A highlight of the June quarter was the strong level of international interest in offtake sales from over 12 Asian parties, with interest totalling 1,675,000tpa of glassmaking quality silica. A further 888,000tpa interest has been registered from 8 parties for foundry quality silica sand.
Exploration and Project Development On 16 April 2019 VRX Silica announced the Company had received strong interest for the purchase of significant tonnages of silica sand products from its Arrowsmith and Muchea Projects following the appointment of Mr Yoonil Kim as its International Sales Manager in November 2018. Mr Kim is a South Korean national with over 15 years’ experience marketing and selling silica sand products to glass manufacturers and foundries across the Asia-Pacific region.
The Company has identified numerous markets in the Asia-Pacific region and met with a number of potential offtake customers for the sale of silica sand products from the Arrowsmith and Muchea Projects. The Company will be able to commit to binding offtake agreements following the approval of Mining Permits at its silica sand projects.
VRX Silica has received enquiries and expressions of interest from manufacturers and purchasing agents for smaller shipments of silica sand product for glassmaking in the following countries:
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China (3)
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Philippines (2)
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Thailand (2)
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India (1)
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Japan (1)
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Korea (1)
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Malaysia (1)
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Taiwan (1)
With over 270 glassmaking facilities the Chinese glassmaking industry is the most dominant in the Asia-Pacific region.
Interest to-date for glassmaking quality silica sand totals 1,675,000 tonnes per annum and such interest is expected to increase as the product catalogue is further distributed. The Company has also received enquiries and expressions of interest from organisations in the foundry industry in:
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South Korea (5)
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Japan (1)
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Philippines (1)
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Taiwan (1)
The highest level of demand was from South Korea, which is the world’s largest foundry market, predominately in the automobile and ship building industries. Interest to-date for foundry quality silica sand totals 888,000 tonnes per annum and, as for glassmaking silica sand, such interest is expected to increase.
Whilst these expressions of interest may not all lead to binding contracts, the Company is confident of securing adequate offtake to justify the development of its silica sand projects. Further enquiries are expected and the Company will look to progress this strong interest into binding offtake agreements before committing to funding arrangements for processing plant requirements.
