SMALL CAP IDEA: Empire Metals flies the flag for overlooked titanium

Empire Metal’s CEO, Shaun Bunn, has declared it’s time for titanium to take center stage in investment news.

When considering strategic minerals, lithium often comes to mind first, followed perhaps by a hesitant attempt to pronounce a complex rare earth element.

Indeed, investments in lithium, rare earths, and battery metals have been popular in recent years.

These future-oriented minerals, essential for technological advancements, face supply constraints, high demand, and geopolitical interest.

However, titanium shares these characteristics.

Shaun Bunn, Empire’s Managing Director, argues the investment case for titanium is exceptionally strong.

Considering Empire’s substantial titanium discovery, purported to be the world’s largest, Bunn’s expertise is undeniable.

“The titanium sector is significantly larger than the lithium or rare earths industries, and surpasses many of the more volatile sectors that have attracted attention recently,” Bunn stated.

He added, “The surge in lithium prices, fueled by optimistic projections, quickly reversed into oversupply and price collapse.”

“Titanium operates differently. It’s a well-established industry with a century-long history,” Bunn explained.

China leads in titanium metal supply, followed by Russia and Japan, while the US aerospace and other industries are primary end-users.

Approximately 60% of the titanium metal market is supplied by China.

These market dynamics present clear advantages for Empire’s Pitfield project in Western Australia.

“Locating this project in a tier-one region like Western Australia, with existing infrastructure, positions us as a strategically important asset,” Bunn emphasized.

The Australian government’s 43.5% R&D tax rebate underscores the strategic importance of Empire’s project.

A Concise Overview of the Titanium Market

The majority of the titanium market is driven by pigments, particularly titanium dioxide (TiO₂), used to enhance light reflection in colorings, providing brightness and opacity in modern paints.

Titanium’s durability and resistance contribute to the longevity, chemical stability, and colorfastness of premium paints.

Currently, titanium dioxide remains irreplaceable in the pigment industry.

Producing premium titanium products requires meticulous purity control to minimize impurities. This aspect will be discussed further.

Titanium metals, used in aerospace, electric vehicle frames, and consumer goods like iPhones and golf clubs, currently represent about 10% of the total titanium market.

“Titanium metal is an exceptional material due to its corrosion resistance, non-toxicity, and strength-to-weight ratio, being half the weight of steel with equivalent strength,” Bunn noted.

Despite its market penetration, titanium metal’s higher production cost limits its sales volume compared to steels like stainless steel.

“As titanium metal becomes more affordable, its market share is expected to increase,” Bunn predicted.

Pitfield Project Highlights

Empire Metals’ Pitfield project in Western Australia is a significant, high-grade titanium discovery.

Current estimates indicate an Exploration Target of 26 to 32 billion tonnes, with TiO₂ content ranging from 4.5% to 5.5%.

Previous drilling phases focused on identifying and delineating the deposit. Recent aircore drilling, a more efficient method, provided samples for metallurgical testing.

The aircore program followed encouraging results from detailed ore analysis, enhancing the potential of the Empire Metals project.

Premium High-Purity Product Achieved

In early March, Empire announced preliminary test results indicating 91.6% titanium dioxide purity, devoid of toxic impurities.

This signifies a high-grade, high-purity titanium product sample with minimal toxic impurities, a rare characteristic in titanium deposits, potentially requiring less processing for customer readiness.

Larger scale testing, utilizing samples from the aircore program, will validate these initial findings.

“The initial product exceeded expectations, achieving exceptional quality in our first attempt,” Bunn commented.

“The product exhibited very low impurity levels.”

“While acknowledging the technical team’s expertise, the inherent quality of the ore body is a key factor. The in-situ material is naturally low in contaminants.”

“The ore lacks uranium, thorium, phosphate, vanadium, chromium, and other heavy metals that pose challenges for the pigment industry.”

“Their absence in the ore prevents them from contaminating the final product,” Bunn clarified.

Future Steps

Empire is accelerating efforts to develop an end-product and establish initial markets for its titanium products.

Simultaneously, the company is advancing work to achieve feasibility status for the Pitfield project.

“Our aim is to develop an integrated process, moving beyond a low-value, easily produced product, to maximize returns,” Bunn emphasized.

“We are pursuing a more strategic development approach.”

“With the world’s largest titanium discovery located in this sedimentary basin, potentially containing over a third of global resources, we are considering a long-term mining operation spanning centuries.”

“We are carefully evaluating the optimal company direction and value maximization strategies,” Bunn stated.

“Investigating the strategic potential to produce both high-value pigment and titanium metal from this deposit is a priority.”

“Metal production is crucial to the overall titanium narrative.”

“While pigment manufacturers emphasize pigment importance, the geopolitical significance lies in titanium metal,” Bunn asserted.

“Further process development and economic viability demonstrations will likely attract increased interest from strategic stakeholders,” Bunn concluded.

Empire shares, trading around 11p in London, have increased by approximately 55% year-to-date in 2025. The company’s recent OTCQB listing under ticker EPMLF expands accessibility for US investors seeking strategic metals exposure.

With a market valuation around £70 million, significant growth potential remains as the junior mining company progresses in defining the scale of opportunity and market enthusiasm for titanium strengthens.

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.