Altair gets a new lease on life

Hope springs eternal at Altair

Nanotechnologies Inc. in Reno, and the

company says private placements of stock

have given it the capital to continue pursuit

of those hopes at least for a while.

The company holds a patent that it says

represents the first major step forward in 50

years in the production of white titanium

dioxide.

That's the most widely used white pigment

in the world, and Altair says its patent

promises substantial cost reductions in production

of the pigment.

The big question at Altair in recent

months, however, has been its ability to raise

the capital it needs while it looks for ways to

capitalize on the pigment patent.

Ed Dickinson, Altair's chief financial

officer, said last week the company has completed

several private placements and

believes it now has enough capital to meet

its short-term needs. He said, however, that

the company will burn through its capital in

something less than a year and is looking for

additional financing.

Altair's filings with the Securities and

Exchange Commission show it lost $6.26

million on revenues of $53,671 in the first

half of this year.

That's a pace that would approximately

double the $6.02 million Altair lost during

2001 and the $6.6 million it lost a year earlier.

Reporting the loss for the first half of this

year, the company acknowledged substantial

doubt about its ability to stay in business as a

going concern. It said, too, it almost certainly

would need an infusion of capital before

Oct. 31 cash that has been provided by

the private placements.

But the company feels optimistic about a

recent deal.

Altair said late last month that an

unidentified company is beginning tests of

Altair Nanotechnologies' patented system

for making white titanium dioxide pigments.

If the five-month test is successful, Altair

said the client might license the Reno company's

technology. It said the testing will

generate revenues in "the low six figures."

Dickinson said last week the test is "going

fine so far."

In a prospectus issued last May as six

shareholders sold 1.8 million in Altair

shares, the company cautioned, however,

there is no assurance it will be able to

generate any revenue from the titanium

dioxide business.

In another development reported in

late September, Altair said it's looking for

partners to market a new pharmaceutical

to help kidney dialysis patients. It said

five pharamaceutical companies are interested

enough to have signed confidentiality

agreements to look at the product

Altair dubbed Renazorb.

The combination of a white-pigment

business with a dialysis product isn't

unusual for Altair.

It got into business as Altair

International Gold, a mining outfit based

in Wyoming, changed its focus in the mid

1990s to new technology in the mining

equipment business and shifted its focus

once again in July as it changed its name

to Altair Nanotechnologies.

The company and its 20 Reno

employees occupy an 80,000-square-foot

building "Plenty of room to grow,"

quipped Dickinson at 204 Edison Way

in east Reno.

The company's stock, which just began

trading on the NASDAQ SmallCap

Market, was at 67 cents a share last week.

The stock reached its recent low, 30 cents

a share, in July. The NASDAQ National

Market System, where the stock previously

traded, requires a $1 minimum bid price

for continued listing.