Amaero to cut remaining ties with Australia, focus on US

Amaero International’s board has decided to end operations in Australia, following the July announcement that it will locate its R&D, corporate headquarters and planned titanium powder factory in Tennessee.

As its ASX statement on Tuesday put it, the company “resolved to commence the cessation of its operations in Australia”, reflecting a “commitment to focus its executive team on flagship operations in the U.S. and to prudently manage operating expenses.”  

Amaero said it will terminate leases at South Australian and Victorian sites as well as any remaining commercial contracts in Australia.

The company was spun out of research at Monash University’s Monash Centre for Additive Manufacturing in 2013.

Equipment and inventory remaining in Australia “may be shipped to the Tennessee facility or will be sold.”

Tennessee coaxed Amaero to site an aerospace-grade titanium powder factory, which the company had previously intended to set up in the UAE after being offered defence offsets.  

Prior to the UAE, Amaero was planning to locate the powder plant in Melbourne, telling shareholders in May 2021 that it had signed an MoU with a global metal powder supply company, with planned sales of $30 million a year. The plans were axed in September 2022 after a strategic review. 

Factors cited in the July Tennessee announcement included investment credit; a long-term electricity rate subsidy from the Tennessee Valley Authority, with electricity rates 85 per cent “less than the prevailing rates in Victoria”; A lease 75 per cent less than a proposed facility at KEZAD in the UAE; and proximity to Chattanooga, Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Amaero told shareholders in March this year that the cancelled Melbourne power factory saw it pay two settlements, cumulatively worth $730,000, related to a facility lease and money owed to Air Liquide Australia.

Picture: credit Amaero

Further reading

Titanium powder factory slated for Melbourne then UAE will now be built in US: Amaero

Amaero pays up over cancelled powders factory

Amaero lured to UAE – Victoria loses out on new plant

Amaero revamps leadership, dumps planned Victorian factory

Amaero to build strategic titanium alloy powder plant