Anastasios Arima is managing director and co-founder of Hyperion...

• Anastasios Arima is managing director and co-founder of Hyperion Metals Ltd., which controls the Titan Project in Tennessee.

Scarce natural resources are frequently withheld as political leverage during international conflicts. Titanium, a metal vital to building fighter jets, satellites, and missiles, is high on the list of strategically important assets.

If titanium supplies dwindle, the national security of the U.S. is at risk. Tennessee holds the key to preserving America’s titanium supply.

China is the global leaderin the production of titanium metal. Japan is the world’s second-biggest producer and Russia is No. 3.

Having the bulk of the world’s titanium metal production in the hands of the U.S.’s top international economic and security rivals is clearly a problem.

Titanium is a vital commodity for U.S.

The U.S. lost its last remaining producer of titanium metal last October 2021 whenTitanium Metals Corp. closedits Henderson, Nevada, plant due to competition from cheaper foreign imports and reduced demand caused by the pandemic.

That means the U.S. is at the mercy of foreign countries for its supply of titanium metal, including for its armed services.

The U.S. government has declared that titanium is one of 35 mineral commodities vital to U.S. economic and national security. Yet theU.S. is 100% reliant on importsof primary titanium metal.

That’s why it is vital that the U.S. government support domestic titanium metal production.

We can start here in Tennessee.

Why Camden, Tenn., is an ideal place to mine titanium

A hundred miles west of Nashville, in Camden, Tennessee, is the McNairy Sand, which is rich in titanium ore and rare earth elements.

Hyperion is the firm developing a project covering 11,000 acres of the McNairy Sand. To turn Tennessee-based titanium ore into domestically produced titanium metal, Hyperion has also secured exclusive rights to patented, U.S.-developed technologies to do just that.

The land around Camden is known for the exceptional grade and thickness of sand containing the titanium minerals rutile and ilmenite as well as zircon and other strategic rare earth minerals.

The Camden area also has excellent infrastructure – roads, power, water, and skilled labor – all the elements necessary to transform a good idea and strategic imperative into reality.

This combination creates the potential to produce sustainable, zero carbon, low-cost titanium right here in the U.S. -- with Tennessee as the epicenter.

Old Article January 2022 written by Anastasios Arima in Local Tennessean Paper.
USA relies on Japan for Titanium.