RE:RE:RE:Iron oresales vs Ti pigments
The Titanium thing was suspended, but they moved forward with ilmenite, which is a black iron-titanium oxide with a chemical composition of FeTiO3. Ilmenite is the primary ore of titanium, a metal needed to make a variety of high-performance alloys. Most of the ilmenite mined worldwide is used to manufacture titanium dioxide, TiO2, an important pigment, whiting, and polishing abrasive. I think this is from the tailing, which has both iron and titanium. The initial investment of separating iron from titanium is too high, and they choose to produce something still of value that has both as its content. Instead of selling impure iron ore of low value, they massage it into ilmenite which is another raw material needed by the market. This is what I suspect what it is. Another possibility is that during the production of Vanadium, instead of sending the by-product just to the tailing, they massage it a little bit and create these ilmenite. They never mentioned about the need of exploration for ilmenite. That is why I have the impression that it is already there in their Vanadium mine. Therefore, they don't need to find a new hill of rocks to extract ilmenite from them.