"Our deposit could control the world market, such a large-scale production that whoever operates it would dictate the price,” said David Lowell, president of CIC Resources Inc. The North American mining company which discovered the largest copper deposit in the world in Chile, has made a discovery in Paraguay that it claims could be the largest titanium deposit.

Source: La Tercera newspaper

10/11/2010. David Lowell, 82 years old, president of CIC Resources Inc., controls mineral rights over at least 185,000 hectares, according to Paraguay’s under-secretary of Mining and Energy – an area equivalent in size to the city of London.

"Our deposit could control the world titanium market, such a large-scale production that whoever operates it would dictate the price,” said Lowell in an interview. “And the price would decrease by having higher-grade ores and a greater tonnage.”

The geologist finds himself this week in Hong Kong presenting his discovery to investors at a conference on the titanium world market for TZ Minerals International, a Western Australia consultancy firm that specialise in titanium.

The project could produce between 5 and 10 million tons of titanium ore per year, with a potential operating life of 100 years, he said today outside the conference.

Chinese companies were amongst the potential buyers with which Lowell said he was in talks. Manufacture and construction in China are driving demand for minerals that produce the white pigment found in paper, paint, plastic and even in toothpaste, as well as in lightweight aerospace materials. The new 787 Dreamliner aeroplane from Boeing Co., which is expected to come into service this year, and the construction of industrial factories such as water desalination plants, are also increasing the demand for the metal.

Cost savings

“Titanium has a high resistance-weight ratio,” Lowell stated. “If we could reduce the price enough, it would be possible to manufacture the fuselage of all commercial planes with the material and save in fuel costs on long-haul flights. The same goes for automobiles.” His company, CIC Resources, has its headquarters in Vancouver.

Even though the material is found in abundance on the earth’s crust, the financial crisis of 2008 delayed new production, says Gary McMahill, a senior consultant at DuPont Titanium Technologies, the world’s leading manufacturer in titanium dioxide pigment. The company is a subsidiary of DuPont Co. of Wilmington, Delaware.

"Now, what we are seeing is a tightening in supply,” stated McMahill in an interview. Lowell’s discovery is located in the Alto Paraná district of Eastern Paraguay, close to the border with Brazil. The mineral he claims to have found is known as ilmenite, the type used predominantly in China. Some of the world’s largest known deposits are found in Mozambique, Madagascar and South Africa, according to Ben Coetzee, consultant for TZMI in Durban, South Africa. He also added that Continental Africa represents half of the world supply of the material.