Rosatom's Tugansk MPP intends to occupy 84% of zirconium concentrate market in Russia, expects exports to Asia

18 Mar 2026 19:08

Rosatom's Tugansk MPP intends to occupy 84% of zirconium concentrate market in Russia, expects exports to Asia

TOMSK. March 18 (Interfax) - The implementation of the second stage of the Titan project at the Kuskovsko-Shiryaevsky site of JSC Tugansk Mining and Processing Plant Ilmenite (TMPP Ilmenite, Tomsk region, part of Rosatom Nedra) will allow the company to increase its market share of zirconium concentrate in Russia from 21% to 84%, TMPP General Director Konstantin Sheptalin said on Wednesday while speaking at the "

Mining. Enrichment. Metallurgy" forum in Novosibirsk. "

In some years, there will be a surplus [of production]. The Asian market is ready to consume zirconium concentrate of today's quality without any additional refinement. In the period up to 2032, we plan to reach a production level of about 17,000 tonnes of zircon (concentrate) per year; it is planned that the surplus will be eliminated in the Russian market, and the excess concentrate will be sold outside it," Sheptalin said.

JSC Tugansk Mining and Processing Plant Ilmenite is a mining enterprise established in September 2002 for the industrial development of the Tugansk ilmenite-zircon sands deposit. Currently, mining is carried out only at the Yuzhno-Alexandrovsky site. In May 2022, the plant reached its design capacity of 575,000 tonnes of sands per year.

To implement the second stage and develop the Kuskovsko-Shiryaevsky site, TMPP Ilmenite plans to construct new processing plants, infrastructure facilities and a transport and logistics terminal. Investment for launching the first phase of the second stage was estimated by Rosatom at 42.4 billion rubles. In total, within the framework of the second stage, the plant intends to launch three lines by 2030, each with a capacity of 2.3 million tonnes of ore sands per year.