JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Australia-based Mineral Deposits Limited (MDL) said on Tuesday that the TiZir titanium and iron ilmenite upgrading facility (TTI) in Norway would be off line for between four and five weeks, after an overnight operational incident.
The incident caused damage to the surrounds of the furnace, but no injuries to TTI personnel were reported.
MDL stated that, preliminarily, $5-million had been estimated as the cost to repair the facility, in which it owns 50%. TTI has insurance cover and MDL intends to make a claim.
“The company’s current view is that there is no connection between the incident and the recent project to expand furnace capacity at TTI, nor the transition from sulphate to chloride slag production,” MDL reported.
MDL owns the TTI in a joint venture with Eramet.