VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 12/11/14 -- HUDSON RESOURCES INC. (the "Company") - (TSX VENTURE: HUD)(OTCQX: HUDRF) is pleased to announce that it has produced calcined alumina suited to specialty non-metallurgical applications using the calcium feldspar anorthosite from its White Mountain Project in Greenland. Specialty grades of alumina (such as calcined, white fused and tabular alumina) are typically used for refractories and ceramics. These types of alumina command a significant premium over smelter grade alumina (SGA), which is primarily used in the production of aluminum. Alumina production is one of three potential revenue streams Hudson is pursuing for the White Mountain project.
Hudson has produced a high quality specialty grade alumina with the following key attributes:
-- High quality Alpha alumina content measured at 99.8%.
-- High alumina content of 99.5%, including the loss of ignition (LOI)
measured at 0.37%.
-- Very low soda content (less than 0.05%), a requirement for high tech
electronic and ceramic applications.
-- Fine median particle size of 3.5 micrometres following grinding.
-- Flat tabular particles based on scanning electron microscope images.
-- BET measured surface area of 4.1 m2/g which compares favorably with
other reactive aluminas.
James Tuer, Hudson's President, stated, "We are very excited about these results. We initially developed a process to produce smelter grade alumina using our unique calcium feldspar feedstock. The success of that program and the higher purity product it generated naturally lead to investigating the potential of producing a higher value added specialty alumina for non-metallurgical applications. Specialty aluminas typically sell for 2 to 5 times the price of SGA in a robust market of around 3 million tonnes per year."
The following chart compares various specifications of specialty alumina to the particles created by Hudson.
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Brown Fused Calcined White Fused Tabular Hudson
Alumina(1) Alumina(2) Alumina(1) Alumina(1) Alumina
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Al2O3 % 94 - 97 99.5 99.5 - 99.7 99.3 - 99.6 99.5
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SiO2 % 0.8 - 1.5 0.01 - 0.03 0.01 - 0.05 0.01 - 0.03 0.05(3)
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TiO2 % 1.5 - 2.5 Not Defined 0.01 - 0.05 0 0.00
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Fe3O3 % 0.15 - 0.5 0.012 - 0.04 0.02 - 0.10 0.04 0.01
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Alkaline
Earths(4)% 0.4 - 0.6 0.03 0.03 - 0.05 0.015 - 0.02 0.04
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Alkalies(5)% 0.2 - 0.4 less than 0.3 0.16 - 0.4 0.3 - 0.33 0.04
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Indicative
Price(6) High/Low High/Low High/Low None Quoted N/A
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FOB China
$/tonne $745/$710
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CIF Europe
EUR/tonne EUR905/EUR850
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FOB US
Refinery
$/tonne $850/$810
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Note:
(1) Source: http://www.almatis.com/media/4103/almatis_complete_alumina_expertise-rwf-3-2013.pdf
(2) Medium Soda Content. Source: http://alteo-alumina.com/sites/default/files/Ressources/ALTEO%20Refractories%20brochure_0.pdf
(3) Feedstock had 0.01% SiO2. Increase due to Quartz Tube calcine contamination
(4) Includes Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra
(5) Includes Li, Na, K
Kupper