Progressive Planet Solutions Inc (CVE:PLAN) revealed that it has expanded its comminution plant's toll processing capacity by a factor of eight times with the addition of a larger ball mill to keep up with growing demand.
Comminution is the reduction of solid materials from one average particle size to a smaller average particle size, by crushing, grinding, cutting, or other processes.
In a statement Ian Grant, who is the manager of business development at Progressive Planet, said: "We are excited that we could get our new mill manufactured in Canada and to be creating employment, especially when so many businesses are struggling during these unprecedented times. PLAN creates specialized rock powders supplying our B2B customers who then sell the product throughout North America and Europe."
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Since mid-March 2021, the company said it has received over $250,000 in purchase orders for rock powders from its existing customers. The Vancouver-based firm which has a Z1 zeolite quarry, has also received requests for quotes from multiple new potential customers.
To keep up with rising demand, Progressive Planet said it has hired staff and “started running a full second shift” from April 12 at its comminution plant.
Progressive Planet previously announced on August 14, 2020, that it had completed the design and construction of its comminution plant to enable easy disassembly. It has the capability to resize rocks from six inches to 5 microns. Just for scale, one inch is equivalent to 25,400 microns.
The company ordered a larger ball mill with nearly eight times the processing volume in January this year to process more material per hour. The company said it has ordered “additional equipment to further automate the processing capability of the comminution plant.” The equipment is expected to arrive and be fully operational next month, said Progressive Planet.
Meanwhile, the company said it is looking for a permanent facility to house its growing comminution business.
"Should one be wondering what the grinding of soft rock powders has to do with the company's work on developing new technologies for the cement industry, the answer lies in our vision for the future," said Progressive Planet CEO Steve Harpur.
"The current plant provides the company with an opportunity to generate fast revenues from an existing business, but the facility is also going to serve as a testing centre for the development of PozGlass SCM.”
Harpur said he believes the demand for pozzolan-based cement powders will accelerate as fly ash is no longer generated from combusting coal.
“We are also seeing tremendous demand to toll process minerals as farmers switch away from chemical fertilizers to natural fertilizers,” added Harpur. “The purchase orders we received in the last month greatly exceed the tonnage of material processed since we opened our comminution plant last August and we are using the same equipment we use to process natural pozzolans and pulverized post-consumer glass."
Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
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