Iran mulls investment in giant titanium reserves

[The Last of us]

Iran requires an investment of over $4.2 billion during the next five years to make a massive titanium mine in the southeast of the country fully operational, an official said.
Head of Makran Steel Company's Board of Directors Jamshid Jahanbakhsh Tehrani further said that the deposits in Fanuj can yield 30 million tons of titanium ore per annum over a period of 400-500 years, according to Press TV.

Fanuj, in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, is estimated to hold 3.6 billion tons of titanium reserves. Fanuj includes a cluster of 30 deposits, each capable of yielding one million tons of titanium ore per year.

Titanium is the strategic metal of the century, named after the powerful Titan gods in Greek mythology. In view of its strength, lightweight and corrosion resistance, the metal is highly prized in aircraft manufacturing, with further applications in military, aerospace, marine industries, dental implants and industrial processes.

Tehrani said more than 80 mines containing titanium, iron ore and copper have been explored in Fanuj over the past five years.

The titanium yield from the region will be ferried by 2,400 trucks to Chabahar Port on the Sea of Oman for processing before being shipped to Asia and Europe for reduction to titanium ingot, he said.

The deposits can create over 4,000 jobs on site and a further 9,000 at processing facilities in Chabahar, Tehrani added.

Iran's other major titanium reserves are located in Kahnuj in Kerman Province, estimated to contain 400 million tons, and the high-concentration Qara Aghaj hard rock near Orumieh, West Azarbaijan Province with 200 million tons of deposits.

Iran plans mining investments to the tune of $29 billion, including $15 billion in foreign direct investments. The projects range from steel to aluminum and copper and mining gold, rare earth elements and coal.

Leading Japanese steelmakers have indicated interest in titanium production in Iran. Executives of Kobe Steel Ltd. and the state-run Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) met officials in Tehran in August to discuss plans for cooperation.

Last week, Deputy Industries, Mines and Trade Minister Mojtaba Khosrowtaj said copper, iron ore and heavy rare earth elements could be worth 'much more' than Iran's crude oil revenues.

Iran possesses seven percent of the world's total mineral reserves worth about $700 billion but this figure could rise to $1.4 trillion with new discoveries, officials say.

The mining sector, however, is underdeveloped, accounting for less than one percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Iran mulls investment in giant titanium reserves

 

[The Last of us]

Very impressive Titanium reserves in this area. This metal has tremendous uses in both military and civilian sector. Lets use it wisely!

 

[haman10]

I really know crap about these stuff but i think this is a very very important step in aerospace industry of Iran .

maybe Iranian members with a background in engineering can explain more .

 

[yavar]

I really know crap about these stuff but i think this is a very very important step in aerospace industry of Iran .

maybe Iranian members with a background in engineering can explain more .

all i can add brother is very important in nuclear program never mind others . "zirconium"

Zirconium
Production
Zirconium is a by-product of the mining and processing of the titanium minerals



Nuclear applications
Cladding for nuclear reactor fuels consumes about 1% of the zirconium supply.[18] For this purpose, it is mainly used in the form of zircaloys. The benefits of Zr alloys is their low neutron-capture cross-section and good resistance to corrosion under normal service conditions.[7][8] The development of efficient methods for the separation of zirconium from hafnium was required for this application.

One disadvantage of zirconium alloys is their reactivity toward water at high temperatures leading to the formation of hydrogen gas and to the accelerated degradation of the fuel rod cladding:

Zr + 2 H2O → ZrO2 + 2 H2
This exothermic reaction is very slow below 100 °C, but at temperature above 900 °C the reaction is rapid. Most metals undergo similar reactions. The redox reaction is relevant to the instability of fuel assemblies at high temperatures.[32] This reaction was responsible for a small hydrogen explosion first observed inside the reactor building of Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979, but then, the containment building was not damaged. The same reaction occurred in the reactors 1, 2 and 3 of the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant (Japan) after the reactors cooling was interrupted by the earthquake and tsunami disaster of March 11, 2011 leading to the Fukushima I nuclear accidents. After venting of hydrogen in the maintenance hall of these three reactors, the explosive mixture of hydrogen with air oxygen detonated, severely damaging the installations and at least one of the containment buildings. To avoid explosion, the direct venting of hydrogen to the open atmosphere would have been a preferred design option. Now, to prevent the risk of explosion in many pressurized water reactor (PWR) containment buildings, a catalyst-based recombinator is installed to rapidly convert hydrogen and oxygen into water at room temperature before the explosivity limit is reached.

++++++
there is much much more nuclear application to it which i can not talk about in forum

Zirconium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zircon
Zircon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia