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Argex Titanium shares surge as investors anticipate transformational year

The Canadian junior said late in 2013 that it had begun preliminary engineering work with equipment vendors for the items with the longest lead time for its industrial-sized plant in Valleyfield, Quebec. The move marked the first step in the equipment ordering process for the plant, which is expected to be commissioned in 2015.

Argex Titanium Inc. (TSE:RGX) shares were soaring on Friday, at last check up more than 17% as the company moves ever closer to the targeted commissioning date for its industrial-sized titanium dioxide plant next year.

The Canadian junior said late in 2013 that it had begun preliminary engineering work with equipment vendors for the items with the longest lead time for its industrial-sized plant in Valleyfield, Quebec. The move marked the first step in the equipment ordering process for the plant, which is expected to be commissioned in 2015.

Indeed, Argex has been busy preparing for the transformational event, after selling off nearly the entire available production from the first module of its proposed plant last October, when it signed a letter of intent with one of the world's largest chemical distribution companies.

The company also made a key hire in December as part of its preparational efforts, appointing former SNC Lavalin exec Richard Poulin as its new executive vice president. Poulin most recently worked as VP of strategic projects at SNC, where he spent the last eight years. The appointment followed the recent hiring of Maria Alejandra Jimeno as lab manager at Argex's adjacent R&D facility, and Glen Kayll as its new chief financial officer as it gears up for production.

The Quebec-based company has a proprietary mineral extraction process that allows it to produce high purity, or 99.8% pure, pigment-grade titanium dioxide directly from run-of-mine material at its deposits. Titanium dioxide is an inorganic substance characterized by brightness and very high refractive index, making it an ideal pigment in paints, plastics and paper.

Argex is boasting a net present value of almost $1 billion on a pre-tax basis from the Valleyfield project, according to a feasibility study released in last year's fourth quarter. Each one of the company’s modules is expected to have a maximum capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year of titanium dioxide pigment production.

The company's stock jumped more than 20% on Friday, reaching a session-high of 76 Canadian cents as of 12:34pm ET.