Titanium Metals Corporation ("TIMET") announced Tuesday that the company has conducted analysis of its future requirements for additional titanium sponge production capacity:

As a result of the company's strategy to capitalize on opportunities to expand its production capacity without the need for major investment or upfront capital expenditures, the company has continued to evaluate its future requirements for additional internal titanium sponge production capacity.

Based on the company's recently completed expansion of its sponge production facility at its Henderson, Nevada, location, together with its recently negotiated long-term sponge supply agreements, and expansion of the company's scrap handling, processing and melting capabilities, the company has determined that it is not necessary to commence construction of a new sponge facility at this time.

The company's design and engineering efforts for such new sponge facility have been substantially completed, and the company believes that such a facility could be operational within approximately two years of commencement of construction following a determination by the company to proceed with the project.

The design of the facility provides the flexibility of internal production or third party supply of titanium tetrachloride, a chemical manufactured by titanium dioxide ("TiO2") production facilities that is an intermediate feedstock material for the manufacture of both TiO2 and titanium sponge.

The scope of the design and engineering efforts incorporated concepts that provide the ability to operate and manage a new sponge facility jointly with a TiO2 facility, which would result in operating synergies and provide certain cost advantages. The completion of the detailed design and engineering for a new greenfield sponge facility, together with TIMET's existing sponge production facility, sponge and scrap supply agreements and expanded scrap processing and melting initiatives underway, provides the company additional alternatives and greater flexibility for its future raw material supply requirements.

Mr. Watson also said "We are very pleased with the success of our approach of simultaneously exploring alternatives to achieve our growth objectives in all phases of our business operations. The expansion of capacity in the titanium industry often involves significant capital resources and long construction lead times. End users of titanium continue to emphasize a desire to maintain the certainty, quality and reliability required to support their own long-term product development and manufacturing programs. We believe our ability to expand our production capacity through a combination of internal expansion and long-term third party agreements allows us to grow our business and meet the demands of our customers in a more timely and cost efficient manner, which we believe will also enhance our stockholders' return on investment and maintain our strong financial position."

 

The European Aeronautic and Space Company (EADS) (Schiphol-Rijk, The Netherlands) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) covering the supply of about $1 billion of titanium with Kazakhstan company UKTMP for the company's Airbus and other EADS divisions.

The MoU covers the supply of titanium and the manufacture of finished and semi-finished products. The French metals and alloys specialists Aubert & Duval, a division of the mining group Eramet (Paris, France), and UKTMP will set up a joint venture, UKAD, to manufacture from the titanium ingots delivered by UKTMP and improve the vertical integration of the titanium supply chain to EADS and Airbus. UKTMP is the only fully integrated titanium producer in the world covering mining, titanium sponge and semi finished titanium products. In addition to the EADS supply, the joint venture will produce and market semi-finished products in the form of titanium ingots and bars.

In the initial phase setting up the project, expected to start operation in 2011, will take an investment of $60 million followed by a further investment of $30 million. The location of the plant is under discussion.The MoU was signed during a visit to Kazakhstan by the French Prime Minister Francois Fillon. During the visit another MoU was signed with the Kazyna Sustainable Development Fund for a strategic partnership in the development of the aerospace industry and related services in the country.Titanium is another basic industrial resource metal in tight supply globally. Japanese imports increased by 90 resource in 2007 over 2006 when imports from China increased by a factor of 5.8 from China which became Japan's largest supplier, displacing Russia.In a basic process breakthrough for titanium producers, a team of researchers at Leeds University in the United Kingdom under engineering professor Animesh Jha have developed a simpler, cheaper and greener method of extracting higher yields of titanium oxide (TiO2), the base feed product for downstream manufacturing. The newly patented process consists of roasting the mineral ore with alkali to remove contaminants, which are washed and leached with acid to yield valuable byproducts for the electronics industry. The coarse residue left behind is then reacted with 20 times less than the usual amount of chlorine to produce TiO2 powder.

The Leeds process gives an average yield of up to 97 percent TiO2 compared with the current industry average of 85 percent. This level of purity will reduce production costs of pigment grade materials and waste disposal costs. In addition the process also recycles waste CO2 and heat. Jha is confident that the process can be further refined to produce 99 percent pure TiO2.

The $9.6 billion global market will welcome the new process, which avoids the pollution and waste of current processes used to purify the relatively abundant but impure mineral ore. – Reliable Plant Magazine

Withdrawal of export duty on steel sought

Voluntary price reduction by the industry will impact margins

In a representation to the Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) titanium bars has sought withdrawal of export duty notified on steel and steel products, in the interest of investments of over Rs. 1 lakh crore that have been announced by different companies in the steel sector recently. “Of serious concern was the export duty on value-added products of steel such as pipes and tubes,” FICCI emphasised in its representation.

On May 10, the Government had notified export duty on 15 steel and steel products ranging from 5 per cent to 15 per cent.

The apex chamber said that the export duty and voluntary price reduction by titanium bars the steel industry would significantly impact the margins of the sector that could affect their future investment plans.

It also notes that already the performance of the steel sector has shown some signs of a slowdown, with the production of finished steel growing by mere 5.1 per cent in April-March 2007-08 compared to an increase of 13.1 per cent in April-March 2006-07. Also, the chamber observed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) titanium ingots in its survey found that gross profit margin ratios of 105 iron and steel companies declined in the second quarter of 2007-08 vis-À-vis first quarter. The ratio was 18.6 per cent in Q1 and declined titanium sheets to 17.9 per cent in Q2. titanium bars The interest burden of steel companies increased from 19.5 per cent in Q1 of 2007-08 to 21.4 per cent in Q2, the chamber pointed out.

Value-added products

Regarding value-added products of steel, FICCI said that significant amount of value addition was taking place in the production of steel pipes and tubes. In the titanium ingots case of black pipes, the value addition was $100 a tonne and in galvanised pipes it was as high as $250 a tonne, it said.

In such a scenario, FICCI said that imposing stringent measures on exports would not be in titanium the interest of the steel industry that had developed strength titanium bars in the last few years in the world market and for which exports had become an integral part of titanium ingots the business strategy. The chamber said that building up export capabilities was strategically titanium sheets important in the long-run titanium.

Export markets provide flexibility to the industry in terms of an extra window of demand when domestic demand slackens and as an additional source of domestic supply when domestic demand rises fast in future.titanium bars Such titanium bars measures would also discourage substantive value addition taking place in the country, FICCI said.

India was a net exporter of steel for the last few years, but now has become net importer, it said. In such a situation, where exports have already witnessed a decline due to several reasons, to impose such stringent measures on exports would further affect the revenues of the companies significantly, the chamber said. – The Hindu

Phu Yen to construct titanium cinder plant

Phu Yen (VNA) – The Vietnam Kenee Mineral Co. broke ground in the construction of a titanium cinder plant with a total investment capital of 65 billion VND (4 million USD).
Located in Dong Bac Song Cau, in the central province of Phu Yen , the factory hopes to be operational by year end.
The factory plans to produce 5,500 tonnes of titanium cinder and 2,700 tonnes of pig-iron in the first phase.
It will expand this to 20,000 tonnes of titanium cinder and 10,000 tonnes of pig-iron in the second phase.- Vietnam News Agency

titanium

China Remains World's Largest Stainless Steel Producer

China remained the world's number one producer of stainless steel last year, taking up more than one quarter of the global output, figures with the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) have shown.

China churned out some 7.2 million tonnes of stainless steel in 2007, or more than one quarter of some titanium 28 million tonnes of global output, said chairman of the stainless steel council under the CISA Li Cheng.

China overtook Japan titanium bars as the world's biggest stainless steel producer in 2006. Its alloy steel output hit 16.6 million tonnes last year, up 21.72 percent year on year.

Steel products exports, however, dropped sharply in the second half of 2007 on a series of reduction in export tax rebates.

The net exports of crude steel soared in the first half of last year, but then tumbled in the second half year by 22.55 percent from the previous year, as a result of increased tax as far as experts concerned.

China scrapped the 13 percent export rebates on carbon steel welded tubes as of July 1 last year and raised the export tariff on steel billets to 25 percent, amid other efforts to trim its rapid expanding trade surplus.

CISA figures showed the product mix has been further optimized, with technology-intensive and value-added products rose substantially.

titanium

China has become the third largest titanium consumer in the world

China has been engaged in titanium research and development for over 40 years. With its rapid development of titanium industry, a complete industrial system has evolved, and China has become the fourth largest country in terms of titanium industry globally, only after the United States , Russia and Japan .

The country has made considerable progress in scientific study, production and application of titanium, and has so far acquired industrialized production capacity of sponge titanium, titanium processed products and castings and established two complete systems of titanium mine?metallurgy?processing?equipment manufacturing and of titanium research?design?application. It has become an important titanium industrial country in Asia as well as titanium  in the world. China has developed a unique titanium R&D system and management method of its own, and currently has more than 1,000 scientific personnel engaging in titanium R&D.

China abounds in titanium resources and the mineral reserve is comparatively concentrated, with total reserve exceeding nine billion tons, ranking first in the world. Titanium ore reserve is mainly distributed in Sichuan , Yunnan , Guangdong , Guangxi, and Hainan . However, compared with the world ' s major titanium producing places, China ' s rutile reserve is limited and the placer deposits that can be easily exploited are few. Most of the titanium reserve in China is titanium?vanadium?iron intergrowth ores, which are hard to dress and boast high dressing cost.

A complete production system of titanium concentrate, titanium white, sponge titanium, titanium processed products, titanium casting, and titanium powder metallurgical equipment manufacturing has taken shape in China . There are backbone enterprises including Baoji Titanium Industry, Panzhihua Steel Titanium Industry Company, Zunyi Titanium Plant, West China Titanium Company, Shanghai No. 5 Steel Company, and Nanjing Baose Titanium Co. Ltd. China has so far acquired an annual production capacity of 400,000 tons of titanium concentrate, 7,000 tons of sponge titanium, over 7,000 tons of titanium products and 1,000 tons of titanium casting, powder and equipment. titanium

High?speed development of the Chinese economy has propped up strong demand for titanium processed products by chemical, sports, power, aviation and aerospace, vacuum salt processing, construction and metallurgical industries, which in turn has boosted rapid growth of China ' s titanium industry. China produced 4,809 tons of sponge titanium and 8,513 tons of titanium processed products in 2004, up 17% and 31.2% year on year respectively. In addition, the country ' s demand for titanium processed products was 10,629 tons in the year, up 41.6%. China has become the third largest titanium consumer in the world, after the United States and Europe .

The Chinese government is promoting development of science and technology of the titanium industry by various channels. It has endorsed the ?Ўм Climbing Programme ?Ў§ , the State Natural Science Fund Programme, and the ?Ўм 863 ?Ў§ high?tech development plan to promote basic study and technological innovation of the titanium industry; it has passed the five?year ?Ўм scientific key task programme ?Ў§ and key engineering technology development project to develop practical titanium alloy new materials and applicable new technology; it has launched a State key laboratory programme and the State engineering (technological) research centers to improve research conditions and train senior research personnel; it has adopted the enterprise renovation programme to promote technical upgrading of key enterprises. Furthermore, the Chinese government encourages various domestic and international academic exchanges and international cooperation in scientific research.

In fact, some China?made titanium products have obtained quality certification from some big renowned companies including Boeing of the United States , Rolls?Royce of Britain and Aerospatiale of France, and China?made sponge titanium, titanium products and casting and plates have been exported. Some Chinese aviation factories have even contracted to produce airborne components for foreign airlines.

After more than 40 years ' effort, China has developed more than 70 kinds of titanium alloys, of which more than 50 kinds have been listed in State standards. In the past few years, the focus of China ' s titanium alloy research is mainly on high?temperature, high?strength, aerial corrosion?resistance, low?cost, fire?proof, low?temperature, and medical titanium alloys.

China ' s titanium industry has been in a rapid growth period in the past few years, and the annual output of titanium processed products and other titanium products has grown by about 30% for five consecutive years. China currently makes up over 10% of the world ' s total titanium products output, as against 2?3% in the past.

 

Titanium Corporation provides update on heavy mineral recovery

Titanium Corporation Inc. is pleased to provide an update on the progress of its oil sands tailings project following the filing of its quarterly and annual financial statements for the year ended August 31, 2007.

The past year culminated more than two years of process design, testing and on-site piloting. The results include a new expanded opportunity to integrate bitumen and heavy mineral recovery from mined oil sands tailings as well as some new challenges. Processing fresh tailings has proven complex and is taking more time than originally anticipated. After an extensive review of these results, the Company reports as follows:

The Company's operations during fiscal 2007 focused on mineral concentration, bitumen removal and recovery and mineral separation as discussed below.

Mineral Concentration:

Utilizing bulk sample material from the prior year's on-site program, the Company designed a pilot mineral concentrator which was deployed at the oil sands site in the first quarter of fiscal 2007. The pilot concentrator achieved heavy mineral recoveries, as a concentrate, of between 98 and 99 per cent from the tailings stream. The $3 million program was completed on time and within budget.

Mineral Separation:

Heavy mineral concentrates from the on-site program were transported to the Company's Regina facilities for analysis and zircon separation testing during fiscal 2007. Technical analysis and market testing during 2007 indicate that the oil sands mineral suite is comprised of two grades of zircon: standard grade zircon which is typically supplied to the ceramics industry; and a lower grade of zircon utilized by the zircon chemicals industry. Zircon testing to-date indicates a potential for recoveries of approximately 55,000 tonnes per year of the two grades of zircon at current oil sands production levels at the test site. Work is ongoing to increase recovery levels and grades. Potential markets for high grade leucoxene is also being investigated. This high grade product represents apotential of approximately 20,000 tonnes per year at current oil sands production levels at the test site.

Markets:

In the prior year, the Company had announced a strategy to focus on zircon recovery due to strong worldwide demand and pricing. The zircon market remains strong, growing and has attractive pricing. Zircon sand prices doubled in value over 2 to 3 years reaching approximately US$800 per tonne where they remained stable during 2007.

We expect that worldwide demand will continue to be robust, particularly in China, and that the supply situation will continue to be tight. In contrast, markets for titanium minerals are not prospective.

Prices for varying grades of titanium minerals are well below US$100 per tonne. The significant decline in value of the US dollar in local currencies has also negatively impacted the minerals industry. Titanium mineral markets have been oversupplied. As well, a number of expansions and new projects are coming on stream and are under development.

Accordingly, we continue to focus on zircon and high grade leucoxene. The Company has been active in Asia working with relationship partners and potential industrial consumers, market testing zircon and leucoxene product samples.

Outlook for Fiscal 2008:

The Company's oil sands tailings project has progressed to an integrated project to develop technology to recover both bitumen and minerals directly from fresh oil sands tailings. The recovery of a portion of the bitumen currently lost in these tailings streams represents an expanded opportunity with the potential for environmental and economic benefits. In management's view, the potential market for tailings processing is significant with three major oil sands mining sites currently in operation, one to be commissioned in 2008, and several others planned for the ensuing years.

Over the next 18 to 24 months, the Company plans to execute programs directed at developing integrated processes for bitumen and mineral recovery. These programs will be conducted in stages and it is anticipated that the work will initially focus on laboratory and bench scale activity, later advancing to pilot operations. Additional work on minerals will also occur, with a view to improving the quality of lower grade zircon and evaluating upgrading processes and potential for downstream value added processing.

Japanese titanium shipment will hit record both for sponge titanium and rolled products in 2008, announced by Japan Titanium Society on Thursday.

The shipment is expected to reach 39,000 tonnes for sponge titanium and 21,000 tonnes for rolled products when the demand keeps firm for airplane and industry worldwide and the makers expand the supply capacity. – Japan Metal Bulletin

 

Timet defers titanium sponge plant