Kymera buys AmeriTi Manufacturing
In early April, speciality materials company Kymera announced it had closed its transaction to acquire AmeriTi Manufacturing. Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, AmeriTi is a leading manufacturer of value-added ferrotitanium, titanium sponge, titanium powders, and speciality forms. AmeriTi’s parts business known now as TriTech Titanium Parts, is not included in the transaction.
“AmeriTi is a growing company led by a talented, dedicated employee base that culturally aligns with our mission and objectives to be the leading manufacturer of specialty materials that shape the future,” said Barton White, CEO of Kymera. “We believe this is a synergistic acquisition that will give our combined company strong technical and commercial resources to help fuel our growth in the aerospace, medical, defense, and industrial markets.”
Bob Swenson, the owner of AmeriTi for 25 years, noted that the companies together would “continue to build the product lines and grow into new areas… The combined business will be able to build on its titanium experience and knowledge.”
Source: www.kymerainternational.com
Iluka gives green light to A$1Bn Australian rare earths refinery
Heavy mineral sands producer Iluka Resources will proceed with its Eneabba integrated rare earths refinery in Western Australia after its board of directors gave the green light to the project in early April.
The decision was taken following the completion of a feasibility study and an agreement of a risk sharing arrangement with the Australian government. This includes via a non-recourse loan under the Australian Government’s A$2Bn Critical Minerals Facility, administered by Export Finance Australia (EFA).
Under phase three, Iluka’s Eneabba rare earths facility would deliver a fully integrated refinery for the production of separated rare earth oxides in Western Australia. The separated oxides due to be produced are neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.
The refinery will be capable of processing rare earth feedstocks sourced from both Iluka’s portfolio and from a range of potential third party concentrate suppliers. Iluka has a stockpile of the rare earth-bearing minerals monazite and xenotime, and potential future sources of feedstock include Iluka’s Wimmera deposit.
Under the refinery parameters, Iluka would have a total rare earth oxide capacity of 17.5ktpy, a capital cost of A$1,000-1,200M. Construction is scheduled to begin in H2 2022 with first production expected in 2025. Iluka itself will contribute cash equity of A$200M. Commonwealth funding is via a A$1,050M non-recourse loan provided by EFA’s Critical Minerals Facility.
Source: www.iluka.com
German consortium launches Battery Pass project
In late April, a consortium of German world-class leaders and market drivers launched the Battery Pass project, funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action BMWK (BMWK).
The project will provide a comprehensive solution for securely sharing information and data across different organisations and value-chain participants in the field of traction batteries, based on mandatory standard datasets and an interoperable technical implementation approach.
The Battery Pass project comprises eleven consortium partners that are global organisations from relevant industries, research institutions and academies as well as providers of digital services in open standards, battery analysis and tracking. They are acatech – Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften, AUDI AG, BASF SE, BMW AG, Circulor GmbH, FIWARE Foundation e.V., Fraunhofer IPK, SYSTEMIQ GmbH, TWAICE Technologies GmbH, Umicore AG & Co KG, and VDE Renewables GmbH.
The parliamentary state secretary, Michael Kellner, explained: “Sustainable batteries are a key element for environmentally, socially and climate-friendly electromobility. With the digital Battery Pass, we are getting a big step closer to this goal: Important data, such as the climate footprint or information on the conditions of raw material extraction, repairability and recyclability, will be securely stored in it and exchanged among the economic actors along the battery value chain – from raw material extraction to reuse and recycling. This creates transparency around the electric car battery”.
Source: umicore.com
Raytheon supply chain constraints put 2023 deliveries under spotlight
In its Q1 2022 earnings call, aerospace and defence group Raytheon Technologies noted that supply chain constraints including electronics, aluminium and titanium supplies could start to impact narrow-body production delivery rates in 2023.
Gregory Hayes, Raytheon chairman and CEO, noted that sanctions on Russia were impacting availability of titanium forgings and castings, and that “titanium sourcing today is very difficult”.
Hayes reported that Raytheon had identified sourcing challenges and was finding second sources, but that challenges would cause the group to be late on some deliveries in 2022.
Source: raytheon.com
