OREANDA-NEWS. May 22, 2012. RUSNANO’s portfolio company Russian Quartz commissioned new production line for high purity quartz enrichment and a state-of-the-art analytical laboratory. The project with a total budget of 2.3 billion rubles is implemented at existing Kyshtym Mining production site. RUSNANO is cofinancing 750 million rubles.

Portfolio company produces high-purity quartz concentrate (HPQ), which is used in a range of hi-tech industries. It is a feedstock for fabrication of transparent quartz glass, which is, in turn, an irreplaceable component in the production of monocrystalline silicon, a basic material for electronics and solar industries. Those two industries account for 60 percent of the total world consumption of high-purity quartz concentrates. They are also most sensitive to purity of raw materials. Other areas of HPQ application are special purpose optics and special lighting such as UV-light sources, high-intensity light sources, and halogen sources.

The world consumption of high purity quartz concentrates is about 60,000 tons per year and sustainably grows 3 percent to 5 percent annually due to high demand for this high-margin product from electronics and solar industries.

The upgrade and re-equipment project being implemented with RUSNANO’s financial support is expected to reach design capacity in three years. Upon completion of its two stages the company will be able to increase the output more than six fold, up to 10,000 tons of HPQ per year. This production volume will enable the company to gain up to 15 percent of the global market.

The first production line for dry concentration launched at the current phase of the project features the capacity of 6,000 tons per year. The accompanying analytical lab is equipped with the most up-to-date equipment. The analytical function is necessary for the product quality control and monitoring the impurities at the nanoscale.

Kyshtym Mining is the only commercial high-purity quartz producer in Russia. The company produced over 1.5 thousand tons of concentrates in 2011 generating a revenue over 100 million rubles. Currently Kyshtym Mining holds about 75 percent of domestic HPQ market. The share of high-purity quartz concentrates in company’s products is constantly growing. In 2011 they accounted for 30 percent of revenue. The company’s exports to Japan, Germany, China, and other countries reached almost 90 percent of its total production volume.

“High-purity quartz is a key link in the hi-tech global value chain. Launching the first stage of a new quartz concentration factory is an important step in establishing hi-tech industry in Russia. It’s essential for RUSNANO that Russian Quartz’ products are of high demand on a global market and at the same time fit well in industry clusters formed of our portfolio companies,” said RUSNANO managing director Sergey Polikarpov.

“I’d like to mention that the project execution is ahead of schedule. This fact makes us confident that the main goal of reaching 10,000 tons per year output of high-purity concentrated products will also be delivered early. When this happens, Russian company will become a prominent player in that segment of the HPQ world market, since quartz consumption is a kind of an indicator of the general status in the country’s hi-tech industry,” said Leonid Kuzmin, CEO of Russian Quartz.