Work begins on July 24 on the country’s largest titanium processing plant, in the central province of Binh Dinh ’s Phu My district.

Financed by the Sai Gon-Quy Nhon Mining Co, an affiliate of Saigon Invest Group, the 10ha plant is being built at a total cost of 1 trillion VND (56.4 million USD), with the first phase worth 500 billion VND (28.2 million USD).

The plant will have a designed capacity of 24,000 tonnes of titanium cinder in the first phase, with raw materials to be mined in Binh Dinh and several neighbouring provinces, including Quang Ngai, Binh Thuan and Ninh Thuan, as well as bought from other firms.

The plant will be able to produce 12,000 tonnes of high-intensity titanium steel per year in its first phase. In the second phase, begining next year, three more furnaces would be added, raising capacity to 36,000 tonnes of titanium slag and 18,000 tonnes of high-intensity steel per year.

“The company’s purpose is to process titanium into highly valuable commercial products, helping the country limit exports of raw ore,” said Sai Gon-Quy Nhon chairwoman Dang Thi Hoang Phuong.

Vietnam was expected to exploit about 34.5 million tonnes of titanium ore during the 2007-15 period, under the Government’s plan for the development of the titanium industry. Titanium slag is also used in electronics and metallurgy./.