Company demonstrates work at largest titanium source in U.S., located in West Tennessee
BENTON COUNTY, Tenn. — A new company could be on the search for new minerals across West Tennessee, and they’re educating the public along the way.
Iperion-X is focused on sustainably mining titanium and other minerals from sands spread across West Tennessee, and trying to do it in an educational way with a new small scale demonstration facility.
“We’re showing people how we can process the McNairy sands, using just water and gravity to separate out the titanium and other earth minerals,” said Anastasios Arima, Iperion-X CEO and Co-founder.
We visited the largest titanium source in North America on Wednesday, with Iperion-X using land between Henry County, Benton County, and Carroll County for their titanium and rare earth mineral sourcing.
“Largest source of titanium minerals in North America, and it also is the largest source of a rare earth mineral called monazite and xenotime in North America,” Arima said.
At the moment, the country as a whole is import-dependent on the minerals. But Iperion-X could change that with their new sourcing of minerals.
“This could be the source of much needed titanium and rare earth minerals, which we’re importing into the country typically from places like China today,” Arima said. “We can produce those right here in West Tennessee.”
Not only could these minerals be helping the country as a whole, but could be very important in bringing hundreds of jobs to the area and to industries like the Blue Oval City project.
“If they don’t get it from us, they’ll have to import it from places like China, so we are well located to supply these growing industries in Tennessee with their raw materials, said Arima.
The company plans to do the process in a sustainable way, using mostly renewable resources, and only using gravity and water to source the minerals. They also follow the motto of “leaving the land better than they found it.”
“We certainly want to improve with the baseline being what it was prior to extraction,” said Jonathon Lord, Vice President of Geology and Land at Iperion-X. “So what this will look like when we’re done is very much what it looks like today.”
They will be partnering with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture to make sure the land remains in the best shape possible.
Iperion-X hopes to begin tours of the demonstration facility in the near future. Click here for more information or visit the office located at 279 West Main Street in Camden.
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