VM:CC - Voyageur Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Designs Carbon Neutral Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant with a Carbon Credit De-Carbonization Strategy for Customers
(TheNewswire)
Calgary, Alberta – TheNewswire - October 31, 2022 : Voyageur Pharmaceuticals Ltd.( TSXV:VM ) ( OTC : VYYRF)(the "Company" or "Voyageur") announces thecompletion of the design of its carbon neutral pharmaceutical plantand as such has accelerated the revenue generation timeline for theFrances Creek barium sulfate project, compared to stated timeline ofthe SGS Canada Inc preliminary economic assessment. ACH EngineeringInc has estimated the total capital cost to be CAD $30M (excludingland). The plant is designed to process approximately 5,000 tonnes peryear of Frances Creek USP ( USPharmacopeia ) grade barium sulfate (barite)concentrate. A first of a kind, carbon neutral pharmaceuticalmanufacturing facility, utilizing carbon capture technology to convertwaste carbon dioxide into fullerene nano particles, for pharmaceuticalcontrast media drug development. The manufacturing facility isdesigned to produce revenue streams from pharmaceutical barium andiodine contrast media products for the radiology drug market. Theplant is expected to produce additional revenue stream from industrialbarite sales and produce carbon fullerene allotropes for the new drugdevelopment program. Voyageur has chosen to set up operations inAlberta, Canada.
Brent Willis, Voyageur CEO, stated “ North America is experiencing criticalpharmaceutical supply chain challenges. It is becoming paramount forCanadian companies to focus on domestic production of pharmaceuticalsto fulfill the needs of our health care system in North America.Voyageur’s integrative approach to carbon neutral contrast mediamanufacturing, will become an important factor for health caresecurity, with a strong focus on our environment. Building the firstcarbon neutral pharmaceutical facility in Alberta, Canada, will be amajor milestone for Voyageur. The added benefit of de-carbonizing ourcustomer base by utilizing our carbon credits will make our productline unique and attractive to ensure potential highgrowth. ”
The timeline for construction of the pharmaceuticalmanufacturing and R&D facility will take an estimated 18 months tocomplete, subject to financing. Upon completion of the facility, theprocessing of Frances Creek barium will commence. Voyageur plans tobuild the sterile gmp pharmaceutical facility in 2023 that willproduce contrast media drugs. This will allow Voyageur to optimise itsprocessing and create high quality, profitable barium products. Inparallel, Voyageur will import iodine API (active pharmaceuticalingredient) and plans to utilise the sterile injectable blow fill sealvial line to manufacture iodine contrast media products. Iodine drugmanufacturing using imported iodine API is phase one of theCompany’s staged in approach. Full integration of the iodinecontrast manufacturing is planned for stage 2 and will focus onproducing iodine from mineral brine water (from the well head to thevial).
Voyageur’s objective is to create a fully integrated,secure, environmentally responsible supply chain of barium, iodine,and fullerene contrast media for the North American and globalmarkets. The facility design includes a state-of-the-art laboratoryand R&D drug development wing, to enable in house testing andinnovation. Voyageur will be utilizing the Rain Cage Carbon Inc.'s(RCC) carbon capture technology to capture CO2 from the facilities'off grid power plant exhaust stream. RCC and Voyageur are developing aplan to produce a significant quantity of carbon fullerenes each yearfrom the captured waste CO2 (the RCC technology creates fullerenecarbon allotropes from captured CO2 in its process).
The advanced carbon fullerenes will be used forcontrast material development under the terms of the developmentagreement MOU, previously announced. Voyageur's power generation willbe designed to be over-sized to sell excess power to the grid and toproduce significant carbon credits. Voyageur and Rain Cage are workingjointly on creating a carbon credit distribution arrangement thatcould enable Voyageur to pass on carbon credits to its customer,helping customers meet their Environmental, Social & Governance(ESG) requirements.
Voyageur's strategy to create the first fullyintegrated and net carbon zero pharmaceutical manufacturing company iscoming to fruition. The added sales strategy of implementing thecorporate de-carbonizing sales plan by transferring the carbon creditsto the customers, is a unique and beneficial concept that Voyageur andRC look forward to developing together. Voyageur’s objective is toode-carbonize the supply chain network in the radiology drug market.Globally, companies are looking for mechanisms to meet their ESGrequirements. If successful, Voyageur's strategy will offer the marketa new innovative low-cost path forward for decarbonization and willallow Voyageur to utilise carbon as a sales and marketing tool, togain market share in the radiology drug market.
Voyageurs previously published preliminary economicassessment (PEA), by SGS Canada Inc, stated:
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Base Case Net Present Value @ 8% discount rate = $464 MPre tax, $344 M Aftertax
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Initial Project horizon – 10 Years
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Total Capital Required over 3 years – $36 M( Managementhas reduced this cost 37% to $22.5M, reduced the timeline, and addediodine, fullerene production and carbon capture = estimated$30M
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Payback period after start of production – 11Months
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Operating Gross Margins average 75% over theProject
The Company’s consolidated financial statements andmanagement’s discussion and analysis ("MD&A") for thethird quarter have been filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under theCompany’s profile.
About Voyageur
Voyageur is a Canadian public company listed on theTSXV under the trading symbol VM. Voyageur is focused on thedevelopment of barium, iodine and carbon Active PharmaceuticalIngredients (“API”) and high-performance cost-effective imagingcontrast agents for the medical imaging marketplace. Voyageur’s goalis to initially generate positive cash flow from operations usingthird party GMP pharmaceutical manufacturers in Canada. Ultimately,Voyageur has plans to build all the required infrastructure to become100% self-sufficient across all manufacturing activities. Voyageurowns a 100% interest in three barium sulphate (barite) projectsincluding the Frances Creek property, suitable in grade for thepharmaceutical marketplace, with additional interests in a high-gradeiodine, lithium & bromine brine project located in Utah,USA. Voyageur is moving forward with itsbusiness plan of becoming the only fully integrated company in theradiology contrast media field, by controlling all primary input costsunder the motto of: "Fromthe Earth to the Bottle".
For Further MediaInformation or to set up an interview, please contact:
BrentWillis
President &CEO
www.voyageurpharmaceuticals.ca
AlDeslauriers
CFO
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange norits Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in thepolicies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for theadequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Cautionary Statement Regarding“Forward-Looking” Information
This news releasemay contain certain forward-looking information and statements,including without limitation, statements pertaining to: theconstruction of the pharmaceutical plant, the timing and costs of theconstruction and the pharmaceutical plant operating at the designspecifications; the success of utilizing the carbon capture technologyto convert waste carbon dioxide into fullerene nano particles; theability to generate and transfer carbon credits; and availability offinancing. All statements included herein, other than statements ofhistorical fact, are forward-looking information and such informationinvolves various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurancethat such information will prove to be accurate, and actual resultsand future events could differ materially from those anticipated insuch information. A description of assumptions used to develop suchforward-looking information and a description of risk factors that maycause actual results to differ materially from forward-lookinginformation can be found in the Company's disclosure documents on theSEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Voyageur does not undertake to updateany forward-looking information except in accordance with applicablesecurities laws.
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