BioExx Receives Final Scale-Up Engineering Report
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The report, which details the complete protein system and equipment requirements to operate at full scale, as well as layouts and project schedules, is based on months of rigorous pilot testing of key unit operations throughout the plant. Capital cost estimates have not changed materially from the preliminary report, and the range has been tightened to provide greater certainty. This intensive study was completed in three phases, inclusive of production capacity for the Company's Isolexx(R) and Vitalexx(R) products, and further reinforces the technical and economic feasibility of the Saskatoon plant. The report provides the framework for a turnkey scale-up project, to provide a highly automated, robustly engineered, continuous production environment with guaranteed performance metrics based on the piloting and testing completed.
The Company is also pleased to note that it continues to make progress on its strategic partnering initiative, and is presently in confidential discussions at various stages with four large multi-national corporations with strong footprints in nutrition and food ingredients businesses. Presently, discussions are oriented towards a direct investment in the Saskatoon plant scale-up and/or additional "greenfield" facilities, to create joint venture structures at the project level. Together with the potential judicious use of debt financing on such projects, the goal is to minimize dilution to shareholders of the public parent Company.
"We are pleased with the depth and breadth of the GEA work, and with the continued success of our efforts to drive scale-up risk down to a practical minimum", said Chris Schnarr, CEO of BioExx. "Our strategic partnering work continues to move forward, and although the pace of late has been challenged somewhat by summer schedules in Europe, we are very pleased with the quality of the corporations we are engaging and we remain committed to a positive outcome. As we have indicated in the past, we are working through this process with an appropriate sense of urgency, but we must exercise a measure of patience to optimize any transaction for our shareholders. Overall, we believe we have delivered very strong confirmation of the key fundamentals of this business, in terms of the efficacy of our technology, the quality of our products, and the strength and health of our markets, which taken together create what we believe is a very solid foundation for the future."
