VELTA LLC is looking to take advantage of surging prices for titanium minerals after starting up its Birzulivske ilmenite mine and processing plant in Ukraine in December 2011.
The Dnepropetrovsk-based company is set for a pivotal year in 2012, with a plant expansion, a stock exchange listing and the final decision on a titanium slag project set to take place.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) feedstock prices are expected to keep rising in 2012 and VELTA is set to be the first of a global pipeline of new projects to benefit.
VELTA completed the plant, located near Korobchino in Kirovograd Oblast, after eight months of construction work, investing $80m in the project over 2011.
The beneficiation plant will start up with an initial capacity of 185,000 tpa, but the company plans to expand this to 300,000 tpa by mid-2012.
“Financing for such an increase has already been fully provided and...