Startup with Charlotte HQ picks Virginia for titanium powder production plant, 100-plus jobs

IperionX Ltd. is in negotiations to build a titanium powder processing plant in Halifax County, Virginia. The facility would be capable of producing 138 tons a year from 100% recycled metal in its initial phase.

IperionX (NASDAQ: IPX) could qualify for $4.87 million in state and local incentives for the project. In order to receive the proposed incentives, the company would have to spend $82 million on equipment and employ 108 workers within 36 months after opening the facility.

The initial phase of the project is expected to have 31 employees.

IperionX CEO Taso Arima called this first commercial-scale demonstrator project ”a critical step in advancing IperionX’s ambition to reshore an all-American source of titanium metal.”

“We are highly appreciative of the support and welcome that we have received from our partners and stakeholders in Virginia,” he says, adding that the company “look(s) forward to establishing IperionX as a leader in advanced manufacturing in our new home.”

Incentives negotiated from several sources

That new home is a 50,000-square-foot building already constructed in Southern Virginia Technology Park just outside of South Boston, Virginia. That's about 10 miles from the North Carolina border, north of Durham.

The company could move into the building and start the first phase of production within several months. IperionX is eligible for a $4 million upfit allowance from the Halifax Industrial Development Authority to make the site “development ready." Gov. Glenn Youngkin has approved a $300,000 grant from the Virginia Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund, and the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission has approved a grant of $573,000.

Confirmation of the site agreement and the financial offer are subject to execution of a binding performance agreement among the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and IperionX.

'Putting Virginia on the map' for critical materials

The plant will be an expansion of the pilot demonstration plant that IperionX currently operates in Utah.

“The new Halifax County operation will represent the first titanium metal powder facility in the U.S. using 100% recycled titanium scrap as feedstock, putting Virginia on the map for providing a critical material that is essential for our advanced Industries,” Youngkin says. “We look forward to supporting this forward-thinking company that will develop a new supply chain of titanium right here in the Commonwealth while creating high-quality jobs.”

A key consideration for IperionX was that the site has grid access to power its plant completely on carbon-free renewable energy sources.

The company says it evaluated 250 sites in 30 states before settling on negotiations for the Halifax site. It says key considerations were “cost, site readiness, expansion capability, access to infrastructure and potential financial incentives.” A press release from Virginia's governor says that state competed with North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia for the project.

IperionX could be eligible to receive state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Funding and services to support the company’s employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

$16.2M raised to scale up processing and commercialization

IperionX says the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Department of Energy and Virginia Clean Cities also oversee financial incentive programs that can support the company’s commitment to decarbonization and the circular economy.

IperionX is an Australian startup company with its headquarters in Charlotte. Arima has said publicly that IperionX is likely to consider becoming a U.S.-based company since all of its operations are here. The company’s purpose is to reestablish titanium and rare-earth mining and manufacturing in the United States. Those strategic materials are now produced overseas — including in Russia and China — although the U.S. had once been a major titanium producer.

Earlier this month, the company announced it had raised $16.2 million in a private placement to scale up its titanium processes and move to commercializing its products.