Site development for a multi-billion aluminum flat roll mill facility in Mississippi is near completion, with foundation work set or mid-summer. Developer Steel Dynamics Inc.—which is serving as the general contractors—told investors last month that it has placed orders for critical production equipment.
This is only the second new rolling mill to be built in the U.S. in the last 40 years. In November, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves announced the $2.5-billion project.
The mega project includes a biochar plant that will produce feedstock for the 2.3-million-sq-ft rolling mill. Engineering work is being done by Neel-Schaffer Engineering.
The massive facilities are being built in Lowndes County, one of a few Mississippi counties where the Tennessee Valley Authority provides power, says Max Joe Higgins, CEO of the Greater Triangle Development Link, the agency that recruited the firm to build the complex.
The aluminum-producing process takes massive amounts of electricity. According to Higgins, plans do not include the construction and operations of an electrical plant, adding that TVA can supply enough power to run the operation. The utility uses nuclear, hydro, coal, wind and solar to generate electricity, he explained.
The developer's website states that the plant will produce 650,000 tons of aluminum annually, with production being comprised of can sheets, 45%; automotive, 35%; and common alloy, 20%. When fully operational, both sites should employ about 1,000 workers.
Higgins says the biochar plant is slated for completion in 2024, with the mill set to be finished in the first quarter of 2025.
Only weeks before the November 2022 announcement that Steel Dynamics was constructing the rolling mill, Alabama broke ground on a $2.5-billion rolling mill and recycling facility in Bay Minette, local media reported.
