TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – High-purity alumina (HPA) producer Orbite Aluminae has shipped samples to five potential customers, thereby, entering their supplier qualification programme.

The samples were produced by calcining aluminium chloride hexahydrate, the precursor material for HPA, which the firm produced at its pilot plant in Cap-Chat, Quebec, during a production run in the third quarter last year.

Orbite reported that the samples shipped were of ‘sapphire grade’, or 99.998% pure, containing slightly more sodium than expected. However, the company expected that its new calcination system, currently under construction, would be able to produce 99.999% pure HPA on a commercial scale.

"This is an important milestone for the company. Even if the capacity of the modified calciner is limited, these samples have been produced at our industrial facility, as opposed to being laboratory-prepared. This is an important distinction and one, we believe, which helps validate our technology at a commercial scale.

"Having indications of interest from over 30 customers with which we have established agreed upon HPA quality targets, we are now moving to another important phase in our commercial outreach by entering customers' qualification programmes. We expect to ship further samples over the next weeks and months,” Orbite CEO Glenn Kelly advised.

He added that the company was now gearing up for commercial activity, with plant construction expected to be months away.

Orbite also announced that it had received C$4-million as the fourth instalment of its 2012 Quebec Investment Tax Credits. The funds were due to the company owing to it having bought equipment for manufacturing and processing in the Gaspe region during the 2012 financial year. Funds received to date equalled C$20.3-million.

These funds were deposited in a separate account to serve as security for the convertible debentures issued in 2012. The company expected to receive the balance of its 2012 and 2013 investment tax credits later this year.

Including the fourth payment, Orbite still expected to receive C$9.7-million in Quebec Investment Tax Credits, of which C$1.6-million related to the 2012 financial year, C$3.7-million to the 2013 financial year and C$4.4-million to 2014, which combined with the funds received to date totalled C$30-million.