The Gazette
Trading of Orbite Aluminae shares halted on Tuesday
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
2 min read
Trading in the shares of Orbite Aluminae Inc., developer of the Grande Vallée aluminous clay deposits in Quebec’s Gaspé region, was halted Tuesday after the firm released a favourable Preliminary Economic Statement.
The PEA (scoping study) broadly assesses if a mining or industrial project could be profitable and precedes a detailed feasibility study or roadmap for use in negotiating financing and planning construction.
Orbite wants to process the Grande Vallée clays into metallurgical-grade alumina using its own patented process – proven at the pilot-plant stage at Cap Chat. Alumina is the intermediate material for smelting aluminum.
The PEA by Montreal consultants Genivar Inc. was released before the market opened. Orbite’s CEO Richard Boudreault was due to begin an analysts’ call at 10.30 a.m. He delayed this until Wednesday.
The PEA says the indicated Grande Vallée clays resource is about one billion tonnes grading an average 23.13 per cent alumina. It confirms the potential high value and low cost of the alumina to be produced by Orbite’s eco-friendly process, compared with conventional international methods.
Orbite envisages a commercial plant with annual capacity of 539,700 tonnes of alumina.
The project’s capital cost would be almost $500 million for mine and processing plant, up about $100 million from previous estimates. “The project could be highly profitable due to Orbite’s unique alumina extraction process,” the PEA says.
Boudreault later said the trading halt issue did not challenge the PEA’s conclusions, but only with classifications for the rare earths and metals content of the Grande Vallée ore.
Early this month, Orbite awarded the full feasibility study to Genivar and Johnston-Vermette, a specialist in heavy industrial and energy projects, after a competitive call for tenders. It is due in the first half of 2012.
The PEA (scoping study) broadly assesses if a mining or industrial project could be profitable and precedes a detailed feasibility study or roadmap for use in negotiating financing and planning construction.
Orbite wants to process the Grande Vallée clays into metallurgical-grade alumina using its own patented process – proven at the pilot-plant stage at Cap Chat. Alumina is the intermediate material for smelting aluminum.
The PEA by Montreal consultants Genivar Inc. was released before the market opened. Orbite’s CEO Richard Boudreault was due to begin an analysts’ call at 10.30 a.m. He delayed this until Wednesday.
The PEA says the indicated Grande Vallée clays resource is about one billion tonnes grading an average 23.13 per cent alumina. It confirms the potential high value and low cost of the alumina to be produced by Orbite’s eco-friendly process, compared with conventional international methods.
Orbite envisages a commercial plant with annual capacity of 539,700 tonnes of alumina.
The project’s capital cost would be almost $500 million for mine and processing plant, up about $100 million from previous estimates. “The project could be highly profitable due to Orbite’s unique alumina extraction process,” the PEA says.
Boudreault later said the trading halt issue did not challenge the PEA’s conclusions, but only with classifications for the rare earths and metals content of the Grande Vallée ore.
Early this month, Orbite awarded the full feasibility study to Genivar and Johnston-Vermette, a specialist in heavy industrial and energy projects, after a competitive call for tenders. It is due in the first half of 2012.
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