Erdene holds a majority interest in Advanced Primary Minerals Corp. (APM) a publicly listed company (ADP-TSXV) which controls a 22.9 million ton Measured and Indicated high brightness primary kaolin resource in Georgia. APM's goal is to become North America's leading specialty primary kaolin producer. Initially, APM is targeting replacement of high value European primary clay imports which total approximately 25,000 tons per annum. APM has built a processing and testing facility in Dearing, Georgia, to produce primary kaolin products. The plant was officially opened in October 2009. At the present time the plant is processing clay from the Tudor property, one of a number of properties with high quality kaolin resources in the Dearing area. APM continues to build markets for its specialty primary kaolin products with product trials for a number of potential customers ongoing and through sales growth within its current customer base.
In February 2009, Erdene completed the strategic spin-out of our primary kaolin assets in Georgia, U.S.A. Erdene exchanged its interest in the Sparta Kaolin Project for shares of
TSX-Venture listed Beta Minerals Inc. ("Beta") giving the Corporation a controlling interest while Beta provided approximately $2 million in funding to help develop new business opportunities for the Sparta primary kaolin resource. Beta changed its name to Advanced Primary Minerals Corporation (APM) and trades under the symbol APD on the TSX-Venture Exchange.
The Sparta Kaolin project involved an extensive core drilling and laboratory testing program between 1998 and 2001 that resulted in the discovery of a new in-ground primary kaolin resource. The project evaluated and explored a large area of the Southern Appalachian Piedmont Province from east-central Georgia to west-central South Carolina that is underlain primarily by the Sparta Granite. A significant primary kaolin resource was discovered and acquired through a series of leases and land purchases.
For the project’s initial development stage, a partnership was formed with industry leader Huber Engineered Materials (Huber), a subsidiary of J.M. Huber Corporation, one of the world’s largest kaolin producers. Commercial production by Huber from APM's primary kaolin deposits began in 2005 under the product name HuberPrimeTM, a high quality light-weight coater product. In 2008 Huber was sold and renamed KaMin LLC. KaMin has the right to mine up to 1.7M tons of wet
in-ground kaolin from the Lucky deposit area, one of four main deposit areas controlled by APM for pre-paid tonnage consideration.
The kaolin business of central Georgia is a billion dollar per year enterprise and, as such, the cornerstone of the local economy. Mined over the past century, Georgia has seen its high quality kaolins depleted and has seen much of the hi-performance specialty and high priced part of the business secured by international competitors. In its effort to stay profitable, Georgian kaolin producers have become high volume bulk commodity producers. APM looks to take advantage of that situation with its unique, high quality primary clay deposits to focus on small to moderate volume opportunities and high margin specialty products.
A more detailed summary of the project is included in the Corporation’s Annual Information Form for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2009 which is available on SEDAR. To view a copy of the section relating to the Sparta Kaolin Project/APM please click here.
