Mojave Aluminium to build $120 million plant in Lenwood

Barstow's Mojave Aluminium Company announced plans build a $120 million aluminium plant in Lenwood, California. The 964-acre aluminium direct chill billet casting facility is targeted for a 173-acre site at the southeast corner of Gazana Street and Amarylis Avenue.

The announcement comes weeks after a report surfaced alleging fraudulent market practices by China Zhongwang Holdings Limited, where Mojave Aluminium Company President Eric Shen was named as one of the persons involved in corporate misdemeanour.

"The extent which Dupre Analytics report will affect the status of the Barstow (Mojave) Aluminium plant application, if any, is not known at this time," Mitchell told the City Council. "We will continue to closely monitor this issue in an effort to assess whether the capacity of Mojave Aluminium to deliver the supporting documents necessary for the city to comprehensively evaluate the proposed project will be adversely impacted as well as whether the issues raised by a published report have implications on the long-term viability of the proposed Barstow industrial facility."

Mitchell stressed that the city has been processing Mojave Aluminium's application as it would with all other proposed projects. He also said Barstow has not established any formal relationship with Mojave Aluminium other than requiring all costs to process the application be paid by the applicant.

The process of working on the environmental impact report is progressing smoothly. The water consumption by the plant is estimated to be 70 to 75 percent less than originally estimated. Shen said energy efficiency has also been addressed by using renewable energy such as solar power. According to him, the environmental impact report should be ready in three to four weeks.