IRE to supply raw material to Indo-Russian titanium JV

The Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), a public sector undertaking, has agreed to provide the raw materials to Titanium Products Private Limited (TPPL), an Indo-Russian joint venture company for its proposed Rs 2,000 crore integrated titanium complex being set up near Chatrapur in Orissa's Ganjam district.

"We have agreed to provide the raw materials to TPPL for its proposed plant near Chhatrapur in Orissa", said S Siva Subramanian, chairman and managing director of IREL.

Ilmenite, a rare earth product is mainly required as the raw material for manufacture of titanium dioxide, a white pigment, used in paints, paper, rubber and textile industries. Ilmenite is produced by the Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of IREL, located at Matikhal near Chhatrapur.

The progress on construction work for the proposed titanium complex is in full swing and the present economic meltdown would not impact the proposed titanium plant, said company sources.

"The prevailing economic recession will not impact the progress on the construction of the titanium complex in any way and we expect the first phase of the project to be completed on schedule in October 2010", a senior company official told Business Standard.

TPPL, the joint venture company of Kolkata-based Saraf Agency and the Russian government has proposed to invest around Rs 2,000 crore in two phases. While Rs 1,150 crore will be invested in the first phase, another Rs 850 crore will be invested in the second phase.

The proposed titanium plant will produce 1,08,000 tonnes of titanium slag, 68,000 tonnes of high purity pig iron, 40,000 tonnes of di-oxide pigment and 10,000 tonnes of titanium sponge per annum. "The first phase project work is going on with the construction of boundary walls and the land leveling. About 250 acres of land have already been acquired for the project and the company has also got the environmental clearance ", said SL Modi, general manager of the company.

“For the first phase of the project, the people have spontaneously sold their land for the project without any hurdle and we hope that the land for the second phase will also be acquired in the same manner", Modi claimed. The land acquisition for the second phase of the project has started now. In the second phase, the company needs about 350 acres of land to develop the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The Centre has already approved the proposal for setting up of the SEZ by the company. However, the state government is yet to issue any notifcation for the SEZ.