Feds dig into big mining deal

Antitrust worries have come to light in the sunscreen sector.

Tronox, a Stamford, Conn.-based mining company, is getting scrutinized by regulators for its $2.2 billion deal to buy the titanium dioxide unit of Saudi-owned miner Cristal, a source told The Post.

Specifically, the Federal Trade Commission is concerned that the merger would create the world’s largest producer of titanium dioxide, a whitening pigment that’s widely used in sunscreen, paint, food coloring and toothpaste, the source said.

“This deal is in trouble,” the source who is close to the situation said, citing FTC concerns that the combo would eliminate healthy price competition in the supply chain for a range of household products.

That’s despite the fact that Tronox, a publicly traded company with a $2.8 billion market cap, said in May it has “discovered no significant obstacles to our completing this transaction and we are even more confident of the strategic value the transaction will enable.”

Tronox is a global leader in the mining, production and marketing of inorganic minerals and chemicals. The company’s titanium dioxide business operates four chemical manufacturing plants in three countries, and operates mines in South Africa and Australia.

Tronox did not respond to requests for comment.