Before you build an aluminum mill, you have to work some dirt.
Aluminum Dynamics Inc. has been excavating land on its 1,100-acre site for a new flat-rolled aluminum mill since late March. Now, contractors are preparing to erect office spaces for the plant, Geiger Excavators project manager Grant Chaffee said.
Geiger Excavators and Vision IV Construction, sister construction companies based out of Indiana, are the current contractors for the project.
Chaffee told The Dispatch excavation teams have been clearing land for road access into the plant area since March and are installing drainage lines for four smaller buildings which will be used for office space, a cafeteria and a warehouse. One concrete slab has already been poured, with three others to follow.
“You could call this phase one,” Chaffee said. “We are where we’re trying to get roads established on the site. We are concentrating on the one end of the site right now to get as many people in there to get started working (in those offices). So they’re starting (dirt work) with some of the smaller buildings in order to get those erected.”
Dirt work on those sites are set to be complete by July for construction crews to begin construction. Geiger will start dirt work on the main plant around the same time.
Columbus-based Burks-Mordecai Builders has also obtained a subcontract from Vision IV Construction to erect one of those buildings.
Project Manager Jordan Mordecai was unavailable to comment on the project by press time.
Chaffee said other infrastructure and utility work is also forthcoming. A concrete slab for a new substation has been built near the mill’s entrance, and Chaffee expects that could be installed this summer. Construction of the entire plant is expected to wrap up early 2025 and the plant is slated to come online by fall of that year.
Plans for the new aluminum mill began in early 2022 between SDI, an Indiana-based steel company, and The Golden Triangle Development LINK. In November, the Mississippi State Legislature passed a $246 million incentive package, in part, to build a state-of-the-art low-carbon, aluminum flat-rolled mill near its Columbus steel mill.
Road work and permits still needed
Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said the project is progressing at the right pace. However, ADI still needs to obtain a federal air emissions permit and complete a land transfer for 144 acres with Golden Triangle Regional Airport.
“Obviously, they’re out there working daily. Quite a lot of dirt work is being done,” Higgins said. “… (ADI) will have their final permits in hand probably around the first of July, then they’ll be ready to go.”
Higgins also said road work to support the site is still waiting on completion, including a $5 million project to build Manufacturers Drive Loop between Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive and Artesia Road, and a $17.5 million project to upgrade Artesia Road to accommodate 80,000-pound trucks.
Work on Manufacturers Drive Loop is slated to begin later this year, while Artesia Road will be upgraded in the summer of 2025, Higgins said.
Higgins added that the LINK is still working with ADI, Oktibbeha and Lowndes County to establish more emergency services by the new aluminum mill, as well as locating a daycare facility near the ADI campus, but those projects are still in the planning phase.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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