Monday October 9, 7:00 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Altair International Inc.
Altair Announces First Nanoparticle Sale
CODY, Wyo., Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Altair International Inc. (Nasdaq: ALTI - news) announces its wholly owned
subsidiary Altair Technologies Inc. (www.altairtechnologies.com) has received a purchase order from Inframat Corporation of
North Haven, CT for a plasma spray coating product containing Altair's titania nanoparticles. The order is for four thousand
pounds of nanoparticles to be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2000. The sale marks a milestone for Altair. Less than one
year ago Altair acquired a proprietary pigment technology from BHP and redirected the activities to develop nanoparticles of
titanium dioxide for high technology applications.
Dr. David Reisner, president & CEO of Inframat said, ``Pricing is a critical driver to enable the various commercialization
opportunities that we are looking at for our thermal sprayed nanocoatings. The coatings community must be convinced that our
nanostructured thermal spray feedstocks, manufactured by a patented (U.S. Patent No. 6,025,034) wet chemistry-based
process, are not cost prohibitive -- and must appeal to commercial applications as well as the DoD applications which have
recently been certified by the Navy. To date, this certification under MIL-STD-1687a, has been accomplished using more
costly feedstock precursors. Without the attractive pricing now offered by Altair, the immediate commercialization opportunity
would likely be out of reach. From a performance standpoint, we expect this attractively priced material to retain the dramatic
performance enhancements already verified in our ceramic nanocoatings, namely exceptional wear resistance and durability.''
``We are very pleased to receive our first purchase order and its timing couldn't be better,'' said Mr. Ken Lyon president of
Altair Technologies, Inc. ``We are nearing completion of our expanded plant just in time to deliver the quantities requested over
the required schedule. We are very appreciative of the cooperation between our scientists and those of Inframat. This sale
confirms our belief that high quality Altair products, economically produced, will find rapid market acceptance and lead to
market expansion in many areas. Altair has provided samples and trial quantities of its nanoparticle powders to laboratories and
companies in several other industries including cosmetics, catalysts, fuel cells, and other types of coatings.''
Altair International owns a proprietary technology for making nanocrystalline materials of unique quality, economically in large
quantities. The company is currently developing special nanomaterials with potential applications in fuel cells, hard coatings,
catalysts, cosmetics, paints, batteries, semi-conductors and telecommunications. The technology may also be used to make
paint pigment at a cost forecast to be substantially lower than commercial technologies employed today. Altair holds mineral
leases on a ``world class'' titanium mineral sand deposit in Tennessee and is in the process of constructing a pilot plant at that
site. The company's other principle asset is the Altair Centrifugal Jig, an environmentally friendly breakthrough technology for
mining, coal treatment and environmental remediation.
This press release may be deemed to contain certain forward-looking statements with respect to Altair that are subject to risks
and uncertainties that include, but are not limited to, Altair's ability to obtain necessary capital, performance and reliability of
technology, market acceptance of products using Altair technology, variance in anticipated production costs and unanticipated
effects of regulatory requirements related to the technology, as well as those identified in the Company's press releases or
discussed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Actual results may vary materially.
News releases and other information on Altair can be accessed at no charge at Altair's website www.altairint.com.
For technical information on Altair's nanoparticle operations visit our business-to-business informational website
www.altairtechnologies.com
