In the early 2000s, the plant's specialists developed a technology for processing rutile concentrate, and until this year there was no need to install additional equipment (loading hopper, dosing device).
Today, in order to meet the needs of the Russian industry, it is necessary to increase the volume of production of titanium sponge, which is used in aircraft building, rocket building, shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, in the production of space technology, in medicine, etc.
Rutile at OAO SMZ will be included in the process of processing the main rare metal raw material - loparite. This will increase the extraction of titanium tetrachloride, which is a raw material for the production of sponge titanium.
Ruslan Dimukhamedov, General Director of JSC SMZ, noted the importance of processing rutile concentrate: “An additional type of raw material will help us increase the output of sponge titanium, which is necessary for the Russian industry.”
At the moment, the planned rate of rutile processing is 1000 tons per day. OAO SMZ produces 5% of the Russian volume of titanium sponge.
For your information:
In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 38 dated January 26, 2023, the shares of OJSC Solikamsk Magnesium Plant were transferred to the State Corporation Rosatom as a property contribution of the Russian Federation.
Rosatom takes an active part in the work to ensure the country's raw materials sovereignty, in particular, in the field of rare earth metals. Since 2021, the Mining Division of Rosatom has been the parent organization of the Rare and Rare Earth Metals direction of the Roadmap for the development of the high-tech field “Technologies of New Materials and Substances” in the Russian Federation. The enterprises of the Mining Division ensure the extraction of scandium, titanium and zirconium, and are preparing to develop a lithium deposit.
The introduction of innovations and new high-tech equipment at SMZ OJSC will allow Rosatom to occupy new niches in the market of rare earth materials, increasing the competitiveness of the nuclear industry and the entire Russian industry as a whole.
The domestic mineral resource base enables various industries to produce a wide variety of products. Russia is able to provide itself with all kinds of minerals. An increase in the depth of processing of raw materials, a cluster approach to the development of individual deposits, the creation of a new model for managing the industry based on digitized data should ensure the country's raw material sovereignty. Rosatom takes an active part in this work.