Ukraine-based Velta plans to start commercial production and distribution of finished titanium medical implants by the end of 2023.

The manufacturing of the medical implants will be integrated with the company’s existing titanium operations, including ilmenite from its heavy mineral sands mine refined into titanium powder at its plant in the Kirovograd region of Ukraine.

In July 2023, Velta announced a proprietary closed-cycle process to produce titanium aluminide (TiAl), which skips the intermediate sponge phase of titanium produced by the Kroll process. There are several companies globally looking to innovate titanium refining from relatively abundant ilmenite resources to move away from the high carbon intensity of its processing that would also reduce costs and allow titanium to capture market share in speciality alloy applications.

Velta’s first target market is medical implants, which will be produced by additive manufacturing (3D printing). The use of titanium alloys is often in intricately shaped parts and the off-cutting ratio between refined metal (known as melt) and finished shapes (known as mill) can be as high as 20 to 1. Additive manufacturing has the added potential to significantly reduce the primary requirement of titanium, which directly equates to cost and will further open new market opportunities for the metal to compete in.

With the USA a major consumer of titanium for its aerospace industry and commercial aircraft from Airbus and Boeing the major users of titanium metal, Velta is already targeting an expansion of its technology into the USA, with a 1ktpy powder plant in its design phase.