The general manager of Allegheny Technologies new $460 million titanium plant at Rowley said yesterday his company is on track for a third-quarter opening this year, will continue ramping up production through 2010, and is banking on a relationship with US Magnesium to make the operation profitable.
Steve Knight has 28 years experience in the aluminum industry and comes to Rowley from Whitefish, Mont., where he managed an aluminum plant for 11 years. He’ll oversee an operation that will combine magnesium from nearby US Magnesium with titanium tetrachloride to form titanium — for use in various industries — and magnesium chloride, which will be returned to US Magnesium for producing more magnesium.
White said that process makes the relationship between the two companies highly symbiotic.
“We would not have located in Tooele County, Utah, if it wasn’t for the presence of US Magnesium,” said Knight, while speaking at a Tooele Chamber of Commerce luncheon on Wednesday. “If something should happen to them we would remain viable, but our profitability would be in question.”
The relationship between the companies is also expected to help the demand side of US Magnesium’s business, which has been hard hit during the recession, resulting in the layoff of 54 workers last month.
“ATI will be a substantial customer for US Magnesium,” said Tom Tripp, technical services manager for the Rowley-based magnesium producer. “Our major market right now is the aluminum industry and automobile manufacturers. But we do have a long-term agreement with ATI and when they start production it will be very beneficial to us.”
At full capacity, the Allegheny plant is expected to produce 24 million pounds of titanium per year. However, the plant, which Knight said was entirely paid for through company cash flow, was designed to be expandable to produce another 18 million pounds of titanium per year.
The centerpiece of the multi-building complex is a massive 230,000-square-foot processing facility. Construction of the exterior of all the buildings is nearly complete machinery is being moved in, Knight said.
The company has also completed two phases of a four-phase staffing plan. At this time, there are about 12 full-time people onboard, including plant management and engineering staff, according to Knight. Phase 3 will be completed before the plant starts up, and will involve a small group of key employees that will train on the equipment and start initial production. The last phase for staffing will bring on additional operators and staff as the plant picks up production sometime in 2010.
Final staffing is expected to be around 150 people, according to Knight.
Knight described the titanium production process as being fairly clean.
“The only byproduct is the magnesium chloride, and that will go back to US Magnesium,” Knight said. “There are very few emissions.”
The plant will use water to clean machinery and will have a treatment facility to clean that wastewater. The plant will also have a water treatment plant to clean the brackish well water found on site to make it potable.
ATI has spent $10 million in rail upgrades, as the titanium tetrachloride will come to the plant from Tennessee in rail cars.
The final product of the plant, premium-grade titanium sponge, will be shipped out by truck to other ATI facilities in Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina, where it will be converted into titanium or used in production for components for the aerospace, defense, medical, or energy industries.
Source: Tooele Transcripts
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