SOMETHING NEW
Titania Business
 As
part of its vision to grow in related industries, Tata Steel is also
exploring opportunities in Titania business in the Indian state of Tamil
Nadu. The Titania project will involve mining and separation of Ilmenite
and other valuable minerals from the inland dunal sands and its
upgradation to Synthetic Rutile, later to Titanium Dioxide Pigment and
ultimately to Titanium Metal.
Preliminary evaluation
of all free lease hold areas of the said deposits has enabled Tata Steel
to zero in on mineral sands deposits of Sattankulam and Kuttam in the
districts of Tuticorin & Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. For development of
the Titania Project, Tata Steel entered into a memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Tamil Nadu provincial Government for all the
necessary support required to set up the industry and obtained
prospecting licence for over 80 sq. km.
The feasibility study
was conducted with the help of a Consortium comprising OutoKumpu's
physical separation division based in USA, OutoKumpu (Lurgi),Germany,
Pincock Allen and Holt, USA, a resource and mining consulting company
and L&T. The Company is supported by MN Dastur co as Owners Consultant
and TZMI, Australia for Marketing and Processing of minerals.
The feasibility study was designed to be carried out in two parts, first
for the geological resources evaluation and mining and the other for
mineral separation, validation and optimization of flow sheets. The
first part was completed in December 2004 and the second part is
expected to be concluded in March 2006. The mineral assemblages in
Sattankulam and Kuttam are similar and found to comprise 65-70% ilmenite,
4-6% rutile, 4% zircon and 15-16% sillimanite. The feasibility study has
established an adequate mineral resource for the techno-economic
sustainability of the project.
The Stage-1 of the
project involves developing mining and mineral separation facilities.
Mining of Teri sand will be done using a combination of Front-end
loaders and conveyor system. Run of Mine will be fed to a Primary
Concentration Plant, recovery from this plant will form the feed for
Mineral Separation Plant.
The mining and
processing of the mineral sands is quite challenging, owing to high
slime content in the deposit and non availability of water for
processing. A separate sea water desalination cum power plant is
envisaged for meeting the water and power requirements of the project.
Slimes will be disposed off by pumping it to the mined out area and
dewatered sand tailings will be disposed off through conveyors (by
movable pit conveyors) and stackers. There will be a reasonable mixture
of the slimes and tailings.
The flow sheet
development for primary concentral and mineral separation plant was
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