Exploration Orbite Inc., developer of the Grande Vallée aluminous clay deposits in the Gaspé Peninsula, has passed another milestone towards proving the mineral can be converted successfully into alumina, the intermediate material used to smelt primary aluminum.
CEO Richard Boudreault said Tuesday “a large scale” aluminum ingot has been produced from the high-grade alumina supplied by Orbite’s Cap Chat pilot plant in the Gaspé to Norway’s SINTEF international metals research group.
“This large-scale laboratory test conclusively showed Orbite alumina meets industry standards and that it can be ultimately oriented for sale to aluminum smelters,” he said.
Last month, Orbite reported the first conversion of its Cap Chat alumina into primary aluminum metal – but in small nuggets. This time a much larger ingot was produced at the independent Norwegian research centre after following a continuous 50-hour electrolytic test, Boudreault said. “Excellent quality aluminum was produced in the SINTEL test and without any unexpected events,” he said. “It confirms Orbite’s ability to make a superior quality smelter-grade alumina (SGA) with consistent quality.”
Orbite earlier patented a process to extract metallurgical-grade alumina from the extensive Grande Vallée aluminous clays near Murdochville. It then built a $7 million pilot plant at Cap Chat to convert the clay to alumina on a small scale.
If the process is finally proven to be economic in all conditions, Orbite hopes to set up a full commercial plant near Murdochville. The whole project has a capital cost of more than $400 million and it would displace heavy imports of alumina from the Caribbean, Africa and Australia to feed Quebec’s aluminum smelters.
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