MONTREAL –? Just back from the mecca of ice hockey. We have plenty
of ideas on titanium? di?oxide processors, graphite developers and even that CABO VERDE beachfront and casino developer now
trading, pre-split, on the Bulletin Boards USA.
A lot of lucre
is at stake at Argex Titanium (TSX: RGX),
which is many months into a $300 million raise (likely all debt) for a
Montreal-area plant that could disrupt the cartel of a half-dozen companies
creating ?the world’s most valuable white?r?-shade-of-pale.
?Argex
is RGX in Canada and ARGEF in USA. It’s a special situation for TiO2?,? a
whitener in paints,?coatings, ?pigments, metals, even the middle of OREO cookies at one
time.
?The
$120 million company could be on the cusp of a run of chemical processing
plants that revise the tired-old and inferior process of creating titanium
dioxide. Quelle horreur? — for Du Pont and other pigment developers.
All the
chemistry, and the proprietary process for using ilmenite in a solvent extraction process to
arrive at nearly pure titanium dioxide, hurts the head. [Remember,TCR might have a superior intelligent
quotient, but its author, TC, does not?].?”?
Once?our? first industrial plant is
built, RGX will be in the strongest position possible to decide the next step
of its strategic growth: licensing, constructing new plants, retro-fitting
existing plants, strategic regional alliances or some combination thereof?,” says Roy
Bonnell, CEO and a founder of Argex, once an iron ore and vanadium
prospector.
TCR got lucky. We were part of a group that was granted
limited access to Argex’s pilot plant, a jog from the St. Lawrence River and freshly planted rail. ?That Valleyfield, Quebec, part — which included a
non-disclosure on certain elements of the tour — included a spell with two
team leaders on the technology end: Enrico
Di Cesare and Peter Waugh.
The two —
metallurgical engineers, pigment development veterans — know as much about the
several processes of creating the ultimate white additive, including the usual
chloride process of making synthetic rutile, the feedstock for titanium?di?oxide, as anyone in the world. No
jive.
This is a
technical development in a business of rapid growth. PPG Industries (PPG in USA) is a partner. If Argex
succeeds in ramping up a 50,000-metric-ton yearly plant here in this industrial
sliver of Montreal, it will have created a profit pill for shareholders and
(future) partners, and a poison pill for its competitors, which include Du Pont
de Nemours (DD in USA).
Titanium
dioxide is found in pills, by the way, in cosmetics and in so many other
products, it will make your head spin. It does mine. I do not own RGX
shares.
After hearing
Mr. Bonnell and his chief talking officer, er, I mean, financial officer, Glen Kayll, a veteran
technology exec, present the Argex dynamic at corporate headquarters, across
from McGill University’s music conservatory in Montreal, I am looking at a
purchase of RGX / ARGEF.
But first,
some sonic-white aspirin please, with my titanium dioxide.
Of
Interest: Golden Valley Mines (GZZ) is trying to determine why FINRA in the USA stripped its
GLVMF ticker on the USA Pinks. It is an administrative issue that makes it more
challenging for Americans to purchase Golden Valley Mines shares.
CEO Glenn
Mullan tells me the proxy ticker (not a listing) is on its way to being
restored this week.
Nothing
appears to have changed with Malartic joint venture unit Abitibi Royalties (RZZ in Canada and ATBYF in USA).
Golden Valley owns two-thirds of Abitibi Royalties.
?I
shared a sparkling water with? Golden Valley Mines’ ?Mr.?Mullan at the Habs-Rangers game Tuesday evening at Bell
Centre, Montreal. He says the next six to eight weeks will provide what could
be potent Malartic data that determines the ?value of ?surging Abitibi Royalties (RZZ), the Osisko Mining
partner at CHL Malartic.
?Osisko‘s annual
general meeting is Friday in Montreal. A new Osisko company that supposedly
offers a 5 percent net smelter return from Quebec’s Canadian Malartic is in the works as a spinoff. That is,
according to one chart distributed to Osisko shareholders.
?The
Malartic stake in this brewing Osisko spinoff is also in this presentation.?
The proposed
new-co and its Malartic corporate structuring might pose a possible question
mark ?for ?Mr. Mullan’s RZZ.
RZZ and GZZ
shares in Canada have had a rapid rise this spring against all probable odds. I
own both, and TCR has been researching the two companies since July 2011. As I
told Mr. Mullan, who is a member of the TCR family, I will hold my Abitibi Royalty shares until Quebec merges with Turks
& Caicos. Or is purchased outright — whichever arrives first.
?There
is no truth to talk that Mr. Mullan will be holding Golden Valley Mines’ and
Abitibi Royalties’ annual general meeting at Bell Centre Saturday evening,
during the seventh game of the NHL playoff?. “We can expect a rousing effort this evening in NY from
the Habs, and again, I hope, on Saturday back in Montreal,” he says.
Note?s?
— The
pre-Cabo Verde Capital ticker is WTARD and is extremely illiquid. That’s OTC
USA. I do not own it and have no idea what will happen when it starts trading
as CABO in June. But I will give you our thoughts. …Sysorex is still very much a special situation
that will continue to show great sales growth quarter to quarter?. It is SYRX on the OTC and I own it.
… Those who
want an INSTITUTIONAL proxy analysis (Glass Lewis) of the way Serafino Iacono has ?inflated executive salaries and sown conflicts of interest
at Gran Colombia Gold (GCM in Canada), please let us know. Mr. Iacono attended
fewer than 75 percent of his own company’s board meetings. He’s co-chairman
(read — two salaries for the work of one exec) of GCM, which was until two
weeks ago one of our TCR featured companies. I still own the gosh-forsaken
shares.
I
will be meeting several companies, including Sysorex and American
Sands Energy, at the LD Micro confab in west Los Angeles next
Wednesday.
What
I am purchasing this week: After
selling some of my American
Sands Energy (AMSE in USA)
earlier in the month for a profit, I look again to be a buyer. This is the one
that trades at a fraction of its Utah neighbor, U.S. Oil Sands.
The company
has a water-free technology to process oil sands at ?low cost?.?
T?CR Blips members ($20 extra): Yours for the asking: Cantor Fitzgerald
report on Argex Titanium;
a report on an extremely speculative China traditional medicine company that
trades in the USA; an informal update from Prophecy Coal inn Mongolia; more
data on real estate developer Cabo Verde Capital; a research report on American Sands Energy.
New! TCR Blips
THE CALANDRA REPORT: Subscribe**
**$110: Will Recur
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