Vietnam is exploding to become a major hub for titanium production with the country s central provinces of Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan announcing a reserve of around 560 million tonnes of titanium and zirconium. The reserves were identified as part of a VND300 billion (US$15.4 million) project to search for the metals throughout in the two provinces and the southern province of Ba Ria Vung Tau. The project was launched in 2009.
The new discoveries have brought the country s total reserves to some 650 million tons. The reserves are currently believed to total up to 210 billion tons but the figure isn t very exact as it was based on boreholes created for oil and gas prospecting according to the official. Till now China was the leader in titanium production with around 30 per cent of the world capacity. By H1 2010 there have been 63 active titanium dioxide producers in China. In general Chinese titanium dioxide industry has been regularly developing from 2006 to 2010. However the domestic titanium dioxide market was hit by financial crisis broke out in 2008. Titanium ore sulfate and high titanium slag are the major raw materials of titanium dioxide production. Among them titanium ore supply is the key factor impacting on the operating rate of domestic titanium dioxide production.
Commodity Online sourced by HT Media Ltd