Month: January 2023
USA to crush Asian resource supremacy for all time
Why Titanium?
Titanium is a rare and valuable mineral that has many potential uses cases in the future. In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of the reasons why titanium is becoming increasingly popular among investors and what benefits it may offer. Scientists have explored its potential applications in the medical field, technology, and more.
Unfortunately extracting and processing Titanium has been very expensive so far.
Why rare earths?
The discovery of rare earth elements has led to several technological advancements in recent years, from prosthetic limbs to cancer therapies. But these minerals are not unlimited, and their production is therefore critical for the future.
Just like Titanium its resources are limited and could become important regarding future technologies. One company that can help to cover both demands and has a low-cost solution to traditional mining is IperionX out of North Carolina, USA .
What is IperionX doing?
Iperion owns two businesses: One that currently produces titanium metal powders using its pilot plant patented technologies, which reduces both cost and carbon emissions of titanium production.
The second is their critical minerals business at the Titan Project where they produce rare earths, titanium, and other critical materials needed for a low-carbon future.
How does the process work?
Kroll process
Source: ASX release January,15th
One challenge in the production of titanium metal is controlling the impurities in the oxide. The Kroll process is widely used commercially and converts titanium oxide (TiO2) into titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4). The intermediate is easily purified. It is reduced to titanium metal using magnesium. This technology is capital, energy, and carbon intensive. The Kroll process, like several others, uses titanium ores (e.g., ilmenite) as a starting material rather than purified oxide.
HAMR process
Source: ASX release January,15th 2021
The Hydrogen Assisted Magnesiothermic Reduction (“HAMR”) process is a thermochemical process to obtain titanium metal from titanium oxides.
Using hydrogen gas, the HAMR process begins with titanium oxide. The product TiH2 can be further processed to titanium metal through standard methods. The reduction of titanium oxides to titanium metal using magnesium does not occur.
The Hydrogen Assisted Magnesiothermic Reduction (“HAMR”) process is a thermochemical process to obtain titanium metal from titanium oxides.
Using hydrogen gas, the HAMR process begins with titanium oxide. The product TiH2 can be further processed to titanium metal through standard methods. The reduction of titanium oxides to titanium metal using magnesium does not occur.
Geology
Source: Iperion scooping study
The Titan Project is in western Tennessee, which represents the eastern flank of the Mississippi Embayment, a large syncline within the Gulf Coastal Plain. The embayment extends from southern Illinois to the north and Mississippi and Alabama to the south. The embayment is filled with sedimentary rocks of the Cretaceous to Quaternary age.
The McNairy Sand Formation represents a regressive marine environment, where sediments are deposited by rivers draining into the sea. Evidence for this is seen in the coarsening upward sequence grading from the glauconitic clay-rich Coon Creek Formation to the fine lower member of the McNairy Formation to the coarser upper member of the McNairy Formation.
The main mineralized zone at the Project is hosted stratigraphically in the lower member of the McNairy Formation. The upper zone is also mineralized in some areas. The McNairy Formation dips gently into the west in the Project area. Mineralization averages 31 meters thick and has been traced, to date, for 6.2 kilometers along the strike.
Imperions past
2017
- Anastasios (Taso) Arima and Scott Sparks found TAO Commodities
2018
- Gets listed on ASX raising $4,750,000
2019
- 2020
- Phase 1 drilling completed at Titan Project
- US Titanium & Zircon Heavy Mineral Sand Project Acquisition
2021
- Name change to Hyperion metals
2022
- Name change to ImperionX
- Completing scoping study on the Titan project
- Scaling up Titanium metal powder production in Salt Lake City, Utah
- Listing on NASDAQ
2023
- Progress scoping study into prefeasibility and feasibility stages
- Expand relationship with Panerai and other companies to increase deliveries
What should investors be aware of?
– Early stage with no major productions
– Still takes time until mass production
– China battery dependency for production
+ Management (Former founder of Piedmont Lithium Taso Arima and Ex JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley employee Toby Symonds)
+ Sustainability with environmentally friendly and low-energy mineral productions
+ No more dependency on Rare Earths and Titanium from China and Russia
+ Partnership agreement with Richmond subsidiary Panerai to produce sustainable luxury goods
+ Expected revenue from rare earths and Titanium after the demonstration facility will be successful
+ Largest titanium, zircon, and rare earths minerals project in the USA with 25 years of mine life
+ Mining costs of $6,91US$/t Run of Mine Unit operating costs (incl. royalties & transport)
+ Economic measures
Future vision
In the future, Iperion will increase production if operations are successful. The goal will also be to look for more partnerships in the electric vehicle, renewable power, consumer electronics, 3D Printing, Robotics, Space exploration, Aerospace, and Defence sector.
This shows the demand for the critical minerals Iperion will be producing and can lead to Iperion being an attractive non-asian long-term partner for a variety of companies. However, production will be determined by metal prices, meaning the more the market price rises the more production will be done. In context, this can enable even more partnerships when producing more.
Conclusion
All in all, the new HAMR process can make Titanium extraction cheaper and environmentally friendlier which can make it more available to the whole market and can help to boost new technologies like 3D printing.
On the other side, it can help politically to fight 100% import dependence from countries like Russia and China which are the main extractors of Titanium. Especially the US military will be interested since the metal has a higher strength to weight than aluminium and steel, it’s 45% lighter than steel, and has superior corrosion resistance/longevity.
For investors, cheap extractions can lead to profitable operations which will then boost production which then increases profits even more, and as a result, the stock price rises. Being the largest titanium, zircon, and rare earths minerals project in the USA can help the company to be established at the top long term, and with the connections of former Piedmont Lithium founder there can be a fair chance to succeed.
More articles
Besides Titanium there are many other interesting commodities, click here for more and for stock market analysis for all kinds of projects here.
Important
Please note that this is not financial advice in any form and investments should only be done after research was made. Also, be aware that I did invest in IperionX. However, my opinion might be biased. This article only shows my opinion and can only be viewed as a presentation, not an inducement for investing. No liability is assumed for incorrect balance sheet figures and information leading to an investment! Please double-check all information before making investments!
