Empire Metals (LSE:EEE) has delivered an uncoated rutile pigment from mineral concentrates produced from the in-situ, ‘high-grade’ weathered ore that extends across the Pitfield Titanium Project in Western Australia.
The company’s titanium dioxide (TiO2) product development work investigated various options for the product precipitation and pigment finishing steps.
Rutile pigment was produced from the project’s anatase-rich in-situ weathered ores. This indicates that the crystal form of the final pigment product is determined by processing conditions rather than by the titanium minerals present in the ore.
The chemical analysis of the sample indicated a purity of only 97.6% TiO2 due to the presence of 0.65% sulphur.
Managing Director Shaun Bunn says this milestone clearly sets Pitfield apart from the rest of the titanium industry.
“Taking advantage of the low levels of impurities naturally found within the Pitfield ores — in particular, the absence of any radionuclides and low levels of other heavy metals — enables and streamlines the refining and subsequent finishing stages to achieve high-purity pigments,” Bunn notes.
“This is also notably less complicated than many of our peers. […] The company is now well placed to advance its product development work. This program will look to produce coated rutile pigment suitable for the rapidly growing architectural coatings market, which is also the largest addressable market segment for TiO2.”
Empire builds on information
Additional work is currently underway, building on the information gained from earlier testwork. Empire says the work will optimise the impurity rejection in the final stages of the titanium hydrolysis and calcination process.
This optimisation work will focus on establishing the conditions required to achieve rutile pigment while reducing colour-forming deleterious elements to the required minimum levels. Those levels are set by specifications for architectural paints.
Empire notes that a key processing advantage for Pitfield is the low amounts of deleterious elements in the orebody. This means that the leach liquid feeding the refining stage is naturally low in these components, particularly when compared to that seen in the sulphate ilmenite industry.
The company is also engaging in discussions with technical advisers that specialise in the field of titanium dioxide surface treatment to procure product development services, initial plant design, and capital cost estimates for coating its raw pigment materials.
Titanium sponge metal development pathway
Empire is continuing to develop a route to titanium metal production. That work is proceeding through two pathways: research into molten salt electrolysis at Murdoch University’s Extractive Metallurgy Hub in Western Australia, and alternative titanium products.
The next phase of the molten salt electrolysis project is underway, with construction of a high-temperature test rig now complete. The rig is being wet commissioned ahead of testing purchased titanium oxide feedstock as proof of concept. This is being conducted ahead of producing raw pigments from Pitfield ores.
Completion of these phases remains on track for early 2027. The company aims at proving the suitability of Pitfield titanium oxide feedstocks for titanium metal production and developing a strategy for scale-up to larger, continuous pilot operations.
Pitfield’s MRE contains 8.16 billion tonnes @ 4.3% TiO2 for 349 million tonnes of contained TiO2, across the Thomas and Cosgrove deposits.
Empire Metals is developing the Pitfield Project, a unique, district-scale ‘high-grade’ titanium deposit.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Main image: Empire Metals
