Titanium Sponge Plant Financing Approved

Baroid Corp. said its subsidiary, Titanium Metals Corp. of America, signed a $70-million debenture purchase agreement with a Japanese consortium to finance construction of a new titanium sponge plant.

The consortium is Union Titanium Sponge Corp. The new plant will be constructed in Henderson, Nev., the site of TIMET’s sponge and ingot manufacturing activities.

“This agreement is not only good for TIMET and UTSC but will make available to the U.S. aerospace industry and the Department of Defense stockpile program domestically produced titanium sponge of a purity presently available only through imports,” said Kirby Adams, president and chief operating officer of TIMET.

“This project will increase U.S. titanium production capacity, make the United States less reliant on imports and improve the efficiency of our operations and the quality of our product,” Adams said. “Thus, it is beneficial to the communities where we operate, our stockholders and employees and the industries which we serve.”

The new plant will have a 22-million-pound capacity and will incorporate the most advanced commercially proven titanium manufacturing technology available.