Clean Invest Africa Plc - CIA Expanding into Higher Value Minerals
PR Newswire
London, July 28
CLEAN INVEST AFRICA PLC
("CIA" or the "Company")
CIA, expanding into higher value minerals and precious metals
- Coaltech technology to produce pellets from industrial mineral tailings
- Potential forhigh grade ore, minerals and solid based natural resources
- Initial contract award from mineral sands producer to produce pellets from ilmenite tailings
Clean Invest Africa plc is pleased to announce that Coal Agglomeration South Africa Pty Ltd (CASA), its wholly owned subsidiary and sister company to Coaltech, has successfully negotiated and been awarded a contract to produce 10,000 tonnes of ilmenite pellets from ilmenite tailings sludge for a strategic and world renowned client based in South Africa. These ilmenite pellets will be used to supplement the client's current commercial ilmenite production stream.
Ilmenite, also known as manaccanite, is a titanium-iron oxide mineral which from a commercial perspective is the most important ore of titanium.
More about Ilmenite in context of the CASA contract:
Ilmenite is recovered from beach sands. It is then fed into a furnace to produces various products containing Titanium which is where the value lies. The ilmenite sludge is currently waste from the producers existing operation, which CASA is able to recover through pelletisation. Because the sludge is very fine, the prospective client cannot introduce it into it's furnace in the normal course of business as the sludge will blow off as dust. CASA has the potential to agglomerate the fines into pellets, these pellets can be used to supplement the prospective clients existing feed to the furnace.
The environmental liabilities with the prospective client's sludge dam will gradually be removed.
CIA notes that the Coaltech technology previously thought to only apply to coal fines or coal waste, has now been adapted by Coaltech to be able to pelletise other materials, with potentially high grade ores, precious metals, minerals and solid based natural resources. CIA is now evaluating the opportunity in the much wider market beyond coal including for pelletised Rutile, Tin, Cobalt, Manganese, Molybdenum and Zircon, as well as other base, ferrous and precious metals and biomass.
This is a very significant development in the CIA business. Whilst still in its early days this is an indicator of far greater potential for CIA beyond coal than previously considered. By way of example Ilmenite prices per tonne are in the region of $1,500 whilst coal pricing is in the region of $50 per tonne. This example shows an uplift of up to 30 times to Coaltech's commercial model.
This game changing contract for the delivery of pelletised ilmenite is in partnership with a South African BEE consulting company, which further develops CASA's BEE compliance, and is expected to begin output in mid-August. The contract will run for approximately 3 months, with the production made using CASA's traditionally coal focused Bulpan facility, near Emalahleni, South Africa. It should be noted that this is in addition to the other tenders CASA is involved in and for which it is currently producing pellets as required.
Following the completion of the initial 10,000 tonne ilmenite contract, the end user has indicated to CASA that it is considering treating a further 2 million tonnes of ilmenite sludge, for which CASA, if awarded the contract, would build a large dedicated pelletizing plant at the end user's premises. This would be a game changing contract for CASA, and CIA would then seek project financing amounting to approximately US$7,000,000, with revenue expected to far exceed the capital costs of the plant construction.
Filippo Fantechi, CEO of Clean Invest Africa plc, commented " Today's announcement confirms once again the significant potential of our technology and the steady progress we are making in the development of our opportunity pipeline, notwithstanding the great challenges posed by the current pandemic. Thanks to the commitment and dedication of our people and those of our potential customers, we are moving forward expanding our capabilities and building broader credibility, thereby increasing shareholder value"
The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the content of this announcement.
ENQUIRIES:
Company
Clean Invest Africa PLC
Filippo Fantechi - Chief Executive Officer/Executive Director
Telephone: +973 3 9696273
Corporate Adviser
Peterhouse Capital Limited
Guy Miller
Telephone: +44 20 7469 0930
