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Company type | Public Sector |
---|---|
Industry | Mining |
Founded | 1932 Kollam, India |
Founder | F. X. Perira |
Headquarters | Kollam(Quilon) , |
Key people |
|
Products | |
Revenue | US$108.72 million (2022-23) |
US$12.5 million (2022-23) | |
Number of employees | ~2000 |
Website | kmml |
Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd is an integrated titanium dioxide manufacturing public sector undertaking in Kollam, Kerala, India. Its operations comprise mining, mineral separation, synthetic rutile and pigment-production plants. Apart from producing rutile-grade titanium dioxide pigment for various types of industries, it also produces other products like ilmenite, rutile, zircon, sillimanite, synthetic rutile etc. [2] It is one of the best performing Public Sector Units in India. [3] The company manufactures titanium dioxide through the chloride route. The different grades are produced by KMML under the brand name KEMOX.
The history of the beaches of Sankaramangalam and nearby areas is linked with the history of the KMML. The rare-earth minerals made the beach an area of scientific interest. The discovery process for this huge Indian deposit was accidentally initiated in the year 1909 when C. W. Schomberg, a German chemist, identified the presence of monazite in the sand remnants of contaminants of coir imported from Kerala. [4] Encouraged by the great demand in those days for thorium oxide in gas mantle, Schomberg established the first plant at Manavalakurichi (MK) in 1910 for separation of monazite and later another plant at Chavara. Subsequent to the arrest of Schomberg on charges of being a German spy during the First World War, both his plants at Manavalakurichi and Chavara were closed down.
The London Cosmopolitan Mineral Company established in the year 1914 in London took over these plants and continued operations. In 1920, Hopkins and Williams (H & W), yet another London based English Company started operation at MK and Chavara. The first export of ilmenite from Chavara took place in the year 1922 and the Indian ilmenite maintained a virtual monopoly in the world market as basic raw material for titania pigment (white) till 1940 when four plants belonging to Travancore Minerals Ltd (TMC), Hopkins & William Travancore Ltd (H&W) and Fx Pereira & Sons (FXP) together exported as high as three hundred thousand tons of ilmenite from Chavara.
By 1932, a private entrepreneur established the F. X. Perira and Sons (Travancore) Pvt. Ltd, the forerunner to KMML. Ownership of the company subsequently changed hands three times, after which in 1956 it was taken over by the state government and placed under the control of the industries department. [5] The unit was subsequently converted as a limited company in 1972 by the name of 'The Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd.' with the objectives of better utilisation of mineral wealth found along the sea coast of Kollam and Alappuzha Districts, generation of growth and employment in the state in general and the local area in particular.
The construction of titanium dioxide pigment using chloride technology began in 1979, and was commissioned in 1984 as the first and only integrated titanium dioxide plant in the world.
Today the company has over 1600 employees and a range of products.
KMML in Kollam is the sole producer-cum-supplier of Titanium sponge in India. [6] This prestigious and pride institution has recorded 94.5% rise in Quarterly profit recently. [7] Defence Ministry unit in India requires more than 1,500 tonnes of TS annually. The Department of Space in collaboration with KMML has set up a 500 tonne per annum (TPA) titanium sponge plant in Kollam KMML premises to meet their annual requirement of 2,000 tonnes. They have fully commissioned their Titanium sponge plant recently at Kollam KMML. [8] [9]
Financial Year | Turnover | Net Profit |
---|---|---|
2015-16 | ₹ 653.91 crore (US$78 million) | ₹ 3.24 crore (US$390,000) |
2016–17 | ₹ 727.04 crore (US$87 million) | ₹ 40.37 crore (US$4.8 million) |
2017–18 | ₹ 740.58 crore (US$89 million) | ₹ 181.11 crore (US$22 million) |
2018-19 | ₹ 829.89 crore (US$99 million) | ₹ 163.29 crore (US$20 million) [10] |
2019-20 | -- | ₹ 42 crore (US$5.0 million) |
2020-21 | ₹ 783 crore (US$94 million) | ₹ 112 crore (US$13 million) [11] |
2021-22 | ₹ 1,058 crore (US$130 million) | ₹ 332.20 crore (US$40 million) |
2022-23 | ₹ 896.40 crore (US$110 million) | ₹ 103.58 crore (US$12 million) |
An oxygen plant with a production capacity of 70 tonnes, including medical oxygen production capacity of 6 to 7 tonnes per day, is commissioned at KMML in October 2020. They were spending ₹12 crores per annum before, buying oxygen from other manufacturers. Now the plant is supplying oxygen to COVID-19 treatment centers and hospitals in Kerala and other neighboring states also. As of April 2021, it has supplied over 1,100 tonnes of liquid oxygen to various agencies. [12] [13]
Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in sea water, aqua regia, and chlorine.
Rutile is an oxide mineral composed of titanium dioxide (TiO2), the most common natural form of TiO2. Rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known, including anatase, akaogiite, and brookite.
Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula FeTiO
3. It is a weakly magnetic black or steel-gray solid. Ilmenite is the most important ore of titanium and the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used in paints, printing inks, fabrics, plastics, paper, sunscreen, food and cosmetics.
Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania, is the inorganic compound derived from titanium with the chemical formula TiO
2. When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insoluble in water, although mineral forms can appear black. As a pigment, it has a wide range of applications, including paint, sunscreen, and food coloring. When used as a food coloring, it has E number E171. World production in 2014 exceeded 9 million tonnes. It has been estimated that titanium dioxide is used in two-thirds of all pigments, and pigments based on the oxide have been valued at a price of $13.2 billion.
Kollam, also known by its former name Quilon, is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is 71 km (44 mi) north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city is on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake and the Kallada river. Kollam is the fourth largest city in Kerala and is known for cashew processing and coir manufacturing. It is the southern gateway to the Backwaters of Kerala and is a prominent tourist destination. Kollam is one of the most historic cities with continuous settlements in India. Geographically, Quilon formation seen around coastal cliffs of Ashtamudi Lake, represent sediments laid down in the Kerala basin that existed during Mio-Pliocene times.
NMDC Limited, formerly National Mineral Development Corporation, is an Indian public sector undertaking involved in the exploration of iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, coal etc. It is India's largest iron ore producer and exporter, producing more than 35 million tonnes of iron ore from three mechanized mines in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. It also operates the only mechanized diamond mine in the country at Panna in Madhya Pradesh.
The Tiwest Joint Venture was a joint venture between Tronox Western Australia Pty Ltd and subsidiaries of Exxaro Australia Sands Pty Ltd. The Tiwest Joint Venture was a mining and processing company, established in 1988, to extract ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene and zircon from a mineral sands deposit at Cooljarloo, 14 km north of Cataby, Western Australia. As of June 2012, the joint venture was formally dissolved, when Tronox acquired the mineral-sands-related divisions of Exxaro outright.
Travancore Titanium Products Ltd (TTP) is the leading manufacturer of anatase grade titanium dioxide in India. The company was incorporated in 1946 at Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, India on the initiative the then Travancore King, Sree Chithira Thirunal.
Wellesley is a locality in the Bunbury region of Western Australia, about 10 km north-east of Australind. Its local government area is the Shire of Harvey. It is bordered on the south and east by the Brunswick River and the Wellesley River. The main feature of the locality is the Kemerton Industrial Park.
Chavara is a village in Karunagappally taluk, Kollam district, Kerala, India. It is a part of Kollam Lok Sabha constituency. The current MLA of the Chavara constituency is Dr. Sujith Vijayan Pillai of the LDF.
Kenmare Resources plc is a publicly traded mining company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it has a secondary listing on Euronext Dublin. Kenmare is one of the world's largest mineral sands producers and the Company owns and operates the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine. Moma is one of the world's largest titanium minerals deposits, located 160 km from the city of Nampula in Mozambique.
Iluka Resources is an Australian-based resources company, specialising in mineral sands exploration, project development, operations and marketing. Iluka is the largest producer of zircon and titanium dioxide–derived rutile and synthetic rutile globally. Iluka mines heavy mineral sands and separates the concentrate into its individual mineral constituents rutile, ilmenite, and zircon. Some of the ilmenite is then processed into synthetic rutile.
United Trade Union Congress (Bolshevik) is a federation of trade unions in Kerala, India. UTUC(B) emerged from a split in the United Trade Union Congress. UTUC(B) is politically tied to Revolutionary Socialist Party (Bolshevik). Initially, K.C. Vamadevan was president of UTUC(B) and T.M. Prabha was the general secretary of UTUC(B).
IREL (India) Limited is an Indian Public Sector Undertaking based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It specializes in mining and refining rare earth metals.
Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) is a publicly listed chemicals company based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The company was founded in 1989 by Dr. S.N. Sasidharan Kartha with assistance from the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC). The company is the only listed Indian entity in the synthetic rutile space.
This is a list of countries by titanium sponge production based on USGS figures. The production figures are for titanium sponge, units are in metric tons.
KMML may refer to:
Kollam or Quilon is an old seaport and a city on the Laccadive Sea coast in Kerala, India, on Ashtamudi Lake. The city remains notable as the ancient commercial capital of Kerala and the southwestern Indian coast, in addition to its fame as the "Cashew Capital of the World". The Kollam Municipal Corporation has the second largest budget in Kerala in terms of revenue and expenditure.
Titanium Sponge Plant of India is located at Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML), Chavara, Kollam district of Kerala. Titanium sponge plant is a manufacturing plant which produces titanium sponge, a material which has very useful applications in space programme and other strategic areas like aeronautics, light defence vehicles etc. The plant in India is the only one in the world which can undertake all the different activities of manufacturing aerospace grade titanium sponge under one roof. The material is an alloy product which is produced through Kroll process which includes leaching or heated vacuum distillation to make the metal almost 99.7% pure.
Nelsonite is an igneous rock primarily constituted of ilmenite and apatite, with anatase, chlorite, phosphosiderite, talc and/or wavellite appearing as minor components. Rocks are equigranular with a grain size around 2 – 3 mm. The black ilmenite is slightly magnetic while the whitish apatite is not.