ASX- and Aim-listed Sovereign Metals says natural rutile used as a titanium feedstock could significantly reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for the titanium pigment industry.

Titanium feedstock is a  key component of various industrial and consumer products; therefore, using natural rutile as a direct use titanium feedstock could hold the solution for developing low-carbon-footprint products.

For example, Sovereign says, paint produced from the natural rutile the company produces could have up to 35% lower carbon footprints than that produced from ilmenite-upgraded alternatives.

The company came to this conclusion following the completion of an expanded life-cycle assessment study on its Kasiya rutile project, in Malawi.

The company conducted the study to assess the project’s global warming potential and found that each tonne of natural rutile produced at Kasiya is expected to have a Global Warming Potential of only 0.1 t of carbon dioxide equivalent, which equates to a 95% to 97% reduction in total greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions (20 to 33 times less) compared with production of titania slag and synthetic rutile, respectively.

Titania slag and synthetic rutile are alternative titanium feedstocks produced by upgrading ilmenite through energy- and carbon-intensive processes.

“We knew from the previous work done by Minviro that natural rutile has a lower carbon footprint than its upgraded substitutes produced from ilmenite. The expanded study now highlights the significant reduction in GHG emissions the titanium pigment industry could achieve by using natural rutile produced at Kasiya.

“This has direct economic benefits to end-users in jurisdictions such as the European Union (EU), where industry pays for carbon dioxide emissions via the EU's Emissions Trading System and the proposed Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism,” notes Sovereign MD Julian Stephens.

Sovereign environmental, social and governance committee chairperson Nigel Jones comments that, since its discovery, the Kasiya rutile project has been designed to help decarbonise the myriad of uses of titanium pigment in industrial and consumer products.

“This life-cycle assessment is another step towards providing a solution to an industry targeting a material reduction in its global carbon footprint, while wholly encompassing the values of sustainability.”

Meanwhile, drilling is ongoing at the project to upgrade the mineral resource estimate that currently stands at 3.1-million tonnes of rutile in the indicated category and 2.8-million tonnes of rutile in the inferred category.

A scoping study on the project envisions a 12-million-tonne-a-year operation producing 122 000 t/y of rutile and 80 000 t/y of graphite, over a 25-year mine life.