May 6 2015
Orbite Aluminae Inc. is pleased to announce that further to its press releases of January 8 and March 13, 2015, the Company has now been granted patents in Canada and the Unites States pertaining to its Red Mud Monetization technology.
The two patents are Canadian patent 2,857,574 and U.S. patent 14/371,364, both titled Processes for Treating Red Mud. These patents entitle Orbite to the exclusive use of these inventions for a period of twenty (20) years following their respective filing date.
Red mud is the waste product generated by the Bayer process, the industrial process used for refining bauxite to obtain alumina, the raw material for the electrolytic production of aluminum. Red mud represents a long-term environmental liability for the entire alumina industry. The Orbite process is able to utilize red mud as a feedstock, extracting all of the valuable constituents, including scandium, gallium, rare earths and rare metals, alumina, magnesium oxide and titanium dioxide, while only returning a small fraction of the original material. In this way, the Orbite process contributes to converting an environmental and financial liability into an asset.
"We are pleased to have received these patents following accelerated patent application examination and issuance processes in both the US and Canada," stated Yves Noël, Vice President Business Development of Orbite. "Red mud monetization is an important part of our growth strategy going forward, and having strong protection for our technology, we believe positions us well to capitalize on this significant opportunity."