TAO to Explore Commercialization of Low-Carbon, Low-Cost Titanium Metal Powder in the USA
- Research agreement and option for exclusive license signed to develop titanium metal powders using the breakthrough HAMR technology invented by Dr. Z. Zak Fang and his team at the University of Utah with funding from ARPA-E, with Boeing and Arconic (formerly Alcoa, Inc.) as industrial partners.
- ARPA-E is a U.S. Department of Energy agency which funds transformational advanced energy technology projects which have included solid state EV battery company Quantumscape (NYSE: QS).
- The HAMR technology has demonstrated the potential to produce titanium powders with;
- Low-to-zero carbon intensity
- Significantly lower energy consumption
- Significantly lower cost
- Product qualities which exceeds current industry standards
- TAO’s potentially large scale titanium deposit at the Titan Project in Tennessee – coupled with development of low-to-zero carbon, low-cost titanium powders – builds a platform for TAO to become an integrated leader in the titanium supply chain for high growth sectors such as;
- Space exploration
- Aerospace
- Electric vehicles
- Defense
- The Company has established a commitment to low-to-zero carbon titanium metal powder with a strategic goal of true zero carbon titanium metal production by 2030.
- The development of a fully integrated domestic titanium metal supply chain is of critical strategic importance for the U.S. as the country is the largest global consumer of titanium metal for aerospace and defense but is 100% import reliant on high cost and carbon intensive titanium sponge.
- Titanium metal and powders offer an opportunity to capture additional share of the value chain, from rutile (titanium mineral) prices of ~US$1,200/t to titanium sponge (raw titanium metal) of ~US$8,500/ti and ultimately to titanium spherical powders (3D printing / additives) of ~US$300,000/t[i].
- The Company expects interest from customers in the space, aerospace, defense and EV industries, particularly those who have net zero carbon supply chain targets.
- The Company will engage with U.S. Government agencies, targeting financial and commercial benefits to accelerate development, and notes President Biden’s pledge to reduce the U.S.’s reliance on imported critical minerals and technology.
- The Company will establish a scientific and technology advisory board, beginning with founding member Dr. Zak Fang, to draw from academia, industry, and government to advance the development of the breakthrough HAMR technology.
Figure 1: From left to right; Anastasios Arima and Dr. Z Zak Fang, Mr. Arima with lab scale furnace, Dr. Pei Sun, Mr. Arima, Mr. Lamont Leatherman standing atop pilot scale furnace.
Commenting on the agreement, Anastasios Arima, Executive Director of TAO commented:
“This is a pivotal moment for our Company as we begin to address the need for cleaner, lower cost U.S. domestic sources of titanium metal. The breakthrough HAMR technology, coupled with the Company’s titanium deposit in Tennessee, has the potential to make TAO the leader in this field. This technology adds another important dimension to our business in addition to solving the critical import dependence of the U.S. titanium material market. We are pursuing a low-to-zero carbon strategy and we are fully committed to working with our suppliers and partners to achieve true ‘net zero’ by 2030.”
“My team welcomes Dr. Fang as the founding member of the Company’s scientific and technology advisory board and we look forward to working together in developing this technology that is not only critical to America’s current aerospace, defense and transportation / EV sectors but is crucial to helping the U.S. achieve its future ambitions in space development and exploration.”
Commenting on the agreement, Dr. Z. Zak Fang said:
“We are excited to be working with Mr. Arima and Tao Commodities in progressing the HAMR technology that was developed at the University of Utah, with Boeing and Arconic as industrial partners and with funding support from ARPA-E of the U.S. Department of Energy. The HAMR technology has significant potential to lower the emissions and cost of producing titanium metal, an area of metal production technology which has not seen material change in over 50 years.”
This announcement has been authorised for release by the Executive Director.
END
For further information, please contact:
Anastasios (Taso) Arima, Executive Director
+1 347 899 1522
Dominic Allen, Corporate Development
+61 468 544 888
Please see the following link for the complete press release: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-02341038-6A1020211?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4
Tao Commodities Limited (“TAO” or “the Company”) (ASX: TAO) is pleased to announce that the Company, through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hyperion Metals & Technologies LLC, has entered into a master service agreement (“Research Agreement”) with Blacksand Technology, LLC (“Blacksand”) for research and development of titanium powders and titanium alloy powders. The Research Agreement centers around the hydrogen assisted magnesiothermic reduction (“HAMR”) technology invented by Dr. Z. Zak Fang and his team at the University of Utah. Dr. Fang is a Professor at the University of Utah and founder of Blacksand.
Blacksand agrees to provide the Company with research and development services under the Research Agreement to investigate the scale up and commercialization of the HAMR technology to produce titanium metals powders. The Research Agreement also provides the Company with an option to enter into an exclusive license agreement with Blacksand relating to the HAMR technology ("License Agreement").
Blacksand’s HAMR process for the production of titanium metal powders has the potential to be a breakthrough technology for titanium metal and titanium additive manufacturing and brings the potential for low-to-zero carbon, low-cost product to this high growth, high tech and high value market.
U.S. Titanium Metal & Powder Market
Figure 2: Titanium ingot producers and major U.S. aeronautic and space manufacturing facilities
Titanium is desired by industry for its light weight, high strength to weight ratio, stiffness, fatigue strength and fracture toughness, excellent corrosion resistance, and the retention of mechanical properties at elevated temperatures.
Titanium and titanium alloys are used in diverse areas such as high-performance space, aerospace, defense, automotive components, chemical processing equipment and medical implants. However, a barrier for the widespread use of titanium is the cost associated with manufacturing a finished part, with approximately half of the cost historically associated with fabrication[ii]. Additionally, the use of titanium powder to print 3D parts has been a recent technological breakthrough, allowing the production of parts, including automobiles and aerospace frames and engines, with minimal waste and material loss, resulting in significantly less energy consumption and emissions.
The U.S. market is one of the largest and highest value titanium markets globally due to the significant use of titanium in the high-performance space, aerospace and defense sectors. There is no current titanium sponge production capacity in the U.S. – titanium sponge is the first metal product in the process of converting TiO2 minerals to titanium metal. The last U.S. domestic titanium sponge plant closed in 2020 in Henderson, NV and as of 2021 the U.S. will be 100% reliant on titanium sponge imports.
Current global titanium sponge capacity is ~328ktpa, centered in China (162ktpa), Japan (65ktpa), Russia (47ktpa), Kazakhstan (26ktpa) and Ukraine (12ktpa).
There is a strategic opportunity for the Company to develop integrated titanium production capacity in the U.S. to provide for this critical supply chain. Additionally, the Company believes that the efficiencies associated with the manufacturing of titanium parts through 3D printing utilizing titanium powder, combined with the energy and emissions savings associated with the production of titanium powder by utilizing the HAMR process, allow the potential to commercialize a highly sought-after low cost, low-to-zero carbon titanium powder production process.
Figure 3: U.S. Titanium sponge production capacity 2021(Roskill)
Figure 4: U.S. titanium sponge consumption (Roskill)
About Tao Commodities
Tao Commodities Limited (“TAO”) holds a 100% interest in the Titan Project (“the Project”), covering ~3,850 acres of titanium and zircon prospective heavy mineral sands (“HMS”) properties in Tennessee, U.S. The Project is located in an area which saw significant historic exploration from 1960 – 1990 by DuPont, BHP and others, and included over 200 drill holes and a bulk sample mining operation.
The Project is strategically located in the southeast of the U.S., close to significant manufacturing capacity, providing a significant logistical advantage over current U.S. suppliers of imported titanium feedstock. Specifically, the Project is ~15 km from Chemours’ New Johnsonville pigment plant, one of the largest pigment plants globally and within a low-cost barge, truck or rail-served distance to all other major U.S. titanium pigment and metal plants.
The U.S. is the second-largest global importer of titanium feedstocks where it is primarily used to produce TiO2 pigment for the coatings and plastics sector and Ti metal for the defense, aerospace, space and medical sector. Over the last decade the U.S. has seen a significant decrease in production of both titanium feedstocks and zircon with the closure of Iluka’s operations in Virginia in 2016. As a result, import reliance has risen to 95% in 2019, with import values of ~A$1,200 million.
The Company also holds a 100% interest in the Milford Project in Utah, United States, which is considered prospective for base and precious metals.
Forward Looking Statements
Information included in this release constitutes forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward looking statements can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as “may”, “will”, “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “continue”, and “guidance”, or other similar words and may include, without limitation, statements regarding plans, strategies and objectives of management, anticipated production or construction commencement dates and expected costs or production outputs.
Forward looking statements inherently involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, performance, and achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance, or achievements. Relevant factors may include, but are not limited to, changes in commodity prices, foreign exchange fluctuations and general economic conditions, increased costs and demand for production inputs, the speculative nature of exploration and project development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits and diminishing quantities or grades of reserves, political and social risks, changes to the regulatory framework within which the company operates or may in the future operate, environmental conditions including extreme weather conditions, recruitment and retention of personnel, industrial relations issues and litigation.
Forward looking statements are based on the Company and its management’s good faith assumptions relating to the financial, market, regulatory and other relevant environments that will exist and affect the Company’s business and operations in the future. The Company does not give any assurance that the assumptions on which forward looking statements are based will prove to be correct, or that the Company’s business or operations will not be affected in any material manner by these or other factors not foreseen or foreseeable by the Company or management or beyond the Company’s control.
Although the Company attempts and has attempted to identify factors that would cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those disclosed in forward looking statements, there may be other factors that could cause actual results, performance, achievements, or events not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended, and many events are beyond the reasonable control of the Company. Accordingly, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements. Forward looking statements in these materials speak only at the date of issue. Subject to any continuing obligations under applicable law or any relevant stock exchange listing rules, in providing this information the company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward-looking statements or to advise of any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
Competent Persons Statement
The information in this announcement that relates to Exploration Results is extracted from the Company’s ASX Announcements dated 7 January 2021 and 3 November 2020 (“Original ASX Announcements”) which are available to view at the Company’s website at www.taocommodities.com.au.
The Company confirms that a) it is not aware of any new information or data that materially affects the information included in the Original ASX Announcements; b) all material assumptions included in the Original ASX Announcements continue to apply and have not materially changed; and c) the form and context in which the relevant Competent Persons’ findings are presented in this report have not been materially changed from the Original ASX Announcements.
Please see the following link for the complete press release: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-02341038-6A1020211?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4
[i] Roskill - Titanium Metal Outlook to 2030
[ii] I Mellor and G Doughty, Novel and Emerging Routes for Titanium Powder Production – An Overview, Key Engineering Materials, Vol. 704, pp 271-281
