RE:Industrial Minerals Environmental regulations in China are adding further pressure on sulfate-route pigment producers in favor of chloride-route production. This paves the way for further process innovation and investment, as well as opening up potential new sources for feedstock, IM correspondent Cameron Perks discovers. Air pollution and problems of waste disposal are driving Chinese government policies toward favoring chloride-processing technology and away from sulfate-route production processes. Chinese authorities have now banned the construction of new sulfate-route units, and restricted the expansion of existing sulfate plants unless significant improvements are made to their environmental impact. But the most significant announcement of 2017 in relation to new capacity came from Lomon Billions, which said that it planned to add as much as 500,000 tonnes per year of chloride capacity by 2030. One company, Argex Titanium Inc, has therefore found itself in the calm eye of the perfect storm. The Canada-based company is an emerging low-cost producer of TiO2 pigment, using its own innovative chloride-based technology. And while the company is not without its own turbulent history, recent market conditions and the achievement of an important milestone mean that Argex seems to have good prospects. On November 27 last year, Argex announced that it had received optical property test results indicating that its finished products were suitable for paint and coatings applications worldwide. It then announced on January 8 that its TiO2 technology was of major interest to industry participants in China. According to Argex, meetings took place with the general secretary of the China National Coatings Industry Association (NCIA), at which major industry participants confirmed their interest. Argex has now scheduled further meetings with "a group interested in satisfying Chinese demand by licensing the Argex technology" as well as another group "interested in developing global TiO2 production using the Argex technology, which has key advantages in terms of cost and environmental impact. Argexs presentations have repeatedly stated its methods have the lowest environmental impact of any similar processes, have saleable by-products, and that they use a low temperature - only 120C - to produce a rutile/anatase pigment. The company plans to construct a plant in Canada, to be commissioned by 2020, with "an initial capacity of 30,000 tpy and additional trains up to 90,000 tpy". The process could also be a boon for low-grade ilmenite producers which have no access to processing equipment. Most traders and end-users are currently only interested in purchased ilmenite with 46% TiO2 content or greater. The cost of upgrading the material is often prohibitive, as is the cost of shipping and trucking these grades to nearby or international processing plants. Elsewhere, Australia Vanadium has engaged with mineral processing engineering company Sedgman in order to conduct metallurgical testing on its titanium-bearing vanadium project in Western Australia. The Neomet proprietary process is a self-styled as a "low-cost, high-recovery hydrometallurgical process". Test results were returned to the company on January 9, in which "highly encouraging leach test results" showed extraction of "96% of vanadium, 87% of iron and 1% of titanium after one hour HCl leach". The announcement noted that "titanium upgraded from 8.8% to 23.4% in the residue". Perhaps at a more advanced stage are Avertanas attempts to produce titanium dioxide by processing waste steel slag. The company recently announced a partnership with Nyanza Light Metals to turn slag stockpiled in Richards Bay, South Africa, into about 50,000 tpy of pigment starting in 2019. There is also the collaboration between Velta Group Global and RD Titan Group. The group, named Velta RD Titan, hopes to develop a new process for TiO2 production, resulting in a new product to be named "i-TiO2". Having started in the fourth quarter of 2017, the research program is expected to take three years, and will use ilmenite with TiO2 content anywhere in the range of 30-70%. The collaboration hopes to see a pilot plant constructed by 2021 or 2022. In conclusion, then, Argex appears to be the only well-funded and substantive processing technology that could change the current landscape of pigment production and feedstock demand in the near term. Australian Vanadium & Velta RD Titan have very long roads ahead, and while Avertanas attempts at development have been successful, a pigment plant with capacity for 50,000 tpy is unlikely to make a significant dent in terms of worldwide demand.