IperionX (NASDAQ: IPX, ASX: IPX) announced Monday that the U.S. Army has awarded it a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for low-cost, domestic titanium for defense applications. 

Considered a critical mineral by the US, EU and Canada because it is essential for defense, aerospace, medical, and industrial technologies, titanium has a unique strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance with few substitutes. 

Titanium is used in two distinctly different forms: as titanium dioxide (TiO2) for pigments and as titanium metal alloyed for aerospace applications.  

The company’s second SBIR contract enables qualifying US Government agencies to place project-specific orders collectively capped at $99 million. Task Orders 1 and 2 have an aggregate stated value of approximately $19.8 million, with $79.2 million remaining available under the IDIQ contract ceiling. 

The SBIR funding supports equipment and manufacturing systems to expand IperionX’s domestic titanium powder-to-part manufacturing capacity. The program will increase titanium component-processing capability, bring critical manufacturing steps in-house and support shorter lead times, providing the potential to lower acquisition and production costs for U.S. defense applications, the company said. 

The program advances integrated titanium powder-to-finished-component operations, with continuous HSPT and dehydride furnace capacity, together with equipment that will bring titanium fastener finishing fully in-house at IperionX’s Virginia facility. 

Expanded US defense manufacturing capability 

A manufacturing program for titanium track pins, bolts and fasteners for defense applications, with inspection and acceptance is planned at Detroit Arsenal and Army Research Laboratory’s Aberdeen Proving Ground. 

Future option line items could extend IperionX’s patented technologies into an aerospace-grade titanium component program, it said.  

“This second U.S. Army task order represents an important step in scaling IperionX’s titanium powder-to-part manufacturing platform,” IperionX CEO Taso Arima said in a news release.  

“The SBIR Phase III award aims to advance continuous and industrial-scale HSPT and dehydride capacity and bring titanium fastener finishing fully in-house at our Virginia titanium manufacturing facility,” Arima said.  

“The program will expand our capacity to manufacture titanium track pins, bolts and fasteners for the U.S. Army, shorten production lead times and strengthen the domestic titanium manufacturing capabilities required to support U.S. defense supply chains.”