Bhubaneswar: To investigate the recovery of titanium dioxide from titanium minerals and vanadium-bearing titanium minerals of Indian origin, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), through its constituent laboratory, the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR-IMMT) here has signed a research and development agreement with Australia’s national science agency CSIRO at the Dr RP Das Centre for Hydro, Bio and Electrometallurgy here Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, CSIR-IMMT director Ramanuj Narayan laid emphasis on more such collaborative projects on critical minerals in line with the National Critical Mineral Mission (NCMM) for ensuring a long-term sustainable supply of critical minerals, including beneficiation, processing and recovery from end-of-life products.
The project collaboration will be led by CSIRO’s principal research scientist, Goutam Kumar Das, and CSIR-IMMT chief scientist, as well as Hydro, Bio, and Electrometallurgy department head Kali Sanjay. Project coordination will be managed by CSIRO’s Critical Minerals Processing group leader, Joanne Loh, and Ramanuj Narayan.
The joint collaboration aims to develop the processing technology for extracting titanium and vanadium from ilmenite and vanadiferous magnetite ores, which are found abundantly in India and Australia.
Titanium and vanadium are classified as critical minerals in both countries.
Titanium is widely used in metal alloys, while vanadium is also a key component in redox flow batteries, which are rechargeable and well-suited for large-scale energy storage.
The collaboration is funded by CSIRO’s India-Australia Critical Minerals Research Partnership, an initiative under the Australian Federal Government’s updated India Economic Strategy (IES) to 2035.
PNN
