OREANDA-NEWS. February 08, 2007. Metallurgical Shop furnace operators, Sergey Luzgov and Vyacheslav Khorinov, under supervision of the shift foreman Anatoly Putin turned on the valve for tetrachloride feed to the reduction unit, reported the press-centre of AVISMA.

A week later the first block of sponge titanium with the weight of 500 kg was obtained by the employees under supervision of shift foreman Alexei Matuzko.

At that time titanium was produced secretly; Reduction & Distillation Shop No. 8 was not even mentioned in publications. 2770 tons of sponge were produced in 1960, but early in 1966 sponge titanium production at Berezniki Titanium-Magnesium Plant (BTMP) increased by 3,6 times. During 30 years, from 1960 to 1990, operating equipment of BTMP was reconstructed nine times; as a result, sponge production capacities increased to 39,5 ths ton per year.

During changing to market-based economy titanium production decreased two times. But after VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation establishment titanium production at AVISMA came to life: 23 700 tons of sponge titanium were produced in 2001, and 26 900 tons were produced in 2004. Increase in production volume is in progress.

Vladimir Tankeev, Managing Director of AVISMA:
- Volume of titanium sponge production in 2007 vs. 2006 increased by 2 ths ton (6%).

Metallurgical Shop accomplished its task and produced more than 34 ton of premium quality titanium sponge meeting almost all customers’ requirements. The next task for 2008 is to increase sponge titanium production by 2 extra ths ton, obtaining 36 ths ton.

In general, AVISMA shall produce 44 ths ton per year by 2012.