france: huntsman – tio2

2
about 10% of the consumption in refractories might also be at risk. The second day of the conference was devoted to presentation updates on specific projects. Mr Tony Fawdon (of Diatreme Resources) discussed his company’s project for developing the Cyclone deposit in the Eucla Basin. Diatreme aims to commence mine construction towards the end of 2012, with target initial production of 80,000 tonnes/y of zircon. Mr Jeff Williams (of Mineral Deposits Ltd, MDL) outlined progress on his company’s Grande Côte mineral sands venture in Senegal. MDL has already gained valuable experience of operating in Senegal thanks to its Sabodala gold mine in the eastern half of the country. The company intends to use a huge dredge and floating concentrator to process 55 M tonnes/y of material at Grande Côte, generating: 80,000 tonnes/y of zircon; 550,000-600,000 tonnes/y of ilmenite; 6000 tonnes/y of rutile; and 11,000 tonnes/y of leucoxene. The mine is expected to come into production in May 2013. Mr George Sakalidis (of Image Resources) outlined his company’s plans for developing mineral sands properties in the North Perth Basin (Cooljarloo, Bidaminna and Gingin) and in the Eucla Basin (Cyclone Extended). Mr David Harley (of Gunson Resources) spoke about his company’s Coburn project in Western Australia. The company’s definitive feasibility study for this project was recently completed, confirming a mine life of 23.5 years, generating a cash surplus over the lifetime of the mine of A$800 M. Assuming a discount rate of 8% per annum, the project has a net present value of A$163 M, giving an internal rate of return of 16.8%. Gunson will be producing: 40,000 tonnes/y of zircon (contributing an anticipated 67% of the project’s total sales revenue); 90,000 tonnes/y of ilmenite (contributing 18% of revenue); 9000 tonnes/y (contributing 10% of revenue); and 7000 tonnes/y of leucoxene (contributing 5% of revenue). Over the lifetime of the project, total revenues should be of the order of $1.58 bn, which indicates an assumed long-term average price of $1700 per tonne for zircon and $800 per tonne for rutile. The Coburn project is now ready to move into the construction phase, once the financing arrangements have been finalised. The final paper of the conference by Mr David Morrison (of SKM) had the eye-catching title: “Developing the fully truckless mine.” Mr Morrison said: “The development of large-scale mobile crushing and sizing equipment with the same manoeuvrability as face-shovels has meant that a truly truckless mining operation is now feasible, at high capacity. A number of mines have toyed with this concept over the years, with varying degrees of success and commitment. Increased labour costs and shortages in skills, tyre shortages, concerns over greenhouse gas emissions and the volatility of commodity prices have all driven mine operators to consider alternatives to the traditional truck and shovel operations in a more serious light.” He went on to discuss a number of recent case studies, leading to the conclusion that the fully truckless mine might be a really viable feature of the industry sooner than you might have thought possible. Reg Adams 1) For those who were unable to attend the event, the published papers from the Melbourne conference are available for sale. For details, please contact: Ms Diana Lauzi, Informa/AJM, PO Box Q1439, Sydney QVB, New South Wales 1230, Australia. Tel: +61 2 9080 4313. Fax: +61 2 9290 2577. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: http://www.informa.com.au/mineralsands PLANTS Australia: Rio Tinto – talc Rio Tinto Minerals recently opened its new state-of-the-art talc beneficiation facility at Three Springs (about 330 km northeast of Perth, Western Australia). It cost A$11 M to build and it is capable of producing up to 150,000 tonnes/y of high-grade product. The facility is associated with an open-pit talc mine which currently produces 70,000 tonnes/y, but is scheduled for expansion to 120,000 tonnes/y by 2015. Efficiency at Three Springs has recently improved, mainly thanks to the adoption of an integrated flow- sheet, resulting in reductions of double-handling operations, lower releases of dust particles and up to 30% lower consumption. The workforce at Three Springs now numbers 20. Asian Ceramics, Dec/Jan 2011, 68 (Website: http://www.asianceramics.com) China: CSRC – carbon black China Synthetic Rubber Corp (CSRC, part of the Taiwan Cement group) has announced plans to add 10,000 tonnes/y to its capacity at the Anshan (Liaoning province) carbon black plant during 2011. This should bring total capacity here to 80,000 tonnes/y. At the same time as announcing the Anshan expansion, Mr Leslie Koo (Chairman) declared that CSRC would invest in a new facilty for making carbon nanotubes at an unidentified Indian location. Taiwan Economic News, 11 Nov 2010 (Website: http://www.cens.com) China: Jiangxi Tikon – TiO 2 Jiangxi Tikon brought on-stream its 100,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO 2 pigment plant in October 2010, less than 28 months since construction work began. The plant is located on a 25 hectares site in the Fubei Industrial Park on the outskirts of Fuzhou city (Jiangxi province). Adjacent to the TiO 2 plant is a new 200,000 tonnes/y sulfuric acid plant, equipped with a spent acid recycling system. Both plants were designed to “European quality standards” and incorporate a number of imported items of equipment. The TiO 2 plant will focus on making rutile grades for both the home market and for export. Jiangxi Tikon, formerly known as Jiangxi Tianguang Chemical, is a wholly-owned subsidiary within the SanSheng group (headquartered in Hong Kong). With its new plant, Tikon becomes the sixth Chinese TiO 2 producer with a capacity of more than 100,000 tonnes/y, rivalling Shandong Dongjia, Sichuan Lomon, Henan Billions, the China National Bluestar group and the Pangang group. Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI), Oct 2010, 26 (10), 43 France: Huntsman – TiO 2 The Board of Huntsman Corp has approved in principle the plan to build a new magnesium sulfate plant at the MARCH 2011 3 FOCUS ON PIGMENTS

Post on 05-Jul-2016

216 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: France: Huntsman – TiO2

about 10% of the consumption inrefractories might also be at risk.

The second day of the conferencewas devoted to presentation updateson specific projects. Mr Tony Fawdon(of Diatreme Resources) discussedhis company’s project for developingthe Cyclone deposit in the EuclaBasin. Diatreme aims to commencemine construction towards the end of2012, with target initial production of80,000 tonnes/y of zircon.

Mr Jeff Williams (of MineralDeposits Ltd, MDL) outlined progresson his company’s Grande Côtemineral sands venture in Senegal.MDL has already gained valuableexperience of operating in Senegalthanks to its Sabodala gold mine inthe eastern half of the country. Thecompany intends to use a hugedredge and floating concentrator toprocess 55 M tonnes/y of material atGrande Côte, generating: 80,000tonnes/y of zircon; 550,000-600,000tonnes/y of ilmenite; 6000 tonnes/y ofrutile; and 11,000 tonnes/y ofleucoxene. The mine is expected tocome into production in May 2013.

Mr George Sakalidis (of ImageResources) outlined his company’splans for developing mineral sandsproperties in the North Perth Basin(Cooljarloo, Bidaminna and Gingin)and in the Eucla Basin (CycloneExtended).

Mr David Harley (of GunsonResources) spoke about hiscompany’s Coburn project in WesternAustralia. The company’s definitivefeasibility study for this project wasrecently completed, confirming a minelife of 23.5 years, generating a cashsurplus over the lifetime of the mine ofA$800 M. Assuming a discount rate of8% per annum, the project has a netpresent value of A$163 M, giving aninternal rate of return of 16.8%.Gunson will be producing: 40,000tonnes/y of zircon (contributing ananticipated 67% of the project’s totalsales revenue); 90,000 tonnes/y ofilmenite (contributing 18% ofrevenue); 9000 tonnes/y (contributing10% of revenue); and 7000 tonnes/yof leucoxene (contributing 5% ofrevenue). Over the lifetime of theproject, total revenues should be ofthe order of $1.58 bn, which indicatesan assumed long-term average priceof $1700 per tonne for zircon and$800 per tonne for rutile. The Coburnproject is now ready to move into the

construction phase, once thefinancing arrangements have beenfinalised.

The final paper of the conferenceby Mr David Morrison (of SKM) hadthe eye-catching title: “Developing thefully truckless mine.” Mr Morrison said:“The development of large-scalemobile crushing and sizing equipmentwith the same manoeuvrability asface-shovels has meant that a trulytruckless mining operation is nowfeasible, at high capacity. A number ofmines have toyed with this conceptover the years, with varying degreesof success and commitment.Increased labour costs and shortagesin skills, tyre shortages, concerns overgreenhouse gas emissions and thevolatility of commodity prices have alldriven mine operators to consideralternatives to the traditional truck andshovel operations in a more seriouslight.” He went on to discuss a numberof recent case studies, leading to theconclusion that the fully trucklessmine might be a really viable featureof the industry sooner than you mighthave thought possible.

Reg Adams

1) For those who were unable to attend the event, thepublished papers from the Melbourne conferenceare available for sale. For details, please contact:Ms Diana Lauzi, Informa/AJM, PO Box Q1439,Sydney QVB, New South Wales 1230, Australia.Tel: +61 2 9080 4313. Fax: +61 2 9290 2577. E-mail: [email protected]. Website:http://www.informa.com.au/mineralsands

PLANTSAustralia: Rio Tinto – talc

Rio Tinto Minerals recently opened itsnew state-of-the-art talc beneficiationfacility at Three Springs (about 330km northeast of Perth, WesternAustralia). It cost A$11 M to build andit is capable of producing up to150,000 tonnes/y of high-gradeproduct. The facility is associated withan open-pit talc mine which currentlyproduces 70,000 tonnes/y, but isscheduled for expansion to 120,000tonnes/y by 2015.

Efficiency at Three Springs hasrecently improved, mainly thanks tothe adoption of an integrated flow-sheet, resulting in reductions ofdouble-handling operations, lowerreleases of dust particles and up to

30% lower consumption. Theworkforce at Three Springs nownumbers 20.

Asian Ceramics, Dec/Jan 2011, 68 (Website:http://www.asianceramics.com)

China: CSRC – carbon black

China Synthetic Rubber Corp (CSRC,part of the Taiwan Cement group) hasannounced plans to add 10,000tonnes/y to its capacity at the Anshan(Liaoning province) carbon black plantduring 2011. This should bring totalcapacity here to 80,000 tonnes/y. Atthe same time as announcing theAnshan expansion, Mr Leslie Koo(Chairman) declared that CSRCwould invest in a new facilty formaking carbon nanotubes at anunidentified Indian location.

Taiwan Economic News, 11 Nov 2010 (Website:http://www.cens.com)

China: Jiangxi Tikon – TiO2

Jiangxi Tikon brought on-stream its100,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO2pigment plant in October 2010, lessthan 28 months since constructionwork began. The plant is located on a25 hectares site in the Fubei IndustrialPark on the outskirts of Fuzhou city(Jiangxi province). Adjacent to theTiO2 plant is a new 200,000 tonnes/ysulfuric acid plant, equipped with aspent acid recycling system. Bothplants were designed to “Europeanquality standards” and incorporate anumber of imported items ofequipment. The TiO2 plant will focuson making rutile grades for both thehome market and for export.

Jiangxi Tikon, formerly known asJiangxi Tianguang Chemical, is awholly-owned subsidiary within theSanSheng group (headquartered inHong Kong). With its new plant, Tikonbecomes the sixth Chinese TiO2producer with a capacity of more than100,000 tonnes/y, rivalling ShandongDongjia, Sichuan Lomon, HenanBillions, the China National Bluestargroup and the Pangang group.

Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI), Oct 2010, 26 (10), 43

France: Huntsman – TiO2

The Board of Huntsman Corp hasapproved in principle the plan to builda new magnesium sulfate plant at the

MARCH 2011 3

F O C U S O N P I G M E N T S

Page 2: France: Huntsman – TiO2

company’s Calais TiO2 pigment site innorthern France. The plant will ‘mopup’ all the spent acid wastes arising atthe 95,000 tonnes/y sulfate-route TiO2pigment plant. Investment in theproject, which was first announced inJune 2009, has been budgeted at €30 M. When the new magnesiumsulfate plant is up and running,Huntsman will close its existing Lurgi-design acid recycling facility here.

The changes will result in lowerenergy consumption and reducedcarbon dioxide emissions from theCalais site. Overall manufacturingcosts will be reduced, markinganother improvement in thesustainability and cost-effectivenessof the Calais site.

Press Release from: Huntsman Corp, 10003 WoodlochForest Drive, The Woodlands, TX 77380, USA. Website:http://www.huntsman.com (28 Jan 2011)

India: DIC – organic pigments

DIC Corp (formerly Dainippon Inks &Chemicals, headquartered in Tokyo)is evaluating suitable sites in India forthe establishment of a “mother plant”which would have a substantialcapacity for the manufacture ofphthalocyanine and other classicorganic pigments. Output from thisplant would be supplied to customersin India, Europe and North America.

Japan Chemical Web, 7 Jan 2011 (Website:http://www.japanchemicalweb.jp)

India: Trimex – TiO2

Trimex Industries commencedcommercial production of titaniumminerals in the Srikakulam district ofAndhra Pradesh in June 2010, withthe commissioning of processingfacilities capable of producing:200,000 tonnes/y of ilmenite and 6000tonnes/y of rutile. As by-products, theoperation also generates: 6000tonnes/y of zircon; 60,000 tonnes/y ofgarnet; and 50,000 tonnes/y ofsilimanite. The capital investment inthis project was Rup 250 M(equivalent to about $5.5 M).

Now, Trimex is contemplating theestablishment of a sulfate-route TiO2pigment plant, of unidentified capacity.At the same time, it will expand itsmineral products potential by a factorof 2.5, so that ilmenite capacity will be

raised from 200,000 tonnes/y to500,000 tonnes/y. The capitalrequirement for this phase of theproject is estimated at Rup 22.5 bn(equivalent to about $500 M).

Trimex was founded in 1985 by MrPrasad Koneru, who remains theExecutive Managing Director today.The company initially focused onmining baryte and bentonite, but hassubsequently diversified into iron oreand bauxite as well as mineral sands.Its wholly-owned subsidiary, TrimexInternational, was incorporated inDubai in 1995. It now runs twomineral processing facilities in theMiddle East, one in Kuwait and one inRas al Khaimah. Thanks to itsestablished sales network, Trimex willprobably focus its TiO2 pigment effortson markets in both India and theMiddle East.

Business Line, 26 Jan 2011, 18 (25), 2

Malaysia: RockTron – cenospheresfrom power station fly-ash

For about 18 months now, RockTron(headquartered in Bristol, England)has been successfully operating itsfirst commercial-scale plant atWarrington (about 30 km equidistantfrom Liverpool and Manchester). Theplant employs RockTron’s patentedtechnology to convert fly-ash, derivedfrom coal-fired power stations, intomarketable products. These include:MagTron magnetite and CenTron solidor hollow aluminosilicate cenospheres,these products being marketed asfunctional fillers. Target customers arein the paint, plastic and rubberindustries. (See ‘Focus on Pigments’,Dec 2009, 6-7).

On 14 October 2010, RockTronsigned a memorandum ofunderstanding with Tenaga NasionalBerhad (TNB) for the establishment ofthe first RockTron fly-ash processingfacility in Asia. At this stage, the scaleand location of the RockTron venturehave not been identified. TNB is thelargest electricity utility company inMalaysia, with a total installedgenerating capacity of around 12 GW.

Currently, Malaysia generatesabout 2 M tonnes/y of power stationfly-ash, about half of which isdeposited in waste ponds. A typicalRockTron facility, capable ofprocessing 800,000 tonnes/y of

fly-ash, could be built at a capital costof about $45 M.

APCJ, Asia Pacific Coatings Journal, Dec 2010/Jan2011, 23 (6), 4 (Website:http://www.asiapacificcoatingsjournal.com)

Mexico: Nhumo – carbon black

As a result of operating difficultiesduring early December 2010 at theCiudad Madero and Cadereyta oilrefineries of Petroleos Mexicanos(Pemex), the supply of carbon blackfeedstock was curtailed. Pemex hadsuffered fatal explosions at bothMadero and Cadereyta, in July andSeptember 2010 respectively.

Nhumo, which runs a 135,000tonnes/y carbon black plant atAltamira (about 30 km north ofTampico on the Gulf coast) wasseverely affected for at least twoweeks. Nhumo is owned 60% by KuoChemical, 40% by Cabot Corp.

The 35,000 tonnes/y Bridgestoneplant, also located at Altamira, wasless severely affected, partly becauseit receives regular feedstock suppliesfrom US producers and is not solelydependent on supplies from Pemex.

Notch Consulting News, 15 Dec 2010 (Website:http://notchconsulting.wordpress.com) & BusinessWeek, 30 Jul & 8 Sep 2010 (Website:http://www.businessweek.com)

Russia: OAO Pigment – phthalocyanine

In December 2010, OAO Pigmentcommissioned a new 1000 tonnes/yunit at the phthalocyanine pigmentplant, located on its Tambov complex(400 km southeast of Moscow).During 2011, the company intends tointroduce a new range of phthalo blueand green pigments for various end-use applications.

RCCnews, 20 Jan 2011 (Website:http://www.rccnews.ru/eng)

Slovakia: Uniform Color & WashingtonPenn – plastic colorants & compounds

At the Voderady Industrial Park in theTrnava district (50 km northeast ofBratislava), two US-based companiesare planning to collaborate on a €7.9M project to build two new plants.Uniform Color Inc (of Holland, MI) willoperate the new colour concentratesunit. Washington Penn (ofWashington, PA) will operate the newpolyolefin compounds plant, with

4 MARCH 2011

F O C U S O N P I G M E N T S