Titanium feedstocks considered adequate

Global production of titanium- bearing minerals increased by about 1.2 million tonnes of contained TiO/c2h/ during the 1985-89 period, barely keeping pace with demand for titanium dioxide pigment, which grew by more than 5% per year during the same year, Metals Economics Group of Halifax writes. The research outfit, in its study Titanium Industry Strategies for the 1990s, says further planned expansions by both TiO/c2h/ pigment producers and mining operations may be vulnerable should demand stagnate or decline in a general economic slowdown.

While supplies of titanium feedstocks overall appear to be adequate for the moment, minerals for chloride-route pigment producers are still tight, and some feedstocks may show shortfalls in the mid-1990s if expansions now planned by chloride-route producers proceed, says the study.

In the near-term, competition for market share between synthetic rutile and chlorinatable slag is expected to intensify.

Zircon production at titanium mineral deposits, which provides some producers with as much as 30-40% of their income, is likely to increase to 1.1 million tonnes per year by the end of the decade. Because of the specific situations of these companies, a softening zircon market is not expected to have an appreciable effect on titanium production.