Today, White Mountain Titanium, which is steadfastly working to advance their Cerro Blanco project in Chile (capable of producing high-grade titanium dioxide for paint/pigment and metal feedstock) to final feasibility, reported entry into additional requisite agreements towards this end with key regional/professional firms.
Executive Chairman of WMTM, Brian Flower, underscored the robust prices for rutile concentrate and shortages in titanium feedstock as being massive drivers.
Chiefly, the AMEC International (Chile) S.A. review of extant engineering data and studies on Cerro Blanco originally prepared by Cade Idepe will serve as a fundamental component of the Final Feasibility Study and EIS (Environmental Impact Statement). AMEC will rigorously perform a full review of the logistics including process plant design, recovery, waste/tailings disposal, and economic assessment. Projections place this copious review’s completion around the middle of this year and a Q2 submission to the Chilean mining authorities is already scheduled.
Working hand-in-hand with environmental consultant Arcadis Geotecnica, the WMTM environmental team will integrate AMEC’s analysis of the process design and waste/tailings logistical architecture into the EIS. The EIS will also incorporate baseline monitoring studies of onsite flora/fauna, in addition to potential impact on local communities, actions reinforced substantially by outreach discussions over the preceding three weeks with key community leaders of the potentially impacted areas.
Entry into a non-binding power-supply, transmission line, and sea water (for proposed onsite desalination plant) agreement with Empresa Electrica Guacolda S.A. will only become binding after the company has permits in hand to commence construction at Cerro Blanco. Port storage, loading facility requirements for rutile concentrate, and other considerations have also been discussed with Guacolda, in anticipation of considerable throughput once operations commence.
Finally, ongoing R&D on the key Chinuka Titanium Metals Technology process by personnel in the UK at the University of Cambridge has produced some interesting results that were disclosed at a recent meeting with the researchers. The next phase of research will include optimizing the increased reactor vessel size used in producing sponge titanium from Cerro Blanco rutile concentrate.
Brian Flower commended project and consulting personnel involved in advancing Cerro Blanco so capably, pointing to the important work done by UK metallurgists on the Chinuka Process as a major accelerant for external market dynamics.
Titanium has been growing steadily as a demand material, with aerospace being a major driver of overall consumption and the use in paints/pigments being another strong growth vector. With major players like DuPont recently announcing a significant price hike for all its Ti-Pure® titanium dioxide grades, the market is sending clear signals about the future of titanium. Chile has some great titanium sites and Cerro Blanco is one of them.
The Cerro Blanco also has high potential for secondary production of an important feldspar product that would see solid penetration in glass/ceramics markets and WMTM is working to fully investigate this potential as well.
For more information the agreements, or to stay connected with White Mountain Titanium Corp. as events unfold, please visit the company’s website at www.WMTCorp.com
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