Tasnee expects to restart ilmenite smelter in Q3 2021, 62% work complete

National Industrialization Co. (Tasnee) delayed the restart of operations of its Titanium Ilmenite Smelter Plant to Q3 2021, citing precautionary lockdown measures due to COVID-19, the firm said in a statement to Tadawul on Nov. 22.

Tasnee also noted technical design modifications that are delayed, along with supplies from various manufacturers.

Currently, the completion ratio of the project stands at 62%.

Tasnee said after the decommissioning of the furnace and identifying the reasons for the furnace shutdown, in collaboration with global experts, a repair plan was devised.

Following this, the Saudi-based company agreed with Outotec, the EPC contractor with the support of Tronox under the technical services agreement, to repair the project.

The statement added that Outotec will bear the costs of the redesign modifications.

The financial impact of this project on Tasnee’s consolidated results cannot be determined at this stage, the statement said. Any further developments will be announced in due course.

Tasnee owns 50% of the project and the rest is owned by Cristal (which is 79% owned by TASNEE).

In October 2018, Tasnee announced turning off the furnace on the back of a technical glitch, with expectations to be operated in H2 2019, Argaam earlier reported.

In December 2019, Tasnee announced that its ilmenite smelter project is expected to resume operations in the second half of 2020.

The project, located in Jazan Economic City, aims at producing (Titanium Slag) with an initial capacity of 500,000 tons a year, and could reach 1 million tons, in addition to its production of pig iron as a by-product sold to iron producers.

It is worth mentioning that Tasnee owns only 50% of the project, while the remaining stake is owned by Cristal, which is 79% owned by Tasnee.