Titan is favoring this zone due to recrystallized nature of the hard rock making it easy to produce salable concentrates of apatite/phosphate, ilmenite/titanium and magnetite/iron with minimal capital needed. Hard Rock concentrate from the Titan Uffen Zone presents a recrystallized structure with resource potential of over 400Mt (pink section in figure) while remaining open at depth and along strike. This tonnage is very conservative as the cut off was 200 meters and none of the other resources were considered such as massive iron/titanium, surface minerals like yellow sections among others. Once the other items are considered the formation is massive and conservatively over a billion tons.
The recrystallized formation allows for recovery of 3 completely different products of premium high purity as follows: High Purity apatite to support the phosphate needs of North America without radioactive contamination encountered in sedimentary deposits. TDC’s phosphate concentrate is ideal for fertilizer, high purity phosphoric acid and other value-added products. 4.22% P2O5 or 11.12% apatite. Rare earths elements concentrate in the apatite allowing for additional production streams. High Purity ilmenite low in alkaline metals making it compatible for the chloride process (the modern titanium processing technique favoured in the West). 6.46% TiO2 or 13.45% ilmenite concentrating to 48% TiO2. Ideal for North America needs as well as Western Europe. High Purity Iron concentrate compatible for the steel industry with negligible TiO2 and high in Vanadium and Scandium.
Each of the initial concentrate products TDC intends to sell is of a grade and quality that makes it ideal as feedstock for established demand in the North America and Europe. In each case, the concentrate compares favourably to competitors because it is higher grade and/or does not contain contaminants, notably heavy metals and radioactive elements. TDC’s concentrates are ideal to produce emerging high-value products such as high-purity phosphoric acid for the fledgling battery market, 3D printing titanium metal, and virgin iron units. Leveraging the unique characteristic of the Uffen Zone, Titan Discovery aims to become the low-cost supplier in the established sectors making it ideally suited to compete in emerging high-value products which may represent more market share in the future.