Rio Tinto suspends titanium feedstock study

Feb 08, 2013 | 02:30 PM | Frank Haflich

Tags  Titanium, Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium, titanium dioxide, ilmenite, Jacko Preyser, Frank Haflich

LOS ANGELES — Rio Tinto Plc’s iron and titanium unit, Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium (RTIT), “will suspend prefeasibility studies currently under way” for the “TiO4” program aimed at expanding its titanium mining and smelting capabilities in Canada, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa, according to a company spokesman.
Among the components involved in the study was a greenfield smelting facility in Canada, the spokesman confirmed. This presumably would have involved operations for upgrading ilmenite ore into slag, eventually producing an upgraded slag product with a titanium dioxide content greater than 90 percent. While the spokesman said Rio Tinto “never disclosed an official cost estimate” for a new smelter in Becancour, Quebec, local reports indicated it could have cost up....





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