QIT-Fer et Titane (QIT from its old name "Quebec Iron and Titanium") is a Canadian mining company located in Quebec. The company operates an ilmenite (titanium oxide ore) mine at Lac Allard (aka Lake Tio)[1] in northern Quebec, and in the southern Quebec municipality of Sorel-Tracy[2] operates refining facilities that produce titanium dioxide, pig iron, steel, and other metal products.
History
In 1856 prospectors found some potential in the region of Lac Allard. In 1941, the government of Quebec discovered additional resources in the area, and in 1946 after two years of exploration Kennco Explorations, the Canadian subsidiary of Kennecott, found an ore body. In 1950 the mine at Lac Allard was opened. Difficulties in the smelting process delayed the plant at Sorel until 1957.[1]
The smelter uses a development of the 1940 sulfate process to produce titanium dioxide; the iron is a by-product.[3]
As of 1976, QIT was responsible for the development of an ilmenite mine in northeast South Africa,[4] called Zulti South and Zulti North Richards Bay Minerals in KwaZulu-Natal.[5]
Operations
Quebec
QIT operates a 26 mile railway line, the Chemin de fer de la Rivière Romaine, from its mine to the port of Havre-Saint-Pierre on the St. Lawrence River. The line carries mined ore as well as passenger trains for workers and serves as the only access route to the mine.[15]
As of 2008, the company employed more than 1,400 people at its plant in Sorel-Tracy, which also houses a research centre and the company’s head office. The company was the first in the world to remove iron from ilmenite on a commercial scale.[2]
As of 2008, the annual production capacity of the plant was 1,100,000 MT SORELSLAG titanium slag, 250,000 MT UGS™ titanium slag, 600,000 MT liquid iron, 360,000 MT pig iron, 500,000 MT SORELSTEEL and 200,000 MT metal powders.[2]
Madagascar
References
- Notre histoire Rio Tinto, Fer et Titane^
- Company Profile QIT - Fer et Titane^
- James C. Withers, François Cardarelli, John Laughlin, Raouf O. Loutfy. Recent Improvements For Electrowinning Titanium Metal From Composite Anodes Materials & Electrochemical Research Corporation