Aluminum maker, Golden Triangle developers at odds over $1.2 billion project

The Columbus area economic development organization has put the 826-acres it has set aside for American Speciality Alloys back on the market, alleging that the startup that plans a $1.2 billion aluminum plant has not been acting in good faith recently.

Joe Max Higgins, chief executive of Golden Triangle Development LINK, said Tuesday that the startup company that says it plans to produce aluminum alloy for automotive bodies has not presented a financial plan to LINK.

The company’s plan calls for a 1.4 million-square-foot facility that would employ between 650 and 850. Roger Boggs, founder and chief executive of the company, told the Mississippi Business Journal Tuesday evening that the financial plan would not be revealed until a site has actually been selected. Boggs said the news from LINK was “discouraging,” but the plan was still “certainly viable” and that Columbus was not out of the picture.

Boggs revealed that the company has had ongoing interaction with the Mississippi Development Authority. He confirmed that the state has applied for permits in four other states — Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas. No published reports have surfaced indicating the site might be outside of Mississippi.

Boggs said Tuesday that the average wage at the plant would be $85,000 plus benefits.

American Specialty has said that it expects to commence production by late 2016 and that about 2,000 will be hired to build the plant.

The company said in a press release on Nov. 19 that it was seeking a site somewhere in the Southeast, and has not veered from that, though it set up an office in Columbus and has applied for permits with the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality.

The release violated an understanding that Golden Triangle Development LINK and the company had about keeping the project out of the public eye till all facets had been worked out.

The LINK sent a certified letter to Boggs, emails and phone messages but had gotten no response, Higgins said. So LINK gave the company a deadline of April 1 to commit to the Lowndes County site so it would continue to be held for American Specialty.