China as a leading mineral sandsprocessing and trading company. It isowned 50% by Firback Finance, 26%by PT Arafuna and 24% by othershareholders. It has a marketcapitalisation of A$134 M. The Donaldmine is due on-stream in 2015,generating 950,000 tonnes/y of heavymineral concentrates, which will yield120,000 tonnes/y of zircon and340,000 tonnes/y (TiO2 units) of high-grade TiO2 feedstock. Assuming long-term values of $1330 per tonne forrutile, $200 per tonne for sulfatableilmenite and $2200 per tonne forzircon, Astron estimates that therevenue/cost ratio will be around 2.4 – better than any of its Australianrivals apart from Iluka (2.5), thoughnot as high as TiZir, Senegal (2.9),World Titanium Resources,Madagascar (3.2) or Base Resources,Kenya (4.0). Astron is also makinggood progress with its Niafarangproject in southern Senegal. In fact,the mine here should come on-streamnext year, producing 15,000 tonnes/yof zircon and 82,000 tonnes/y (TiO2units) of TiO2 feedstock.

Mr David Harley (of GunsonResources) provided an update on hiscompany’s Coburn project in WesternAustralia. Subsequent to Mr Harley’spresentation at the November 2011AJM/Informa Conference, the projectparameters have been furtheroptimised. Target outputs are now:49,500 tonnes/y of zircon; 109,000tonnes/y of chlorinatable ilmenite; and23,500 tonnes/y of leucoxene (90%TiO2). Assuming long-term prices of$1715 per tonne for zircon, $338 pertonne for chlorinatable ilmenite and$1430 per tonne for leucoxene (90%TiO2), zircon should generate 65% ofthe project revenue, ilmenite 19% andleucoxene 16%. The net present valueof the Coburn project is assessed at$330 M and the internal rate of returnis assessed at 31.2%. Gunson is stilllooking for a strategic partner to bringits Coburn project to fruition. Onwardsfrom September 2011, it had seemedthat Posco (the South Koreansteelmaker) was going to take a 40%equity stake in the venture, butGunson and Posco terminatednegotiations at the end of March 2013because of a failure to agree oncommercial and financing conditions.In his presentation, Mr Harley cited achlorinatable slag price forecast by

Investec Bank: $730 per tonne in2012, rising to $975 per tonne in 2013and then to $1750 per tonne in 2014.

Mr Tony Fawdon (of DiatremeResources) discussed his company’sproject to develop the Cyclone deposit(straddling the border between SouthAustralia and Western Australia, about500 km north of Eucla). On thecurrent timetable, Diatreme shouldbegin mining here in 2016, with targetoutput at 65,000 tonnes/y of zircon;10,000 tonnes/y of high-gradeleucoxene (86.6% TiO2); and 46,000tonnes/y of standard-grade leucoxene(67.3% TiO2). Diatreme also ownsother mineral sands prospects atElliston and in the Arckaringa Basin,South Australia; Mandora in theCanning Basin region of WesternAustralia; and Cape Bedford andGrays Hill, Queensland.

Mr David Boyd (of SheffieldResources) highlighted his company’sexploration work to date on theThunderbird deposit (100 km west ofDerby on the Dampier Peninsula inthe northwest of Western Australia).Previous presentations by SheffieldResources have outlined the McCallsprospect in the Perth Basin and theYandanooka prospect in the Eneabbaregion. But the focus is now on theThunderbird prospect, where inferredand indicated resources are of theorder of 517 M tonnes of ore,containing 10.1% heavy minerals,effectively: 3.6 M tonnes of zircon,15.2 M tonnes of ilmenite, 2.2 Mtonnes of leucoxene and 800,000tonnes of rutile.

Mr Chris Gale and Mr GeoffBlackburn (of Latin Resources,headquartered in Perth) outlined theircompany’s large coastal beach placerprospect in the Guadalupito district(450 km north of Lima, Peru). Inferredresources on the company’s 26mining concessions in this areaamount to 82 M tonnes of heavyminerals in situ. Development of thisproject is in the early stages atpresent, but by 2020 Guadalupitocould become a significant source ofrutile, ilmenite and zircon, with co-product andalusite.

Other papers presented at theMelbourne Conference included anoverview of mineral sands handlingand loading facilities at the port ofGeraldton, by Mr Peter Klein (of theGeraldton Port Authority); a

discussion of the technologiesemployed at mineral separationplants, by Mr Mark Palmer and MrTom Lawson (of Mineral TechnologiesLtd); mine rehabilitation, based on theGinkgo case in the Murray Basin, byMr Mike Priest (of Cristal Mining);consideration of water supplies atmineral sands mining ventures, by MrGary Meyer (of MWES Consulting);and an analysis of combined energy,resource and water efficiencyprogrammes, by Mr Bob Robinson (ofSinclair Knight Merz). Also, on theTuesday afternoon, there was aninteresting panel discussion facilitatedby Ms Carolyn Balint (of CoffeyEnvironment Services) aroundquestions such as: “How important isyour mine’s local community? Howimportant are relationships withregulators and lawmakers? How doyou manage community expectations,respecting cultural diversity andspiritual beliefs? What is a sociallicence to operate?”

Reg Adams

For those who were unable to attend the event, thepublished papers from the Melbourne Conference areavailable for sale. For details, please contact: Ms KimAldridge, Informa/AJM, PO Box Q1439, Sydney QVB,New South Wales 1230, Australia. Tel: +61 2 90804316. E-mail: kim.aldridge@informa.com.au. Website:http://www.informa.com.au/mineralsands

PLANTSCanada: Environmental Waste Services– carbon black from scrap tyres

Environmental Waste International Inc(EWS, headquartered in Ajax,Ontario) has been successfully testingits patented reverse polymerisationprocess for extracting carbon black,bunker oil and steel products fromscrap tyres at the TR-900 pilot plant atSault Sainte Marie in Ontario. Acontinuous 24-hour run generated4000 pounds (or 1.8 tonnes) ofcarbon black towards the end of May2013.

Original Source: Environmental Waste Services Inc,360 Francom Street, Ajax L1S 1R5, Ontario, Canada,website: http://www.ewi.ca (21 May 2013) © EWS2013

Canada: Kronos – TiO2

On 13 June 2013, Kronos WorldwideInc shut down its Varennes complex

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(25 km up-river from Montreal),declaring a lock-out of the 320employees there. This followed a 93%vote to reject the company’s plan torecruit more contract workers.Unionised employees at Varennesclaim that implementation of the planwould mean a reduction of thepermanent workforce by about 33%.The dispute had not been resolved bythe end of July, by which time sevenweeks’ production had been lost.There are two TiO2 plants atVarennes: an 86,000 tonnes/ychloride-route facility and an 18,000tonnes/y sulfate-route facility.

Original Source: TiO2 Worldwide Update, Aug 2013,21 (2), 22 (Website: http://www.artikol.com) © Artikol2013

China & India: Schulman – plasticsmasterbatch

A Schulman Inc (headquartered inCopley, OH) started up a 10,000tonnes/y plastics masterbatch plant atVadodara/Baroda (Gujarat province,India) during April 2013. The plantprovides employment for 30 peopleand caters for the expanding flexiblepackaging, appliance, and consumerproduct markets in this region. TheVadodara plant representsSchulman’s first manufacturinginvestment in India and its fifth in theAsia/Pacific region as a whole.

Schulman has also declared itsintention to expand its Dongguan(Guangdong province, China)complex. Towards the end of 2012,the company installed a plant atDongguan for making 30,000 tonnes/yof engineering plastic compounds andmasterbatches. Over the next 18months, it will raise total capacity hereto 69,000 tonnes/y.

Original Source: European Plastics News, 23 May2013, (Website:http://www.europeanplasticsnews.com/) © CrainCommunications Inc 2013

China: Connect Wilson – colour formersfor thermal & carbonless papers

Connect Chemicals GmbH(headquartered in Ratingen,Germany) is spending $30 M to builda new facility at Penglai (Shandongprovince, 280 km north of Qingdao)for the manufacture of more than4000 tonnes/y of WinCon colour-formers for use in thermal and

carbonless papers. The companystates that a new type of technologywill be employed here. ConnectWilson, the wholly-owned subsidiaryresponsible for operating this plant,already produces about 3000tonnes/y of colour-formers at Penglai.It foresees continued strong demandgrowth in China, South Korea, Braziland other ‘emerging markets.’ Thecompany also produces variouschemical intermediates at this site,including aminobenzene derivativessuitable for the textile dye andpharmaceutical sectors. ConnectWilson employs about 200 people atthe Penglai complex.

Original Source: Speciality Chemicals, Jun 2013, 33(6), (Website: http://www.specchemonline.com) © Quartz Business Media Ltd 2013

China: DyStar – indigo

DyStar (now based in Singapore andpart of the Zhejiang Longshenggroup) has opened a secondproduction line at its synthetic indigoplant in Nanjing (Jiangsu province).The new line has a capacity of 12,000tonnes/y, presumably doubling totalcapacity here. Design improvements,stemming from experience at both theexisting Nanjing and Ludwigshafenfacilities, were fully incorporated intothe design of the new line.

Original Source: Chemical and Engineering News, 22Apr 2013, 91 (16), 18 (Website: http://www.cen-online.org) © American Chemical Society 2013

Europe: Gabriel – masterbatch

In our May issue, we reported onGabriel Chemie’s project to establishits seventh plastics masterbatch plant– a new facility at Alabuga in theTatarstan region of Russia – and weidentified the locations of the existingsix plants in Austria, Czech Republic,Germany, Hungary, Russia and theUK. (See ‘Focus on Pigments’, May2013, 6). It has subsequently beenrevealed that the company’s totalmasterbatch capacity is now 30,000tonnes/y

Gabriel’s business is structuredinto several business segments:Building & Agriculture, CosmeticsPackaging, Food & BeveragePackaging, Packaging for Industrial &Consumer Goods, Home & Lifestyleand Medical. Its products pipelineconsists mainly of Maxithen grades

with polymer-specific carrier materialsand Unimax products based onuniversal carriers.

Original Source: Compounding World, Jun 2013, 70(Website: http://www.amiplastics.com/mags) © Applied Market Information Ltd 2013

India: KMML – TiO2

Kerala Minerals & Metals Ltd (KMML)has revived a two-stage project toraise its TiO2 pigment capacity from40,000 tonnes/y to 100,000 tonnes/y.KMML’s TiO2 pigment plant is locatedin the Sankaramangalam district ofChavara and it was originallycommissioned in 1986, employingchloride-route technology supplied byKerr-McGee (now Tronox). At aboutthe same time, a 30,000 tonnes/yBenilite-type synrutile plant wasinstalled at the same site, the ilmeniteinput for which is mined captively fromnearby beach sands. The company’smineral separation plant is sited onthe coast, about 2 km west of theSankaramangalam chemical complex.

The project to raise pigmentcapacity to 100,000 tonnes/y was firstannounced in mid-2004. During thefollowing year, contracts wereawarded to Mecon Ltd (the State-controlled project consultancycompany, headquartered in Ranchi)for overall engineering and designwork and to Outotec (of Finland) forthe design and engineering of a130,000 tonnes/y synrutile plant. (See‘Focus on Pigments’, Dec 2005, 4 &May 2006, 3). However, there seemsto have been little or no progresssince then.

Meanwhile, KMML’s focus shiftedtowards the establishment of atitanium sponge metal plant atSankaramangalam. This plant wasdesigned by the Government’sDefence Metallurgical ResearchLaboratory (DMRL), based inHyderabad. Construction work beganin December 2006 and the plant cameon-stream in mid-2010, with an initialcapacity for making 500 tonnes/y oftitanium sponge metal. Within the nexttwo years, KML intends to doublecapacity to 1000 tonnes/y. It will alsogenerate 2000 tonnes/y of by-productmagnesium chloride, which would besuitable for the welding materialssector.

The drive to move ahead with theTiO2 pigment plant expansion has

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