With the first of three monthly meetings out of the way, county officials are breathing a sigh of relief, saying plans appear to be on track and going well with the two-phase construction of a silicon metal production and purification facility.
Although the two phases are intertwined, with many of the same partners and much of the same leadership, each phase calls for the construction of a separate, though interdependent, facility.
The first phase of the project calls for the construction of a silicon metal production facility, operated by Delta Silicon, though that name may change. At Delta Silicon, quartz will be exposed to high temperatures and refined into 99 percent pure, metallurgical-grade silicon metal, which can be used in multiple applications, from the automotive industry, where aluminum-silicon alloys are used for engines and other parts, and the chemical industry, where it may be found as an anti-caking ingredient in women’s facial powders or a light abrasive in things like toothpaste.
The second facility, Silicor Materials, will purify the silicon metal produced by Delta Silicon, transforming it into solar silicon bricks which will then be sliced into thin wafers and used in things like solar panels. Two-thirds of the wafers will be shipped to countries like China, which relies heavily on solar power.
Friday morning, Delta Silicon officials met with a Lowndes County committee at the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link, reassuring them that though the company had to ask for an extension on its start date, the timeline is on schedule now, and they expect to meet their Dec. 31 start date.
Originally, the company was to begin construction Sept. 2 but was delayed by trouble securing financing. As a condition of granting the extension, the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors voted to request monthly updates, face-to-face, between Delta Silicon’s leadership team and a committee comprised of Lowndes County District 1 Supervisor and Board President Harry Sanders, County Attorney Tim Hudson, County Administrator Ralph Billingsley and District 2 Supervisor Bill Brigham.
Although the committee could have scuttled the project after Friday’s meeting — in effect killing both facilities at the same time — Sanders said they were satisfied the company is meeting its prescribed benchmarks and the committee agreed to continue the extension.
“The meeting went real well,” Sanders said Saturday. “I have confidence that everything’s going to turn out fine.”
Sanders declined to detail the benchmarks the county expects Delta Silicon to meet each month but said company officials answered all of their questions to their satisfaction and the next meeting is scheduled for mid-November.
“As of right now, everything’s on schedule,” Sanders said. “I think we’re all in good shape.”
Phase two of the project, the construction of Silicor Materials, is expected to begin by June.
Together, the two facilities will occupy a 258-acre tract of land east of Industrial Park Road, directly behind Mitchell Beer Distributing. Based upon the county’s memorandum of understanding with project officials, the entire project is to create 951 full-time jobs — 200 at Delta Silicon and 751 at Silicor Materials.
State lawmakers approved a $75.25 million incentive package last September to lure the project to Mississippi after company officials pulled out of plans to build in Mansfield, Ohio.
Lowndes County gave an additional $19 million in financial incentives.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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