Steelmaker moves ahead on effort to build plant in Southeast; Ky. officials say they won’t give up

Steel Dynamics Inc. said this week that its board approved plans to move ahead with construction of the $1.9 billion plant, though it did not specify where other than to say it will be somewhere in the Southeast. The company said it will own more than 94% of the facility through a joint venture arrangement with Unity Aluminum, formerly known as Braidy Industries.

Unity had intended to build an aluminum mill near Ashland but struggled for years to line up sufficient financing for the project.

But the Ashland-area site — about 240 acres — is “insufficient to meet the size and scope requirements” of the new project, a Unity spokesperson told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Steel Dynamics did not respond to emails and calls seeking comment on where its new mill would be located.

Gov. Andy Beshear made a pitch Thursday to Steel Dynamics, offering to show potential sites for the $1.9 billion plant to salvage a plan started by his predecessor.

“We want to talk to them,” the governor said. “We want their jobs to be in Kentucky.”

While the initial proposed site is too small for the project, the area has additional sites that would work, a local official said Thursday. Ashland Alliance President Tim Gibbs said he and other local officials are working with the state economic development cabinet to keep the project in Kentucky.

The Ashland Alliance is the chamber of commerce group representing Boyd and Greenup counties.

“They’ve increased the size of the manufacturing plant from 350,000 to 650,000 square feet,” Gibbs said.

Unity Aluminum promised in 2017 to build the aluminum plant at a site off Interstate 64 where Boyd, Greenup and Carter counties come together, and to hire 550 people. The company planned to have the mill open in 2020, but underwent a management shakeup and name change in its long and ultimately unsuccessful quest to raise sufficient capital to proceed.

“We are still working on it,” Gibbs said. “We haven’t given up.”

The Unity spokesperson said the company will have a small ownership stake in the new project.

Kentucky has its own stake in the project — a $15 million investment that then-Gov. Matt Bevin persuaded lawmakers to approve. Beshear on Thursday said it will go down as the “shadiest economic development deal in Kentucky’s history.”

The Unity spokesperson said Wednesday that the state will recoup its investment when the deal with Steel Dynamics closes, and Steel Dynamics said Unity employees will provide expertise to the project.

Indiana-based Steel Dynamics said Tuesday that investment for its project is estimated to reach $2.2 billion, which includes two supporting aluminum slab centers to be built elsewhere. Commercial production is planned to begin in early 2025, the company said.

“We are incredibly excited to announce this meaningful growth opportunity, which is aligned with our existing business and operational expertise,” Mark D. Millett, chairman and CEO of Steel Dynamics, said in a news release.

The Steel Dynamics mill is expected to produce 650,000 metric tons of low-carbon flat rolled aluminum each year — nearly double the original proposal for the Kentucky location, the Unity spokesperson said. Steel Dynamics also hopes customers will locate operations at the mill site to save money, also contributing to the need for more space, the Unity spokesperson said.

As for Unity’s role,Steel Dynamics said the plant will supply the beverage, automotive and common alloy industrial sectors. It pointed to a “substantial and growing supply deficit” in the North American flat rolled aluminum industry, based on growing demand from the automotive and beverage industries. And a significant number of its steel customers also have demand for aluminum, it said.

The project will be funded with available cash and cash flow from operations, the company said.

Steel Dynamics said it will completely own the two supporting recycled aluminum slab centers — one to be built in the southwestern U.S. and the other in Mexico.