Recently The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Orbite a patent titled “Processes for Treating Fly Ash”. The patent covers selective extraction and recovery of valuable elements such as scandium, gallium, rare earths and rare metals, alumina, magnesium oxide and titanium dioxide from fly ash, a residue from coal combustion, using Orbite's chloride-based technology.

This patent clears the way for Orbite to pursue the commercial application of its unique technology in the States, where upwards of 75 million tonnes of fly ash is being produced on an annual basis, representing a significant environmental and economic liability. The patent allows Orbite to extract all the individual components of value individually. The Orbite process promises to be a viable means to truly turn these liabilities into exploitable assets.

The Company has successfully applied for accelerated examination and processing under the Patent Prosecution Highway in jurisdictions participating in this program. Furthermore, since the parent patent applications were deemed to contain a plurality of inventions, the Company filed a divisional patent application in Canada and a continuation patent application in the United States, and accordingly anticipates receiving additional patents for this family.

Orbite's portfolio contains 15 intellectual property families, including 22 patents and 102 pending patent applications in 11 different countries and regions.