Tuesday 25 September 2012

Argex Titanium rallies, exceeds 50-day average volume


Argex Titanium (CVE:RGX) (FSE:ASV) (OTCBB:ARGEF) saw its shares rise 12 cents today, exceeding its 50-day average trading volume. 
Shares were lately up by 12 per cent at $1.12 Tuesday early afternoon. 
Earlier this month, the company said it successfully completed the production scale up of high purity titanium dioxide (TiO2) at its pilot plant, placing it in on solid footing for the preparation of its industrial plant. 
The near-term producer of titanium dioxide said it has a proprietary mineral extraction process that allows it to produce high purity, or 99.8 per cent pure,  pigment-grade TiO2 directly from run-of-mine material at its deposits.
The process is running continuously at its pilot-plant in Mississauga, and Argex said the closed-loop process is environmentally friendly and produces minimal inert tailings.
As part of the production scale up, Argex said production capacity has increased from 0.3 kg/day to 10kg/day, a 3,000 per cent  increase in production. 
This was achieved in two stages, the company said, as first, the the 3 kg/day capacity plant was  installed and tested, and then a new 10 kg/day capacity plant was constructed in an adjacent building. 
The pilot plant is located at PRO in Mississauga, Ontario.
The company can now produce more than three tonnes of TiO2 per year from its Mississauga plant. 
"Scalability was never an issue. The delays  experienced in the scale-up of the pilot plant were due to delivery  delays and minor - but necessary - design changes to the building," said COO and VP of technology for Argex, Enrico Di Cesare, at the time. 
"This  will not be a factor in the construction of our industrial plant."
Titanium dioxide is an inorganic substance characterized by brightness and very high refractive index, making it an ideal pigment in paints, plastics and paper.
The company said its CTL process is unique in that it produces high-purity TiO2 "in a single location through a single process", directly from the ore  material. 
The closed-loop design also uses  relatively low concentrations of hydrochloric acid that is regenerated after use in the process, it added. 
The junior Canadian resource company is developing the advanced stage La Blache titaniferous magnetite project, and also owns the Lac Brûlé high grade ilmenite and the Mouchalagane iron ore projects, which are all located on Quebec’s North Shore.

No comments:

Post a Comment