The Gazette
Refinery sets target date for plant
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
1 min read
Orbite Aluminae Inc., with an ambition to supply Quebec aluminum smelters with half their intermediate alumina material by 2020, will soon freeze the design of its planned commercial process plant and aim at a 2013-2014 start-up, CEO Richard Boudreault said on Wednesday.
Orbite plans to convert aluminous clays mined from the Grande Vallée region in the Gaspé into high-grade alumina by its own patented hydrochloric acid separation process. The acid is 99 per cent recyclable and tests have shown the ore contains other valuable metals.
Orbite is talking energy with Hydro-Québec and others, continuing process-testing with European partners and refining recovery rates. The full “bankable” feasibility study comes in the first half of 2012.
The scoping study, produced by consultants Genivar Inc., estimates the Grande Vallée open-pit mine has a resource of almost one billion tonnes of clays grading an average 23 per cent alumina for conversion into the intermediate material for aluminum smelting. It can compete with imported bauxite because of proximity, low-cost mining and high-quality ore.
The initial commercial plant would have annual capacity of 540,000 tonnes of alumina, 190,000 tonnes of iron and 1.2 million tonnes of high-quality silica, plus rare metals for the electronics industries.
Orbite plans to convert aluminous clays mined from the Grande Vallée region in the Gaspé into high-grade alumina by its own patented hydrochloric acid separation process. The acid is 99 per cent recyclable and tests have shown the ore contains other valuable metals.
Orbite is talking energy with Hydro-Québec and others, continuing process-testing with European partners and refining recovery rates. The full “bankable” feasibility study comes in the first half of 2012.
The scoping study, produced by consultants Genivar Inc., estimates the Grande Vallée open-pit mine has a resource of almost one billion tonnes of clays grading an average 23 per cent alumina for conversion into the intermediate material for aluminum smelting. It can compete with imported bauxite because of proximity, low-cost mining and high-quality ore.
The initial commercial plant would have annual capacity of 540,000 tonnes of alumina, 190,000 tonnes of iron and 1.2 million tonnes of high-quality silica, plus rare metals for the electronics industries.
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