Chromite explorer KWG Resources reported on Monday that it had acquired 100% ownership rights in two US provisional patent applications relating to the production of chromium iron alloys directly from chromite ore and the production of low carbon chromium iron alloys directly from chromite concentrates. KWG president Frank Smeenk said support from the Canadian government and the scientists of Natural Resources Canada demonstrated that owning the intellectual property (IP) would put the company in a better position to further investment in testing and commercialisation.

The Toronto-based company, which was focused on developing its 30% interest in the Big Daddy chromite deposit and earning in to its 80% interest in the Black Horse chromite project, both located in the Ring of Fire chromite camp of Northern Ontario, announced in April the proposed chromium IP acquisition. The transaction included the right to use these provisional patent applications as the basis for filing other patent applications in the US, Canada and elsewhere.

KWG and the vendor of the intellectual properties would create a limited partnership under which the patents would be held and exploited. The vendor had agreed to assign its 50% interest in the chromium patent to the partnership in exchange for 25-million units of KWG. Each unit would consist of a common KWG share and one common share purchase warrant of KWG, exercisable at a strike price of $0.10 for five years from the closing date of the transaction.

The closing of the chromium IP transaction was subject to acceptance by the TSX-V. KWG announced in November 2013 that it was encouraged with the results of ongoing metallurgical testwork to determine the thermodynamics of metalising the chromite from the Black Horse deposit by its reduction with natural gas. Black Horse formed part of KWG’s Koper Lake project in North-western Ontario. 

• [Editor:Sophie]