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Tronox’s sodium chlorate plant to close Nov. 30

By: Staff, Wire//May 27, 2015//

Tronox’s sodium chlorate plant to close Nov. 30

By: Staff, Wire//May 27, 2015//

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HAMILTON, Miss. – Tronox is shutting down one of its two northeast Mississippi facilities, a move that will affect about 70 employees.

Tronox said its smaller facility in Hamilton, which makes sodium chlorate, will be shutting down Nov. 30.

Bud Grebey, vice president of corporate affairs and communications for Tronox, said there has been a decline in the global demand of the product, which is used as an alternative to chlorine as a whitener for paper and pulp products.

Grebey says the idled workers can apply for 30 jobs being be added at Tronox’s pigment plant, which now employs 425 people and 275 contractors. Others will be given severance, extended benefits and outplacement services.

The sodium chlorate plant was built in 1958.

Tronox, which has its headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, was formerly based in Oklahoma City. The chemical company spun off from Oklahoma City-based Kerr-McGee Corp. in 2006. Houston-based Anadarko Petroleum acquired Kerr-McGee for $18 billion later the same year.