In 1856 prospectors found some potential in the region of Lac Allard. In 1941, the government of Quebec discovered additional resources in the area, and in 1946 after two years of exploration
Kennco Explorations, the Canadian subsidiary of Kennecott, found an ore body. In 1950 the mine at Lac Allard was opened. Difficulties in the smelting process delayed the plant at Sorel until 1957. As of 1976, QIT was responsible for the development of an ilmenite mine in northeast
South Africa, called
Zulti South and
Zulti North Richards Bay Minerals in
KwaZulu-Natal. As of 1977 the firm was 2/3 owned by
Kennecott Copper and 1/3 owned by
New Jersey Zinc, a unit of
Gulf and Western Industries. In 1981 after a worldwide fall in copper prices,
Standard Oil of Ohio (SOHIO) acquired Kennecott. In 1987,
BP acquired SOHIO, and Kennecott became part of BP Minerals America. In 1989,
Rio Tinto Zinc purchased mining assets from BP. In the late 20th century QIT was part of a group of 50 polluters that reduced their effluent by 90%, as part of a government effort to clean up the
St Lawrence River. In 1996 QIT developed a product it called UGS, which has a 94.5% TiO2 composition. UGS stands for Up Graded Slag, and is a form of synthetic
rutile. In March 2004 the president of QIT was Pat Fiore, and he was concerned that at the time his operation was supplying 15% of the market, and running at 70% capacity because of the closure of three clients over the previous 15 years. That year, the industry had an overcapacity of 600,000 tonnes. Fiore complained that at least one of his competitors has a plant with no heating expense, because the plant is located in Africa. In 2008
Hatch partnered with QIT to expand the UGS plant to a capacity of 375,000 tonnes per year. As of 2009, the company is a wholly owned subsidiary of mining firm
Rio Tinto. In this year QIT obtained the first ore from Madagascar. ==Operations==