Livingston-based metal specialist IMET Alloy is investing £9 million to establish Europe’s first dedicated aerospace-grade titanium-processing facility in France.

The company, which counts Rolls-Royce among its customers, plus US conglomerate General Electric and French multi-national Safran, specialises in the processing and supply-chain management of titanium and super-alloy materials.

Its new plant at Saint Georges-De Mons, near Clermont-Ferrand, is expected to employ around 50 people and to be operational by 2022.

The plant will convert titanium from aircraft manufacturers and their sub-contractors into clean furnace-ready material.

IMET channels this back into the world’s titanium-melting facilities, displacing primary ore and “helping
to create a circular economy within Europe’s aerospace manufacturing supply chain”.

Chief executive Ruaraidh Williamson said: “We will be using exclusive technologies developed by IMET to cement our position as the processor and supplier of next-generation alloys used in the latest energy-efficient engines.”