SeverCorr’s New Steel Mill Shines Bright in Mississippi’s Golden Triangle

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Mississippi’s “Golden Triangle” is formed by the cities of Columbus, Starkville, and West Point. The term was first created to encourage greater economic ties between the three cities and counties (Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay). Columbus has traditionally been the leading city for industrial development in “Golden Triangle.” The $1 billon grassroot steel mill that SeverCorr LLC (Columbus, Ohio) is building is a golden example of that. SeverCorr, the United States subsidiary of SeverStal Group (NYSE:CHMF) (Vologda, Russia) expects to complete construction of the first stage of the project this summer. The most recent step in that arduous process was securing all the necessary permits, both federal and local. The company has all the required government permits to guarantee the plant will follow the diverse environmental protection laws and regulations necessary to run a safe plant.

Besides steel, an unwanted byproduct of operating a steel mill is dust; it’s considered a hazardous byproduct. The dust will be transported to another facility for disposal and while no disposal site has been picked yet, the hazardous dust will be contained and not allowed to escape into the air. The law requires that an authorized waste/disposal site be used and there are only a few authorized waste sites in Missouri. The waste even comes with its own classification “K061.” It’s covered by the laws and regulations of the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. All this falls under state hazardous waste regulations.

In January, early-stage steelmaking operations began as construction of the plant continues toward a summer completion date. SeverCorr began construction in October 2005. The company plans to produce 1.5 million tons of high-quality steel a year for use in the automotive, building, agricultural, pipe and appliance industries. In addition, a new barge facility is in the planning stages to service the steel mill. The Lowndes County Port Authority owns the land that will house the facility and they will in turn lease it to SeverCorr LLC. Kinder Morgan Terminals of Alquippa, Pennsylvania will build and staff the facility. The new barge unloading facility will be used to unload scrap metal from barges and load it onto trucks for delivery to the SeverCorr steel mill. They expect 600,000 tons of scrap metal to pass through the facility per year. Once phase two of the steel mill is completed that figure could rise as high as 1.5 million tone a year.

The new plant is expected to be operational by August 2007 and still needs to fill numerous positions. When open they expect to employ 450 and produce 1.5–1.7 million ton of steel per year. With support companies and steel fabrication firms that are expected to more to the area, new employment figures could reach 750-1,000 in several years. SeverCorr has received over 8,000 applications thus far.

SeverCorr isn’t the only plant to see the golden draw to the Columbus area. American Eurocopter Corporation, of Grand Prairie, Texas is funding a multimillion-dollar helicopter assembly plant expansion across from the new steel mill. With construction starting this month, the project is expected to be complete by early 2008. Another multimillion-dollar project starting in the Golden Triangle is Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation, of Manassas, Virginia. They are opening a new 20,000 square foot plant that will initially manufacture the Hunter II, unmanned aerial vehicles for long endurance military missions. Close on the heals of their new plant, with expectations of completion this year, Aurora Flight has plans for another expansion that will add a 60,000 square foot building to produce the Orion HALL unmanned surveillance aircraft.

All in all Mississippi has more than $13 billion in industrial project activity scheduled to begin construction in 2007 or beyond. Click on the image at right to view the Mississippi Industrial Project Spending Analysis Chart.

Additionally, two new steel processing plants will be opening in Columbus in support of the SeverCorr plant. Kenwal Steel Corporation (Dearborn, Michigan) starts construction this month on a $15 million, 210,000 square foot steel processing plant. It will be equipped with a heavy and light gauge slitting system and an automated packaging line. Heidtman Steel Products Incorporated (Toledo, Ohio) has plans to open a new $10 million, 240,000 square foot steel processing plant later this year also. A laser cutting system as well as descaling equipment will be in place within a mater of months. It appears that the future is indeed bright for Mississippi’s “Golden Triangle.”

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