Tooele titanium plant OKs DuPont metal pact

Delaware-based DuPont said Thursday it will supply up to 100 million pounds of titanium tetrachloride annually to Allegheny Titanium's new titanium metal plant in Tooele County.

The facility will make roughly 10,000 tons of titanium metal per year. Allegheny Titanium is a subsidiary of Allegheny Technologies Inc.

DuPont said it will invest $30 million at a Tennessee titanium dioxide plant to install a new purification unit to make titanium tetrachloride. The new unit is expected to begin operations in the summer of 2008.

Titanium tetrachloride, in addition to its use in titanium metal manufacturing, is used to produce certain plastics as well as films used in shopping bags and other consumer products.