To call Titanium Resources Group’s (TRG) plans for rutile pricing bullish would be somewhat of an understatement.
Over the last 18 months serious concern has gripped those that mine titanium minerals such as rutile and ilmenite and those that consume them, the titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment producers.
The miners believe that profitability is being eaten away by pigment manufacturers in that feedstock prices are too low. This is far from a new scenario but one that has still not properly been addressed according to the bulk of the industry.
TRG, the owner of Sierra Rutile Ltd in Sierra Leone, is pushing for rutile suppliers to have more of a say in pricing. TRGOn the pigment side, a realisation is now beginning to sink in that come 2013, there will probably not be enough feedstock minerals to go round. Supply is dwindling in relation to demand, new projects are...