International. The global controversy continues due to the shortage of titanium dioxide in the world and the consequent increases in prices. In Latin America, the protagonist is Paraguay due to the delays in the start of operations of what would be one of the most important TiO2 plants in the world.
The deposit, located in the town of Minga Porã in upper Paraná, was inaugurated on the fifth of August and 100 tons of the material had been planned to be sent to South Africa for analysis and approval by October.
But in recent days the environmental authority of that country carried out an intervention that forced to stop the activities of assembly of machinery; the operating company was then in charge of showing the environmental impact studies carried out, but the approval decree to continue the operation has not yet been issued.
The company Metálicos y No Metálicos SRL of the Grupo CIC Resources Inc of Canada, operator of the mine, reported that it will not operate until there is a full approval of the environmental authority: "We do not want to meet with surprises later with other institutions. We are waiting, we know that they are still within the required time," said lawyer Sandra Noguera, manager of Corporate and Administrative Relations of Metallic and Non-Metallic.
The investment in the mine amounts to US$5 million and is expected to be able to produce between five and ten million tons of titanium dioxide annually, for a period of one hundred years.
To the situation in Paraguay is added the recent announcement of the multinational DuPont, which will increase by US $ 0.15 each pound of TiO2 marketed in North America from the first of November.
It is expected that in the coming days the operation of the mine in Minga Porã will be approved, to improve the supply of titanium dioxide in America with a more affordable price.
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