QIT Madagascar Minerals

QIT Madagascar Minerals (QMM) is company majority owned by a Rio Tinto subsidiary that operates a titanium mine in the Taolagnaro, southeastern Madagascar.

History

The QIT Madagascar Minerals mine is a titanium dioxide ore, and ilmenite mine in Taolagnaro.[1]

The mine's initial capacity was projected at 750,000 tonnes per year, with future phases of development potentially expanding capacity to 2,000,000 tonnes per year. The mine is 80% owned by Canadian mining company QIT-Fer et Titane, a wholly owned subsidiary of the mining giant Rio Tinto Group; the remaining 20% is owned by the Government of Madagascar.[2]

In 2021 Rio Tinto signed a power purchase agreement with independent power producer. The facility will combine 8MW of solar, 12MW of onshore wind and a battery energy storage system to provide renewable power to Rio Tinto’s QMM ilmenite mine in Fort Dauphin.[3]

In 2019, analysis by The Andrew Lees Trust discovered uranium concentrations in the river downstream of the mine were 350 time higher than upstream, and lead concentrations 9.8 times higher.[1]

In 2022 the mine stopped operating for five days due to protests.[4]

References
  1. Reid, Helen (2019-12-20). "Water around Rio Tinto's Madagascar mine is high in lead, uranium - study". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  2. "Rio Tinto QMM Madagascar Titanium Dioxide Mining Project". QMM web site. Rio Tinto Group. Retrieved March 11, 2009.
  3. hybrid to power Rio Tinto mine
  4. "Rio Tinto's Madagascar mine restarts after reaching deal with protesters". Reuters. 2022-05-25. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.