from stockhouse

personaly i can not see any problems anywhere regards cleaning water even if it is the most pollute in the world so far found
i also think BASECON IS NOT FACTORED INTO THE SHARE PRICE

BIGGEST BREAK THROUGH FOR REFINERS ON 20 YRS

VIROTEC INTERNATIONAL LIMITED 2002-08-30 ASX-SIGNAL-G

HOMEX - Brisbane

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Virotec International Ltd (ASX/AIM: VTI) announces that it has the
worldwide marketing and distribution rights to a newly invented
process, to be known as Basecon(TM) technology, which is registered
and patent applied for worldwide, and has been successfully
demonstrated at alumina refineries in North American and Europe.

In essence, Basecon(TM) technology provides the alumina industry
with an economic incentive to neutralise bauxite residue (red mud) in
such a way that it is no longer caustic thus eliminating the
industry's long term waste liability.

Executive Chairman Brian Sheeran states, "It is impossible to imagine
a world without alumimum, yet the industry faces constant challenges.
Basecon(TM) technology gives the alumina industry a 'walkaway'
solution to hundreds of millions of tons of caustic bauxite residue
currently stored in containment ponds, and tons of millions of tons
of caustic bauxite residue produced annually. The Directors believe
Basecon(TM) technology is a significant breakthrough that will
benefit the alumina industry throughout the world."

Basecon(TM) technology was invented by Virotec scientists (led by
Professor Dave McConchie) and is covered by existing licensing
arrangements. It will be marketed world-wide to the alumina industry,
commencing with the 6th International Alumina Quality Workshop to be
held in Brisbane, Australia, on September 8-13 2002, where Professor
David McConchie is an invited speaker.

Virotec will be seeking to license Basecon(TM) technology to alumina
companies. When applied to the Bayer process (which is used by the
alumina industry worldwide) Basecon(TM) technology eliminates the
need to store a caustic bauxite residue.

Furthermore, the Basecon(TM) technology can be applied to caustic
residue that is currently stored in containment ponds, enabling
immediate, effective and complete environmental remediation. Virotec
Global Solutions Pty Ltd (Virotec's operations company) will be
seeking to enter into contracts to undertake this remediation.

Basecon(TM) technology is not subject to geographic factors. Unlike
current seawater neutralisation, it can be employed by refineries
that are not located near the coast.

Basecon(TM) technology is also economically accessible. In order to
implement current seawater neutralisation, large amounts of seawater
are required (typically between 12 and 18 times the volume of red mud
to be neutralised) if the discharge water is to meet normal
environmental standards and large ponds are required to allow the
solids to settle before the calcium and magnesium depleted seawater
used in the neutralisation process can be returned to the sea. These
limitations, which Basecon(TM) technology overcomes, add substantial
economic and environmental barriers to adopting seawater
neutralisation.

Virotec's motivation for pursuing the Basecon (TM) technology was to
develop cheaper and faster methods for producing Bauxsol(TM) raw
material to enable increased manufacture of Virotec's environmental
reagents. Bauxsol(TM) raw material is bauxite refinery residue that
has been neturalised and prepared to Virotec's exact specifications,
so that it has characteristics that make it a suitable ingredient for
environmental reagents, and safe to store and transport.

Basecon(TM) technology economically converts basicity (mainly sodium
hydroxide) and soluble alkalinity (mainly sodium carbonate) into
alkalinity that is retained as low solubility hydroxide, carbonate or
hydroxyearbonate minerals. After minor additional treatment, the
spent neutralising fluid can be safely discharged to the sea or
retained in an evaporating basin for salt recovery.

Because of the variability in ores, each alumina plant is almost
tailored to suit a particular bauxite. Virotec's Basecon(TM)
technology provides a geochemical computer model that allows rapid
calculation of neutralisation requirements for ANY initial red mud
alkalinity, ANY solids load in the residue and the composition of a
wide range of cost effective, readily available neutralising agents,
(including, but not limited to, seawater, saline or hard groundwater
brines, salt lake bines, industrial waste brines). The computer model
can be applied to any alumina refinery in the world, providing it with
the most cost-effective method to neutralise refinery residue and to
make available to Virotec reusable raw material.

The Directors believe that the implications for the alumina industry
are significant. For decades, the alumina industry has been
investigating options for treating, disposing, and using bauxite
residue, a by-product of the Bayer process to extract aluminium oxide
from bauxite ore. The sheer volumes of residue waste generated,
together with the cost of treatment and handling, have been the
primary issues affecting its use in beneficial applications. The
worldwide alumina industry produces over 70 million dry metric tons
of bauxite residue annually and Australia is the largest alumina
refiner in Ore world, producing around 30% of the total alumina.

In the Bayer process, the bauxite is crashed and ground, their mixed
with a solution of caustic soda and pumped into large autoclaves.
There, under pressure and at a temperature of 110 degrees C to 270
degrees C, the alumina contained in the ore is dissolved to form
sodium aluminate. The silica in the bauxite reacts and precipitates
from solution as sodium-aluminium-silicate. The remaining residue
settles out of solution and is separated from the sodium aluminate
solution, washed to recover the caustic soda, and pumped to large
surface impoundments or lagoons.

However, washing does not ensure the complete recovery of the caustic
aluminate, which is the cause of the alkalinity of the residue (a pH
that is usually greater than 13.0 and often about 13.5) that is
pumped into the lagoons. Naturally, there are concerns with the
potential for groundwater contamination with large alkaline residue,
even with clay liners, some leakage may occur. To date, any area
dedicated to be a disposal area has limited future land use.

Some disposal areas spread over thousands of acres.

By an act of the United States Congress some high-volume mining
wastes in the United States, including bauxite residue, have been
designated as no