In the inspection phase of titan mineral sand deep processing projected area, chairman of Binh Dinh Province People’s Committee Vu Hoang Ha steered to license about 4-5 companies having potential to invest in titan deep processing. It also means that companies which do not process deeply cannot be licensed. This is necessary to preserve the resources, restoring the order in valuable mineral exploiting activities.
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Many people drill well to take underground water for the titan exploiting activity (Photo: Tien Sy)
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* Reality
According to Prof.Dr. Do Dinh Toat’s research materials on the potential of titan mineral sand in 1996-1998, Binh Dinh’s titan mineral sand is very profuse, distributed along the provincial coast and the sand dunes. The areas having the industrial standard include Lo Dieu (Hoai Nhon), Tan Thanh, Hung Lac (Phu My), De Gi, Trung Luong (Phu Cat), and Nhon Ly (Quy Nhon), etc with the reserves of nearly 2.5 million tons.
Currently, there are many titan processing companies in the province, consisting of 5 in Phu My, 2 in Phu Cat, 16 in Nhon Ly, etc. According to the statistic yearbook, the output from 1992 to 2006 was nearly 754,000 tons. The 2000-2001s’ output was about 40,000 tons which three, four times increases in 2005-2006, and the highest output reached 162,000 tons in 2006.
According to the evaluation of functional bodies, there are still many companies operating perfunctorily by taking only raw titan for the illegal purchase besides companies working legally. In recent years, the cost of titan in the world market has been increasing because some countries like the U.S or China import raw materials instead of domestically exploiting titan. That’s also the reason that many companies want to have the license to exploit titan. Many houses in Phu Cat and Phu My flock to illegally exploit sand having titan with 5,000 VND per kg. The abuse of the license in exploiting titan has damaged the resources and the inshore protective forest, badly affecting the eco-environment; meanwhile, the functional bodies and local authorities haven’t regulated the infringement of companies and individuals.
* Restore the order
To restore the order in exploiting titan, Binh Dinh Province People’s Committee requested the Environment and Natural Resources Department to co-ordinate with the local authorities to promote the management in this field. Accordingly, companies which expired the land-renting period or exploited the outside of the rented area will be suspended, those which have expired licenses or illegally exploited titan will have to be strictly treated, and only those which process deeply will have new licenses.
There are 4 titan processing companies meeting the export standard in Binh Dinh. They are Binh Dinh mineral joint-stock company, BIMAL company, Ban Mai mineral company, Ltd., Tu Luc mineral joint-stock company. Many companies in Phu My, Phu Cat, and Nhon Ly haven’t processed deeply.
The deep process of titan means that 4 basic components in the heavy mineral must be seperated in the process of pure titan mineral sand, including ilmenit, zircon, monazit and rutin, and the oxide content must be increased to the minimum allowed level (such as ilmenit – 52% TiO2, zircon – 65%, and rutin – 83% TiO2, etc.) or changed into bicmen powder to serve processing industries in pastels, kinds of high-grade paint, enamelled tiles, and the powder used for soldering sticks, etc. Thanks to this, the value of products also increases. |
In 2006 the Ban Mai company is the first nationwide one which has installed the ilmenit-reverting-line at the mine in My Thanh (Phu My) with the capacity of 350 tons per day. The product of ilmenit has TiO2 content of 56%-58%, providing raw material for the foreign and domestic markets (used as powder in soldering sticks).
According to Mrs. Phan Thi Kim Thoa, director of Ban Mai company, each ton of the reverted product has 300,000 VND increase, compared to rough products.
Recently, Binh Dinh mineral joint-stock company invested 4 billion to install zircon-pulverization-line with the capacity of about 3,000 tons per year at Cat Thanh (Phu Cat). It has been operated in April, making the pulverized zircon worth 20% in the comparison with unpulverized products.
To restore the order in titan exploiting activitites, it is probably that only 4 or 5 titan deep processing companies will be licensed to exploit. Moreover, the exploitation of titan mines will be bid in the coming time, and titan mines will only be allocated to deep processing companies.
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Written by Hoang Lan
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Translated by Hong Quang | 
