BlackRock Metals

Established in 2008, BlackRock Metals is a privately-owned Canadian company developing a fully integrated, environmentally enhanced, metals & materials manufacturing business from its wholly-owned, world-class vanadium and titanium bearing magnetite (“VTM”) and ilmenite deposit in Quebec, Canada.As a result of superior grades, world class tonnages, clean mineralogy, exceptional metallurgical recoveries, low cost renewable hydro power and the excellent logistics of its location, BlackRock will enjoy an unparalleled market advantage and the distinction of being the global low cost producer of ferrovanadium steel additives, high purity merchant pig iron (“MPI”), and high quality titanium feedstocks for the US and European markets.

METALS & MATERIALS
Vanadium increases the strength of steel making it tougher and up to 50% lighter. Utilized for construction grade structural steel and in the automotive and aerospace industries for high strength low alloy steel (HSLA) for cars, trucks, cranes, bridges, railways and structures designed to handle large amounts of stress or that require a good strength-to-weight ratio. Vanadium is also used increasingly in Titanium Alloys for aerospace and as a key input in redox batteries used to manage storage of electricity from renewable sources.High purity MPI is a main feedstock into Electric Arc Furnace Steel (Mini Mill) operations which have replaced the highly polluting blast furnaces in the North American and European steel markets, enabling a reliance on recycled materials. BlackRock’s ultraclean MPI reduces contaminants and impurities in the resulting steel, and is also ideal for use in ductile foundry operations for the production of high quality tools, pipes and industrial parts.Titanium is recognized as a space-age metal, highly resistant to corrosion with a very high strength-to-weight ratio. It is ideal for use in the aerospace, agri-food and medical fields with additional applications for the pigment, plastic and ceramics industries due to its light weight and superior optical characteristics.