To: kidl who wrote (5059 ) 9/12/2003 5:12:33 AM From: E. Charters Respond to Oh yeah, the Titanium wonder with the twin of the fabulous Rio Tinto, Havre Ste Pierre Hematite-titanium deposit. Well the question is, does anybody want hema-titano-ilmenite or is it rutile that rules? Tinto has to make "Sorel Metal" and roast in PQ to make it pay. They make oxide at a rate of about 700 million US per year or thereabouts. and they sell Iron too, which is very good malleable stuff that makes good machine tool metal. There is enough in the FNC deposit to supply the world, but can they get it going? The stuff has been known about for years, and Rio did not even consider staking it!! Intersections are wide and generous grade, but it should be pointed out, that in a hard rock fe-ti deposit, they need to be. It is fairly expensive to make rutile from ilmenite for white paint (and there is an environmental problem in the process). It's a ten billion dollar industry, but it is fairly profitiable as titanium oxide of pigment grade sells at about 1 dollar per pound in quantity. Do the math on the staggering size of the deposit and you can see that few gold mines could ever generate that much cash flow per ton, or in toto. It is all a money-market-share thing though.
