Allegheny Technologies (ATI) will supply all wrought product forms made of the specialised Titanium Grade 28 to be used in Inco Ltd’s Goro mining project pressure acid leaching heat exchanger system. ATI’s Wah Chang operation was selected to supply all Titanium Grade 28 tube, tubesheet, plate, forgings, and other wrought products. Titanium Grade 28 is a highly corrosion-resistant, ruthenium-enhanced titanium alloy. In addition, ATI’s Allegheny Ludlum operation was selected to provide Titanium Grade 17 plate products to the Goro project. He value of the project to ATI is about USD 20 million. Shipments are scheduled to be primarily in the fourth quarter 2002.
The USD 1.4 billion Goro facility is being built in the ore-rich French Overseas Territory of New Caledonia and is designed to produce 55,000 metric tons of nickel and 5,000 metric tons of cobalt annually. The hydrometallurgical plant will use a process known as pressure acid leaching (PAL) to extract the nickel and cobalt. PAL makes use of pressure and sulphuric acid to extract nickel from laterite ores in an economically feasible way. Erosion- and corrosion-resistant titanium alloys are ideal for service in high-pressure, high-temperature processing environments.
