US Chemours starts up TiO2 mineral-sands mine

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Chemours started up a mineral-sands mine that will provide it with feedstock needed to make titanium dioxide (TiO2), the US-based pigment and fluoromaterials producer said on Monday.

The mine – called Trail Ridge South – is in Florida and represents a $93m investment, the company said. It will provide Chemours with ilmenite, the ore used in its chloride-based TiO2 production process. The mining life of the site should be eight years.

It will use mining technology that Chemours had deployed at its site in Jesup, Georgia.

The project will replace the output of mines that are approaching the end of their life in Florida.

In all, Chemours’ mining operations provide it with about 10% of the feedstock it uses to make TiO2.

TiO2 production has been constrained by limited supplies of ores that are used to make the white pigment.

Chemours expects ore constraints to ease by the fourth quarter.

Byproducts of titanium mining include zirconium and monazite, which contains rare-earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium and neodymium.

Neodymium is used to make high-performance magnets used in wind turbines and in the motors of electric and hybrid vehicles, according to the American Chemical Society.

Lanthanum and cerium are used to make catalysts for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units in refineries.

Thumbnail shows white paint, which is made with TiO2. Image by Shutterstock.