RTI to build plant in Mississippi

The new plant is in
addition to $100 million
in plant upgrades.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

WEATHERSFIELD — The parent company of RMI Titanium Co. announced plans to build a plant in Mississippi as it revealed a new contract that will provide $1.1 billion in revenues.

The new plant in Hamilton, Miss., will produce titanium sponge, which is used by mills in Weathersfield and Canton to produce titanium in slabs and other shapes.

Titanium sponge is created by putting titanium through a chemical process. Titanium is the Earth’s ninth-most-common element and is found in many parts of the world.

A press release issued Monday said the new plant will be next to a Tronox Inc. plant that supplies titanium tetrachloride, which is used in the production of sponge. The release also mentioned unspecified incentives from the state of Mississippi.

Officials of Weathersfield-based RTI International Metals, RMI’s parent company, were to hold a conference call with industry analysts today.

The new plant is to be completed in 2010.

The project is in addition to $100 million in plant upgrades that RTI previously announced. The locations for those upgrades haven’t been identified.

RTI has been upgrading its production capacity because of booming demand for titanium in a variety of industries, particularly from the aerospace industry.

RTI’s production capacity will go from about 16 million pounds this year to about 22 million pounds next year and to about 36 million pounds when all the projects are completed.

The projects will help the company meet its obligations on new contracts.

The contract announced Monday is with Airbus, a European-based supplier of commercial aircraft.

The contract is to generate more than $1.1 billion in revenue over its 11-year term, which begins in 2010. It calls for RTI to supply at least 45 million pounds of titanium products.

The deal supplements a contract announced with Airbus last year. Shipments under the 2006 contract are expected to exceed 5 million pounds of titanium products annually from 2008 through 2015.

RTI also has signed other major deals recently, including a deal to provide about $2 billion worth of titanium to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. for the military’s F-35 joint strike fighter.

RTI employs about 500 in Weathersfield at its corporate headquarters and titanium mill.

Monday’s announcement came after the close of stock markets. RTI stock closed down 51 cents, or 0.8 percent, Monday to close at $65.55 a share. It has traded between $39.81 and $101.49 in the past year.