Hot Stocks: Argex Mining: The Only Serious Titanium Play in North America?

http://www.resourceintelligence.net/hot-stocks-argex-mining/16274

Argex Mining (TSXV: RGX) is arguably the only serious junior player in the titanium sector in North America. The company’s La Blache project in mine-friendly Quebec has huge historic resources potentially worth billions and uses a proprietary method of extracting not just the TiO2, but also vanadium and iron. The company is expected to produce about 600,000 tonnes of TiO2 per year at full production, which will be close to 20% of the world’s production.

With a Preliminary Economic Assessment on the horizon and a pilot plant almost complete, the company’s President and CEO, Michael Dehn, is understandably pumped about the year ahead.

He believes “La Blache is going to be one of the richest deposits of its kind in the world,” thanks to the innovative use of Canadian Titanium’s technology to extract the titanium. The process allows Argex to process from ore to high-value product in one location while producing inert tailings. “The big differences in the technology is the energy savings, and it is environmentally friendly,” noted Dehn.

On February 10, Argex announced that high purity 99.8% titanium dioxide was produced in Phase I metallurgical test work conducted by Process Research ORTECH Inc. The market greeted the announcement positively, sending Argex’s share price up 35%.

The company expects a steady flow of news to further boost shareholder value. Results of Phase II of the metallurgical test work completed recently are about to be announced. Phase III is ongoing. “Recovery rate is now estimated at 85% and improvements are expected [target recovery is 90%] and will be addressed in the Phase III metallurgy testing,” the company said.

It is interesting to note that La Blache deposit was not even mined for its titanium when first discovered.

“When it was first discovered titanium wasn’t as rich a commodity as it is today and the technology to separate the titanium and iron from this deposit was unavailable. The titanium and iron are interwoven and no matter how fine you grind the material they continue to be interwoven. Until we went to a leaching process with hydrochloric acid there really wasn’t a process out there that was feasible to use on this deposit. Our technology is much more economically efficient and environmentally friendly than any other technology being used today,” said Dehn.

In a press release dated January 26, 2011 Argex reported that in the absence of a significant drop in demand, TiO2 supply and demand is forecasted to be tight until 2015. The average world price for high quality TiO2 pigment is forecast to double to US$4,800 per metric tonne by 2015 from US$2,400 per metric tonne in 2010. Expected improvements in recovery rates bode well for Argex share price and long-term future.