The local National Industrialisation Company (Tasnee) has awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for its $290m titanium sponge plant to Taiwan’s CTCI and Japan’s Chiyoda Corporation.

The plant will be operated by the National Titanium Dioxide Company (Cristal), a subsidiary of Tasnee, and will be constructed next to Cristal’s existing operations at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. Commissioning is scheduled to begin in early 2017 with commercial operations starting in the third quarter of that year. The capacity of the scheme will be 15,600 tonnes a year.  

The complex will be a joint venture between Tasnee, Cristal and Japan’s Toho, which is providing the technology. Tasnee and Cristal will each retain a 32.5 per cent stake while Toho will have a 35 per cent share.