Norway: TiZir Titanium & Iron (TTI) has commenced shipments of chloride titanium slag. It is produced using ilmenite from the Grande Côte mineral sands operation in Senegal GCO. Both operations are owned by the TiZir joint venture which is in tern owned by Mineral Deposits Limited in Australia and ERAMET in France.

The ramp up of TTI operations follows completion of the furnace reline and capacity expansion project in December 2015. It is anticipated that the upgraded furnace and water-cooled copper-ceramic roof will increase smelting capacity by approximately 15% and improve maintenance performance by lengthening periods between scheduled shutdowns.

The sale of chloride titanium slag and high-purity pig iron from TTI represents the final step in the vertical integration strategy of the TiZir joint venture. The TTI ilmenite upgrading facility has been producing titanium slag and high purity pig iron since 1986. Its current production capacity is 230,000t/yr of titanium slag and 100,000t/yr of high purity pig iron.

Belgium: Harsco has extended its contract for steel mill services for Aperam at Châtelet for five years. The contract with the specialty steel producer, with manufacturing operations in Europe and Brazil, is valued at over US$100m for the current balance and the extension.

Harsco will continue to provide a broad array of core services in support of the mill’s electric arc furnace stainless steel production, ranging from onsite scrap yard management and slag transport to the handling and grinding of production slabs from the mill’s continuous caster. The extension continues Harsco’s decade-long service at the Châtelet mill.

India: JSW Cement started building a 2.4Mt/yr cement grinding plant in January 2016 at Salboni in West Bengal. The US$119m plant will produce both Portland slag cement and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). It is planned to be finished in the first quarter of 2017. Environmental clearance for the project was granted in mid-January 2016.

Raw materials for the grinding plant include 0.74 – 095Mt/yr of slag and 1.50 – 1.76Mt/yr of clinker. The slag will be sourced from Tata Steel and the Steel Authority of India. Originally the site was intended for a 10Mt/yr steel plant, according to local media.

US: Harsco Corporation has reported that revenue from its Metals & Minerals division dropped by 19% year-on-year to US$1.11bn in 2015 from US$1.78bn in 2014. Overall company sales revenue across all businesses fell by 17% to US$1.72bn from US$2.07bn. The fall in sales was attributed to a decline primarily in the Metals & Minerals and Industrial divisions due to falling steels and related commodities demand, site exits and currency effects.

The company expects that the market will further deteriorate for its Metals & Minerals division in 2016 due to lower steel production, site exits and weaker commodities demand. To fight this trend the company is continuing to implement ‘Project Orion,’ it’s Metals & Minerals improvement plan.