In the south of Yunnan, where mineral resources are abundant, the province is known as the "Kingdom of Non-Ferrous Metals." In the hinterland of central Yunnan, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture (hereinafter referred to as "Chuxiong Prefecture") has leveraged its rich titanium ore resources and forward-looking industrial planning to focus on building the "Titanium Valley" in central Yunnan, achieving remarkable results in resource utilization, industrial clustering, and technological innovation. Standing at a new starting point of development, Chuxiong Prefecture continues to extend, supplement, and strengthen its industrial chains, striving towards the goal of a 100 billion yuan titanium industry cluster.
Gathering Titanium on the Plateau
Reconstructing the Industrial Landscape
Chuxiong Prefecture is rich in titanium ore resources and has formed an entire industry chain from titanium ore mining and beneficiation, high-titanium slag smelting, to the production of titanium dioxide, titanium sponge, and titanium materials, with a high degree of industrial chain completeness. Additionally, the region's superior transportation and geographical conditions facilitate the input of raw materials and the output of products, reducing logistics costs.
However, some titanium industry enterprises in Chuxiong Prefecture once faced difficulties in breaking through key technologies, suffered consecutive losses, and struggled to survive.
The Director of the Chuxiong Prefecture Industry and Information Technology Bureau said, "To overcome this dilemma, in 2019, Chuxiong Prefecture introduced a leading domestic enterprise in the titanium-zirconium industry chain and new material R&D and manufacturing, and brought in LB Group Co., Ltd. to acquire and restructure Xinli Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. through a 'equity plus debt' model."
This restructuring injected new vitality into the development of Chuxiong Prefecture's titanium industry and became a key turning point in industrial reconstruction. Currently, Chuxiong Prefecture has more than 30 titanium industry enterprises, with a built and under-construction capacity of 500,000 mt of high-titanium slag, 300,000 mt of chloride-process titanium dioxide, 50,000 mt of titanium sponge, and 20,000 mt of titanium materials.
Zhang Zijian, Secretary of the Chuxiong Prefecture Party Committee, said, "In recent years, Chuxiong Prefecture has continuously made efforts in the titanium industry, giving full play to the radiating and driving role of 'chain leader' enterprises, carrying out targeted investment attraction, attracting and cultivating more innovative and growing enterprises to settle down, and injecting vitality into industrial upgrading and economic development." Relying on the capacity advantages of titanium sponge and titanium dioxide, Chuxiong Prefecture accelerates the recruitment of profile manufacturing enterprises to build a competitive titanium industry cluster nationwide.
Technological Breakthrough
Unleashing the Surging Momentum of New Quality Productive Forces
Titanium materials are widely used in many key fields such as aerospace, military industry, chemicals, medical care, and new energy. Through technological innovation, Chuxiong Prefecture's titanium industry has achieved industrial breakthroughs and gradually moved towards high-end development.
Chuxiong Prefecture's titanium industry once faced numerous technological challenges. Some enterprises had outdated production processes, resulting in not only low production efficiency but also product quality that struggled to meet the requirements of the high-end market. Chuxiong Prefecture's titanium industry had long been stuck in the low and mid-end of the industry chain, limiting its development.
In 2019, following the restructuring of the titanium industry in Chuxiong Prefecture, LB Group brought advanced technology and management experience. Within just 180 days, it invested 774 million yuan to renovate the existing production lines. As a result, the 60,000 mt chloride-process titanium dioxide, 10,000 mt titanium sponge, and 80,000 mt high-grade titanium slag production lines fully resumed production, achieving the goal of acquisition, production resumption, and profitability within the same year.
Driven by technological transformation and innovation, the operational stability of the chloride-process titanium dioxide production line at LB Group's Lufeng Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. has significantly improved. Both production output and value have steadily increased for four consecutive years, rising from 40,000 mt and 1 billion yuan in 2020 to 121,000 mt and 2.44 billion yuan in 2024, respectively.
Another subsidiary of LB Group, Yunnan Guotai Metal Co., Ltd., was recognized by Forbes as a newly emerged global unicorn enterprise in 2023. "In the process of technological R&D and production, the company continuously optimizes processes, enhances product quality, and reduces production costs," said Chen Jianli, Chairman of Yunnan Guotai Metal Co., Ltd. "In particular, we have conducted in-depth research on rotor-grade titanium sponge technology, ensuring high quality from the design source to achieve the long-term development of the industry."
In the process of technological breakthroughs, the Chuxiong Prefecture government also played a crucial role: it introduced a series of policies to encourage technological innovation, provided financial support and tax incentives for enterprises' technological R&D projects, strengthened talent cultivation and introduction, collaborated with universities to offer relevant professional courses, and cultivated and supplied professional technical talents for the titanium industry. It also increased investment in the infrastructure construction of industrial parks to enhance their carrying capacity and create favorable conditions for enterprises' technological innovation and industrial upgrading.
Titanium Valley Rides the Green Wave
Painting a New Picture of Eco-Industry
Strolling through the spacious and tidy factory area, one no longer hears the deafening roar of traditional smelting or sees the industrial landscape of towering chimneys. Instead, it is replaced by an ecological factory area filled with birdsong and floral fragrances, along with intelligent and efficient digital workshops. A vivid picture of the transformation from traditional industrial civilization to ecological civilization unfolds here.
Green is the distinctive feature of Chuxiong's titanium industry development. Enterprises in Chuxiong's titanium industry have actively implemented environmental protection measures. On the one hand, they have increased investment in environmental protection equipment and technologies to ensure that pollutants meet emission standards during the production process. On the other hand, they have actively explored new paths for comprehensive resource utilization to improve resource utilization rates.
Technological innovation is a powerful engine driving the sustainable development of Chuxiong's green titanium industry. In the titanium dioxide production line in Dayao County, Chuxiong, a globally leading continuous acid hydrolysis device is in operation. The digital system in the control room precisely regulates the acid hydrolysis reaction parameters, and the water reuse system purifies production wastewater into clean water sources.
Green technological transformation sounds the clarion call for industrial transformation. The MVR evaporation system introduced by LB Group has reduced energy consumption per mt of titanium liquor concentration by 60%, the continuous acidolysis process has decreased sulphuric acid consumption by 15%, and the recycling utilization rate of wastewater has exceeded 95%. Supported by these cutting-edge technologies, the energy consumption intensity of the titanium industry in Chuxiong has decreased by 12% for three consecutive years, and the comprehensive utilization rate of industrial solid waste has reached 85%, transforming the former pollution source into a resource pool for recycling.
Lufeng Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. of LB Group has explored an efficient path of "complete utilization" in resource utilization and industrial development: during the production of titanium dioxide, the high-salt wastewater generated is recycled after treatment, and the sodium chloride crystallized through evaporation is reused as a raw material, achieving "zero discharge" and harmless disposal of wastewater; the calcium gypsum produced during production is recycled into related industries such as cement, turning waste into treasure.
Zhang Zijian believes that the practices of Lufeng Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. of LB Group in continuously improving the degree of automation and developing a circular economy through "complete utilization" are worth promoting. Enterprises should strengthen closed-loop management of production safety, continuously enhance R&D and innovation capabilities, increase efforts in technological transformation and industrial upgrading, vigorously develop deep processing, actively cultivate new material industries, and continuously improve the added value and profitability of titanium products.
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