Bananaboy, you said
"Do you know if the technology currently being used by Argex might be applied to Magpie rock? I think the end product they want is titanium dioxide, but it does separate this from a titaniferous magnetite deposit at La Blache, close by.
I suspect they might be unwilling to licence this technology to a competitor, but some analogous crushing and leaching process seems likely to yield separate vanadium, chromite, titanium dioxide, and iron. Obviously capital intensive on any scale, but with good prices for end products."
Interesting observation about the potential similarity between Argex La Blache and FNC Magpie. The two deposits are called titaniumferous magnetite deposits by both RGX and FNC (see websites). They both contain sort of the same mix (TiO2, V2O5, Fe compounds, etc...). Note that I am nor geo nor chemist , but I have enough education and have been spending quite a lot of time learning this stuff, at least on the macroscopic level. hence should be able to follow/debate a technical discussion. A professional geo or key personnels at either RGX and FNC (Dr. Smith would certainly know this stuff) can tell if the metallurgy and chemistry deposits are similar, hence (my assumption) Magpie ore could be processed using similar (proprietary) RGX technology to . Again, this can be checked out with FNC/Dr. Smith.
Let's suppose that Magpie ore can be processed using the same technology I would say that RGX would not consider FNC as a competitor, considering the following.
- FNC has 9M shares of RGX, or 9M/110M = 8.18% OS (FNC could go over the 10% magic level by spending $1.34M (2M RGX x $0.67/s = $1.34M).
- Dr. Smith (according RGX website) sits on RGX BoD, by virtue of the 9M shares? Regardless, Dr. Smith (and by extension, FNC) is an insider, who presumably would have some influence on both BoDs. In my opinion, Dr. Smith/FNC would be considered as a potential ally by RGX.
- How about having a JV of some sort with RGX to develop Magpie to extract the expensive TiO2 and V2O5 components from the non-magnetic mixture? Fe stuff can be dealt with later, if there is some concern about the surplus of Fe. However, Wuhan, Baosteel and other biggies are still stockpiling).
Just my speculation.
goldhunter
