Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd is an integrated

titanium dioxide Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium(IV) oxide or titania , is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6 (PW6), or CI 77891. It is a white solid that is insolu ...

manufacturing

public sector undertaking A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

Kollam 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 north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city ...

, Kerala, India. Its operations comprise mining, mineral separation, synthetic

rutile 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. Rutile has one of the highest refractive indices at visib ...

and

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...

-production plants. Apart from producing rutile-grade titanium dioxide pigment for various types of industries, it also produces other products like

ilmenite Ilmenite is a titanium-iron oxide mineral with the idealized formula . 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 ...

zircon Zircon () is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates and is a source of the metal zirconium. Its chemical name is zirconium(IV) silicate, and its corresponding chemical formula is Zr SiO4. An empirical formula showing some of t ...

sillimanite Sillimanite is an aluminosilicate mineral with the chemical formula Al2SiO5. Sillimanite is named after the American chemist Benjamin Silliman (1779–1864). It was first described in 1824 for an occurrence in Chester, Connecticut. Occurrence ...

, synthetic rutile etc. It is one of the best performing Public Sector Units in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The company manufactures titanium dioxide through the chloride route. The different grades are produced by KMML under the brand name KEMOX. KMML has always been responsive to social and environmental causes. Some of the initiatives taken by KMML have made a significant change to the area and its people.

History

The history of the beaches of Sankaramangalam and nearby areas is linked with the history of the KMML. The

rare-earth The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or (in context) rare-earth oxides or sometimes the lanthanides (yttrium and scandium are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly-indistinguishable lustrous silve ...

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 Monazite is a primarily reddish-brown phosphate mineral that contains rare-earth elements. Due to variability in composition, monazite is considered a group of minerals. The most common species of the group is monazite-(Ce), that is, the ceriu ...

in the sand remnants of contaminants of coir imported from Kerala. 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 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. Location and tourism Chavara ...

. Subsequent to the arrest of Schomberg on charges of being a German spy during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, 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. 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

and

Alappuzha Alappuzha or Alleppey () is the administrative headquarters of Alappuzha district in state of Kerala, India. The Backwaters of Alappuzha are one of the most popular tourist attractions in India which attracts millions of domestic and interna ...

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.

Supply of Titanium Sponge to Defence Ministry units of India and Dept of Space

KMML in

is the sole producer-cum-supplier of Titanium sponge in

. This prestigious and pride institution has recorded 94.5% rise in Quarterly profit recently. 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

KMML premises to meet their annual requirement of 2,000 tonnes. They have fully commissioned their Titanium sponge plant recently at

KMML.

Revenue

Oxygen plant

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.

References

External links

* http://www.kmml.com {{authority control Metal companies of India Manufacturing companies of India Government-owned companies of Kerala Rare earth companies Mining in Kerala Companies based in Kollam Titanium companies Indian companies established in 1932 Manufacturing companies established in 1932 Indian companies established in 1972