From Bloomberg:
The American explorer who discovered the world’s biggest copper deposit in Chile has staked a claim in Paraguay to what he says may be the largest titanium find.
David Lowell, 82, the president of closely held CIC Resources Inc., controls mineral rights to at least 185,000 hectares (457,000 acres), according to Paraguay’s sub-ministry of mining and energy. That is an area the size of London. The possible resources are 21 billion metric tons, Lowell said.
“Our deposit could control the world titanium market, a big enough piece of production that whoever operates it would dictate what the price is going to be,” Lowell said in an interview. “And the price, presumably, would be reduced by having higher-grade ore and large tonnage.”
The geologist is in Hong Kong this week presenting his discovery to investors at a conference on the global titanium market sponsored by TZ Minerals International, a Western Australiaconsulting firm that specializes in the mineral. The project could produce between 5 million and 10 million tons of titanium ore per year with a potential operating life of 100 years, he said today outside the conference.
Indicated and inferred resources are 5.3 billion tons at an ore grade of 7.8 percent, Lowell said. Ore concentrate is quoted at $90 to $110 a metric ton depending on the grade, according to Reg Adams, a titanium dioxide researcher at Artikol N.L. in London.
Save Costs
Chinese companies are among potential buyers Lowell said he is talking with. The nation’s manufacturing and construction industries are driving demand for ore that produces the white pigment found in paint, paper, plastic and even toothpaste as well as light-weight aerospace materials. Boeing Co.’s new 787 Dreamliner, which is slated to enter service this year, and the construction of industrial plants such as water-desalination facilities, also boost demand for the metal.