A deal for Steel Dynamics Inc. to purchase 90 acres of the Lowndes County Port Authority’s East Bank is now slated to close by Oct. 1.

Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins told The Dispatch the company is now working on a finalized contract with LCPA to build its own on-loading and off-loading operations at the port.

“They have put the port on notice that they anticipate closing on the port project as of Oct. 1,” Higgins said. “A project manager has already been assigned to the future project, and we’ve got a conference call coming up, I think next week (about the project).”

SDI has long been a customer of the East Bank, trucking and railing scrap metal, pig iron and other materials to SDI’s steel mill near the Golden Triangle Regional Airport. It then ships metal coils to customers via rail, barges and trucks.

The capital expenditure amount for the project has not been disclosed.

Higgins said the company hoped to close on a deal with the port earlier this year but was delayed in securing contract details because of its other project, Aluminum Dynamics, which is a $2 billion project to build a flat-rolled aluminum mill on 2,100 acres on Charleigh D. Ford Jr. Drive.

In November 2022, The Mississippi Legislature passed a $243 million incentive package to assist the mill’s buildout and for a biocarbon manufacturing plant on Artesia Road, near the International Paper pulp mill.

“I think getting the big project stood up just took everybody’s energy,” Higgins said. “… The plan was to acquire it earlier, and then everybody just got busy. I don’t think the port is saying to take it today or you can’t have it. I think they understand the situation.”

Lowndes County Tax Assessor Greg Andrews estimated the value of the property at $1.6 million for tax purposes, though a purchase price has not been disclosed.

A portion of that section of the East Bank once housed KiOR, a bio-organic fuels plant that opened in 2012. KiOR stopped operating a year later and its improvements have since been demolished.

LCPA attorney John Crowell said the port board approved the company’s letter of intent to purchase the property earlier this year, and he is now waiting on SDI’s legal team to submit a final contract before ironing out any last details.

The contract would include building the on-loading and off-loading operation, as well as an additional rail spur to support it, Crowell said.

“As soon as we get a chance to look at the document, we certainly intend to act promptly to finalize it and move forward,” Crowell said. “As far as the timing is concerned (on closing), It’s all dependent on the contract language.”

The deal between SDI and LCPA, if approved, will also need final approval from the supervisors. In January, supervisors approved a resolution requiring the port to get its approval on contract options longer than 6 months or deals involving more than $25,000.

The port brings in about 1.5 million tons of cargo annually, with SDI being its largest customer. Port Director Will Sanders said the project will increase the business the port has with SDI, as well as benefit the company’s steel and future aluminum mill.

“We feel that whatever SDI decides to do with the property, it will increase our activity and tonnage in the short run and hopefully in the long run, as well,” Sanders said. “We look forward to working with SDI in growing the Lowndes County port.”

David A. Lipschitz, investor relations director at SDI, did not respond by press time to calls or emails seeking comment.