While this heavy mineral may not have the name recogniziton or sex appeal of gold or diamonds, it is just as valuable. Especially when you have the purest in the world. It is a surprisingly versatile element suitable for a wide range of industrial, oil-field drilling, medical, and manufacturing uses. But where
barite really shines in the pharmaceutical space where it is primarily used as a
barium radiographic contrast agent for x-rays and CT scans (the contrast market is a massive $7 billion a year global industry). It is this sector which drives high revenue on very little tonnage.
Voyageur Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (
TSX-V:VM,
OTC:VYYRF,
Forum) is an established, Calgary-based seed-to-sale – or as Voyageur likes to say, ‘Earth to the Bottle’ – company on the forefront of one of the most significant discoveries of high-grade barium sulfate on earth.
On February 3, 2020, the company announced successful test results by SGS Minerals & SGS Life Sciences division on their
Frances Creek barite project near Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia. The purity level is above the required grade of 97.5 percent BaSO4 (barium sulfate) for USP pharmaceutical grade barium sulfate.
But Voyageur’s initial and subsequent testing unveiled a purity level that well exceeded those numbers. Brent Willis, CEO of Voyageur, commented on the intriguing results:
"We are very excited by the preliminary results of gravity concentrate of 98.6 percent barium sulfate. This grade is of exceptional purity and its quite noteworthy, because it is the first time in my long history of barite exploration and mining that I have witnessed grades this high with such purity, created from a simple first-stage gravity separation. The purity level is above the required grade of 97.5 percent BaSO4 for USP pharmaceutical-grade barium sulfate.”
In essence, it’s like discovering the motherlode of barium sulphate. The Company says that as a result of the superior purity of the natural occurring barite on the Frances Creek resource they can also take advantage of low cost gravity processing and implement Standard Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for API processing.
To date, there is only one other natural USP barium sulfate supplier in the world, located in China. The supplier is restricted to 5 percent export of their production to world markets – they reserve
95 percent of their production for their own domestic use. Due to natural USP barite shortages worldwide, the industry relies on expensive, chemically-manufactured, synthetic man-made barium precipitate (blanc fixe).
And because Voyageur owns the entire supply chain from ‘the earth to the bottle’ the Company is highly competitive by controlling all input costs. Voyageur believes they will achieve the lowest barium sulphate and iodine ingredient costs in the industry, generating a huge competitive advantage. The Company also owns iodine resources located in Utah (Voyageur acquired 100 percent interest in its Robert’s Rupture Lithium brine project in 2016). Iodine contrast is one of the highest volume consumables in healthcare.
With the Chief JV, Voyaguer will be able to start selling iodine and barium contrast immediately upon Health Canada registrations. They will begin by importing the API ingredients and use the cash flow towards construction of the barite and iodine API manufacturing plants. Once the API plants are operational, the barite quarry will be able to produce a 10,000 tonne first-stage sample and raw iodine feedstock from chemical companies in the USA and will be able to feed the iodine API plant. Then, the final stage will be iodine production from the mineral brine waters in Utah.
Mr. Willis explained how it’s not the supply of barite / barium that’s the problem, it’s the quality of the mineral that matters:
“There’s a lot of barite in the world, but it’s a matter of finding barite that is pure. The purity for pharmaceutical, for a human being to ingest it, the metal content has to be extremely low, and barium sulphate is associated with base metals. So the Frances Creek deposit is very unique in that it’s very clean. It is the purity that fetches the highest price point in the barite market. We’ve been in the barium sulphate business for over 30 years; we’ve looked at all the deposits in Western Canada, we’ve been around the world looking at barite, and we’ve never seen a deposit that is so uniquely clean. There’s no mercury, there’s no arsenic…it’s very clean deposit.”
Barite: Why It’s Important
As the world’s population ages, the demand for pharmaceutical-grade barite and iodine will continues to increase…exponentially.
Currently, North America is 100 percent reliant on USP barium sulfate imports. There is limited supply of pharmaceutical barite and the Chinese domestic market demand has caused a severe reduction in exports to North America. Iodine contrast is experiencing the tightest market in its history, with shortages and bids being awarded based on the cost of shipping – it is down to nickels and dimes on winning bids for hospitals. As a result, the North American market is currently primed for the only generic barium and iodine contrast to penetrate marketplace products for the healthcare industry.
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Stockhouse Podcast Alert!
You can hear more from the CEO about the Voyageur barite project and investor opportunities into this unique Company on a recent StockTalk podcast. Click link below to listen to the podcast or to download an audio file:
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FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.