TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian clean technology firm Orbite Aluminae on Monday reported that construction of its high-purity alumina (HPA) plant at Cap-Chat, Quebec, was progressing on schedule, with components ordered from Outotec, in Germany, having arrived on site.

The TSX-listed firm, which had recently closed a $10-million financing deal with US institutional investor Crede Capital Group, said the German shipment represented about half of the total investment in the calcination system.

Components included a combination of refractory and solids-handling devices, as well as monitoring and control instrumentation.

Also expected to arrive at the plant site from Outotec’s facility in Burlington, Ontario, were preshaped refractory bricks. Progress on making the vessels for the calcination system at Outotec’s Burlington facility was also progressing on schedule, with all progress and quality inspection reports being positive.

The various components of the calcination system would be shipped to the Cap-Chat facility as scheduled.

“Having received this first part of the calcination system is significant and brings us that much closer to actual production. We continue to execute well against our 12-month timeline and are on schedule for commercial production in the first quarter of 2015. There are many moving parts [required] to build a plant that involve technical, financial and personnel issues, and we are fully on target with all of these,” Orbite CEO Glenn Kelly said.

Meanwhile, in preparing for commercial production, Orbite had hired seven process-control technicians for its HPA production facility to complement its operator’s team. The company said these technicians were the first graduates from the new AEC Operation and Control of Industrial Processes programme, offered in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts by Groupe Collegia, in collaboration with Emploi-Québec and Orbite.

The 16-month full-time programme started in February 2013 and was concluded with a 90-hour internship at Orbite’s Cap-Chat facility. The company also hired a locally based mechanical technician.