According to the company, the commercial-scale plant will use recycled titanium metal scrap as raw material, and phase 1 is expected to have an initial production capacity of 125 tonnes per annum of titanium metal powder in spherical or angular form, IperionX said. The current price of spherical titanium metal powders used in additive manufacturing (AM) applications today is reportedly around US$250 per kg.
The facility will be housed in a ready-made 50,000 ft2 building in Halifax County, funded by local government partnerships and the Virginia Department of Energy. In turn, IperionX will invest around US$82 million in production related machinery and tools and create 108 jobs within a 36month timeframe.
The forecast capital cost to build phase 1 is US$20 million with an associated forecast operating cost of US$120 kg.
