Argex Mining to expand titanium production

Junior titanium producer Argex Mining (CVE:RGX) plans to expand the current production capacity by 3,000 percent after successful testing of its La Blache ore pilot-plant, the company reported Monday.  

Production capacity of high purity titanium from the company’s majority owned deposits will now rise from 0.3 kilograms a day up to 10kg a day. 

Argex chief executive Roy Bonnell said: "The pilot-plant expansion represents a significant milestone.

"The primary objective of the expansion is to increase the quantity of titanium product samples we can provide to end-users." 

Expansion is slated to be completed before the end of the first quarter of 2012, with production set to begin by the second quarter. 

The La Blache acreage, which is comprised of one block of 73 contiguous claims, lies in the Manicouagan region in Quebec, roughly 120 kilometres northwest from the city of Baie-Comeau on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River.

Argex noted: "The scale-up permits us to not only increase production it will also allow us to conduct larger scale testing and continue to optimize the key performance indicators."

Recently, Argex Mining announced the completion of pilot-plant testing of ore from its La Blache deposit.

Highlights at the deposit included: production of 99.8 percent pure titanium dioxide, with a recovery rate of 90 percent, directly from run of mine materials. 

In addition, the pilot-plant testing revealed brightness and colour in line with, or superior to, some of the major producers in that sector. 

Also, Argex said the organics used in the production process have been recycled over 100 times, demonstrating the viability of the process.

Aside from La Blache, which hosts 4.7 million tonnes of inferred resources grading 10.67 percent of titanium, 41.76 percent iron and 0.25 percent vanadium, the junior miner owns the Mouchalagane property, a large Labrador Trough iron ore project.

Shares of Argex Mining were down 5.56 percent to trade at 42.5 cents on Toronto’s junior Venture exchange.