[1]Group DF will build a new high-quality titanium dioxide production facility at Crimea TITAN. It will have an initial production capacity of 80 thousand tons per year, which will later be increased to 120 thousand tons. The capacity of Crimea TITAN’s current titanium dioxide production facilities will also be increased to 120 thousand tons per year. As the result, the company is expected to more than double its share of the global market.
“We are starting the construction of this new facility already this year, and by 2015 we will have invested around USD 300 million in this project”, said Dmitry Firtash, Chairman of the Group Supervisory Council of Group DF. “Our plan is to produce 240 thousand tons per year at Crimea TITAN, which is around 4% of the global market,” added Mr Firtash.
The feasibility study for the project is being developed in cooperation with Hatch and TZMI, the leading consultants and design institutes, and much attention is being paid to minimizing the environmental impact of the production. Once the feasibility study is complete, Crimea TITAN will announce a tender for an equipment supplier. Titanium dioxide will be produced using advanced sulfate technology.
“We are going to install modern European equipment, which will allow us – in terms of product quality – to overtake China, which is the fastest growing country in terms of developing its titanium production,” said Aleksandr Votintsev, Head of the Titanium Business at Group DF. “We export around 80% of our production output. The ranks of our customers include major global producers of paints, plastics, and paper,” added Mr Votintsev.
In 2012, Group DF launched a new and advanced sulfuric acid production at Crimea TITAN with production capacity of 600 thousand tons per year. Sulfuric acid is used as the raw material in titanium dioxide production using sulfate technology. The new sulfuric acid workshop has enough capacity to support the planned increase in titanium dioxide production with sufficient amounts of feedstock.
The Crimea TITAN investment program is part of a wider Group DF programme aimed at developing the Ukraine’s titanium industry. To implement this programme the Group plans to invest circa 2.5 billion USD by 2017. Earlier in March 2013, Group DF announced its plans to build new titanium slag and titanium sponge production facilities at Zaporizhya Titanium and Magnesium Combine.
Currently, the group is working on consolidating the Ukrainian titanium sector into a vertically integrated holding capable of effectively competing on the global markets and promoting Ukraine into the ranks of the world’s leading titanium producers. The holding’s operations will include titanium mining and enrichment, as well as production of both titanium dioxide and titanium metal.