Tasnee set to launch commercial operations of ilmenite plant in H2

The National Industrialization Co. (Tasnee) said it is expecting to start commercial operations at its ilmenite processing plant in Jizan Industrial City during the second half of the year, as the company was testing machinery in preparation for trial operations, it said in a statement to Tadawul, Saudi's bourse.

Financial impact of the project is hard to measure for the time being due to the unpredictable circumstances of the titanium industry, it added.

The plant will have an initial annual capacity of 500,000 tons of titanium slag, which is designed to be expanded to 1 million tons a year. Pig iron output, a byproduct of the process, will be sold to iron producers, according to Argaam. 

Tasnee and Cristal Global, which is 79 percent-owned by Tasnee, owns a 50 percent stake in the project.