December 3, 2025 12:27

The company supplied sulfuric acid to Venator Italy’s facility in Casone di Scarlino (Grosseto, Italy), a client lost when Venator decided to permanently shut down its Italian titanium dioxide (TiO2) production site.
Now, Nuova Solmine, a company belonging to the Solmar chemical group, has announced plans to acquire the facility and resume production.
The announcement was made yesterday during a meeting held at Italy’s Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy.

According to the proposal submitted to the ministry, Nuova Solmine will ensure continued production and safeguard employment for the plant’s 200 workers — rising to 700 when including related activities and supply chain jobs.

A binding preliminary purchase agreement is expected to be signed by the end of 2025. Nuova Solmine would officially take over on Jan. 1, 2026, with the simultaneous restart of one of the plant’s three production lines, aiming for a gradual return to full operational capacity.

Managed by Venator Italy, the Scarlino facility has been producing titanium dioxide (TiO2) since 1972, a substance used across multiple industries, including plastics, coatings, inks, pharmaceuticals and food. It is the only titanium dioxide production site in Italy, with a capacity of around 80,000 tonnes per year, but has been inactive for two years. At the beginning of 2024, Venator included it among the assets to be divested as part of its TiO2 production downsizing plan, along with the Duisburg site in Germany.

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