China’s Breakthrough in Ultrafine Titanomagnetite Recovery | Pangang Mining Innovation

Pangang’s Breakthrough in Ultrafine Titanomagnetite Recovery Technology

On June 3, 2025, the collaborative project “Development and Demonstration of High‑Efficiency Ultrafine Titanomagnetite Recovery Technology”, led by Pangang Mining, Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and Zhengzhou University, was evaluated by the Sichuan Metallurgical Society and recognized as achieving an internationally advanced level . This milestone represents a significant technological advancement in China’s comprehensive utilization of titanium resources.

Located in the Panzhihua–Xichang (Panzhong) region—home to massive vanadium‑titanomagnetite deposits—Pangang has been addressing the challenge of recovering ultrafine titanomagnetite since 2013. By 2019, they established a production-oriented concept to recover this ultrafine fraction from tailings overflow streams. In 2021, the research team analyzed mineral occurrences and flotation performance and introduced an innovative recovery process combining high-throughput concentrate debranding with column flotation().

Through significant equipment innovation—including specialized hydrocyclones and flotation columns—the team secured seven invention patents and overcame the global technical difficulty of efficiently recovering ultrafine titanomagnetite during vanadium-titanomagnetite processing(). In November 2022, the technology was industrialized with a demonstration production line achieving an annual capacity of over 80,000 tons of ultrafine titanium concentrate, filling a gap in domestic capabilities().

Significance of the breakthrough:

• Improved titanium resource utilization: recovery rates of ultrafine titanomagnetite now exceed 70%;

• Achieved domestic innovation in key equipment and processes, reducing reliance on foreign technology;

• Promoted environmentally friendly and low-carbon mining by reducing tailings accumulation and lowering energy consumption;

• Generated notable economic benefit—with the demonstration line contributing over 100 million CNY annually at current market rates.

Currently, Pangang Mining is expanding the deployment of this technology across its mining areas and exploring international cooperation to export the recovery solution globally. This success not only strengthens China’s technological leadership in titanium resource development but also offers a Chinese model for efficient global titanomagnetite utilization.