3.5.2.1 Production     

With the development of the national economy, the improvement of living standard of the people and the augment of imports and exports, the demands for titanium raw materials and related products (e.g. un-forged and forged titanium, titanium oxides, titanium sponge and titanium white) will be increasing continuously. Rich titanium resources serve as a good material condition for developing the titanium industry. Up to 1997, 49 ore districts had been exploited and utilized with a total ore-producing capacity of 39.05 million t/a; 61 ore districts are expected to be developed and their ore-producing capacity will be 54.8 million t/a. Among the above ore districts, there are 10 primary ilmenite (titanomagnetite) mines with retained reserves (TiO2) of 53.776 million tons and ore-producing capacity of 15.8 million t/a, 31 placer titanomagnetite mines with retained reserves (titanomagnetite) of 16.896 million tons and ore (placer)-producing capacity of 22.85 million m3/a, and 8 rutile mines with retained reserves (rutile) of 5.9101 million tons and ore-producing capacity of 400,000 m3/a.      

In 1997, the output of concentrates (TiO2) was 194,400 tons, decreasing by 24.2% compared to 1996 (256,200 tons, including 47,500 tons from vanadic titanomagnetite), making up 5.31% of the world's total (3.66 million tons). China ranked fifth in the world following Australia, South Africa, Canada and Norway. The output of rutile (TiO2) was 5,980 tons, declining 42.2% from 1996 (10,340 tons), making up 1.51% of the world's total (395,000 tons). China ranked fifth in the world after Australia, South Africa, Ukraine and India. Ninety per cent of the titanium raw materials were used in the production of titanium white and ten per cent for titanium sponge and metallic titanium. In 1997, the output of titanium white was 111,500 tons, down 10.1% compared with 1996(124,000 tons); titanium sponge, 2342 tons, increasing 10.0% from 1996 (2,129 tons), covering 4.04% of the world's total (58,000 tons); titanium metallic products, 1,609 tons, a 2.5% increase over 1996. On the whole, the output value of the Chinese titanium mining industry of 1997 was 1.639 billion yuan, slightly lower than the previous year; the total value of imports and exports of ilmenite concentrates and products was US $ 195.792 million, up 46.01% over 1996 (US $ 62.048 million for exports, a 56.13% increase, and US $ 133.744 million for imports, a 56.13% increase). The unfavorable balance of trade was up to US $ 71.696 million (Table 3.5.2).

Table 3.5.2 Imports and exports of titanium ore and products of China in 1997

3.5.2.2 Distribution of Production     

By the end of 1997, 49 titanium ore districts had been developed, among which the following 10 were key mines: Zhujiabaobao, Lanjiahuashan and Jianbaobao mines (total ore-producing capacity: 13.5 million t/a) and northern Taihe (700,000 t/a) in the Panxi area of Sichuan Province, Damiao (450,000 t/a), Heishan (900,000 t/a) and Maying (250,000 t/a) mines in Hebei Province, and Xindi and Shangzhuang mines in Beijing. The production capacity of the above 10 mines was 15.8 million t/a. If 60% of the present production capacity can be brought into play and 30£¥~40% of ilmenite can be recovered from ores, around 300,000 tons of concentrates can be produced (recovered) annually. There had been 31placer ilmenite mines, including Nanshanhai (annual mining-dressing capacity: 1.25 million m3/a) and Jiazi (360,000 m3/a) in Guangdong, Dongsheng mine (800,000 m3/a) in Tengxian of Guangxi, and Nan'gang (800,000 m3/a), Baoding (850,000 m3/a), Puqian (10 million m3/a) and Xincungang (4 million m3/a) in Hainan. In addition, over 300 village and township placer ilmenite mines were in operation. The total production capacity was 18.06 million m3/a. If 10 kg of concentrates can be obtained from 1 m3 of placer on average, the annual output of concentrates is about 180,600 tons. There had been 8 rutile mines, including the Dafushan primary rutile mine (production capacity: 100,000 t/a) in Zaoyang, Hubei Province, and Nanshu and Lijiazhuang rutile placer mines (300,000 m3/a). The total production capacity of placer sands and primary ores were over 400,000 m3/a and 200,000t/a respectively and 30,000 tons of rutile concentrates were produced every year.     

With increasing demand for titanium resources in economic development, further construction of mines can be carried out step by step among the 61 ore districts with development potentials.