International Coatings Scene
LATIN AMERICA
BY CHARLES W. THURSTON
LATIN AMERICAN CORRESPONDENT
THURSTONCW@RODPUB.COM
White Mountain invests in Chilean
TiO pilot production facility
2
and design work. The company’s 10Q indicates
that it holds 33 registered mining exploitation
concessions and five mining exploration concessions in the process of being constituted, over
approximately 8,225 hectares located approximately 39 kilometers west of the City of Vallenar.
Canada’s
White
Mountain
looks to Chile
to stimulate
growth in
the down
economy.
Vancouver’s White Mountain Titanium
Co. is banking on a recovery in the world
titanium dioxide market, with expectations that its pilot project in northern Chile—
the country’s first—will blossom into an estimated $280 million production facility, online as
soon as late 2010 to produce 100,000 metric tons
of rutile concentrate per year. The company has
already invested approximately $10 million in
the project, which is located in the Cerro Blanco
reserve, in Chile’s III Region, and expected to
ultimately serve the U.S. market.
With the pilot project results expected by the
end of 2008, the company hopes to complete its
bankable feasibility study by mid-2009, based
on the production of as much as 200,000 metric tons of premium grade rutile TiO concen-
“While the U.S. market for TiO was
2
$2.2 billion in 2007, it was expected to
drop by at least ten percent in 2008.”
2
trate—bearing 94.5%—per year. In the following year, the company hopes to sign production
purchase agreements with customers.
To help pay for the build-out, White Mountain
in October sold $2.1 million worth of shares in a
private placement at $0.75 per share; the company stock has slipped to $0.40 to $0.50 per
share since then.
The ore processing would include a high intensity magnetic separation with process water
sourced from a desalination plant constructed at
the port of Huasco, according to the company’s
third-quarter 2008 10Q filing. Subcontractor
AMEC-Cade assumed that mining would be
done under contract at a cost of $1.20 per metric
ton mined and that the price of high-grade rutile
concentrates would be $500 per metric ton FOB
port, according to the report.
AMEC-Cade is the lead contractor for the
early stage development work. Among other contractors in the Cerro Blanco project are Centro
de Investigacion Minera y Metalurgica
Tecnologia y Servicios (CIMM) and Cytec Chile
Ltda, which are performing process development
Global prices for TiO have been tight, with
2
DuPont raising its price for sales into Latin
America by $150 per ton in late September.
While the U.S. market for TiO was $2.2 billion
2
in 2007, it was expected to drop by at least ten
percent in 2008. But signs that the market has
slowed more substantially may be seen in a
missed $16.6 million payment in December by
Tronox Worldwide on a $350 million debt issue.
In earlier review of Tronox, credit rating agency
Fitch indicated that the TiO market was mov-
2
ing with the general economy, and that projec-
tions for the growth in TiO demand are modest.
2
White Mountain indicates that its current
Chilean reserves will last 20 years. Co-produc-tion of such materials as sodium and potassium
feldspar, which are consumed by the ceramics
and glass industries, is also under study.
Feldspar production has been estimated at as
much as 600,000 metric tons per year. Should
the Cerro Blanco project pan out, White
Mountain is considering three other reserves
areas in the country.
CW
