Titanium miner Velta has been granted €7.3M (US$8.1M) in financial support from Horizon Europe to explore the full titanium production cycle and develop more efficient processes.

Founded in 2006, Velta has developed a large-scale mining operation at its Birzulivske operations, with a capacity of 270ktpy ilmenite concentrates. The company is also developing the Likarivske project, which is at an advanced exploration stage and will add an estimated 120ktpy to the company’s ilmenite concentrate capacity. Velta has recently also announced plans to build a titanium metal plant in the USA, utilising its proprietary production process that bypasses the commonly used Kroll process. The funding is part of the Resilient Value Chain 2024 competition under the REPTiS project, which aims to improve titanium extraction processes and aligns with Velta’s goals to develop an integrated titanium supply chain.

Globally, titanium sponge feedstocks are produced in a few countries, with China, Japan, and Russia representing the largest producers. Historically, Russia has been a large-scale producer of aerospace-grade titanium sponge, however, with the initiation of the Russia-Ukraine war, countries like Canada and the USA implemented sanctions on Russian producers. Despite political pressures to find alternative sources, Europe still relies on importing aerospace-grade titanium from Russia due to stringent certification processes for new aerospace-grade titanium. Aerospace titanium demand is set to increase by a CAGR of 6.5% over the next decade driven by rapid growth in the air travel industry.  This investment will allow Europe to develop its domestic titanium supply chain to meet demand, as it seeks to become less reliant on the international market.