model, with our Partner, to the aluminum industry, which, of note, is recognized as the steel industry’s ‘best practice’ for managing their slag.”

The Agreement announced envisions the Parties eventually forming a JV to provide tolling services on a global basis.

“Today’s industry standard dross recovery technology, the Rotary Salt Furnace (RSF), cannot be economically operated on-site. As a result, a network of off-site dross tollers formed around the world, tolling dross for many smelters at central facilities. With DROSRITE™, we have the flexibility of processing a smelter’s dross inside their plant, which comes with significant financial benefits and allows us to maximize recovery rates. As such, PyroGenesis’ DROSRITE™ tolling is a potential catalyst for disruption in today’s long-established industry of off-site aluminium dross processing,” said Mr. David D’Aoust, Sales Manager - DROSRITE™.

“Total worldwide production of aluminium dross was approximately 3,000,000 TPY in 2017. PyroGenesis’ tolling system is designed to process 5,000 TPY. When combined with dross produced by zinc and copper smelters this represents a market potential of over $1 billion in recurring revenues per year assuming all dross was tolled, and may explain, in part, the interest by our Partner to toll with us.”