Company officials with Silicor Materials, formerly Calisolar, are in Columbus this week to update local leaders on the progress of their proposed 1 million-square-foot silicon metal production and purification facility.
The company was slated to begin phase one construction by Sept. 2, but when they failed to meet that objective, the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors granted an extension until Dec. 31, stipulating they meet specific, monthly benchmarks or risk having the county cancel the entire project.
Chief Executive Office Terry Jester, President Daniel Gross, Chief Financial Officer John Beaver and other company representatives attended Wednesday’s quarterly meeting of the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link, giving many their first glimpse of the Silicor leadership team.
Friday morning, the group is scheduled to meet with a committee designated to monitor their progress and ensure accountability.
The committee members — Lowndes County District 1 Supervisor and Board President Harry Sanders, Board Attorney Tim Hudson, County Administrator Ralph Billingsley and District 2 Supervisor Bill Brigham — will be looking for specific marks of progress from the company.
“I’m hoping to get some pretty firm commitments on when they’re going to get started,” Billingsley said. “I’m hoping to have some pretty firm commitments this is going to happen.”
Last year, company officials, including Executive Chairman John T. Correnti, entered negotiations to build the plant in Mansfield, Ohio, but at the last minute, they rejected a $275 million conditional loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy, saying they would not be able to meet the September deadline to begin construction.
Another Correnti project, a rebar micro-mill in Amory, broke ground in October 2008 but was never finished due to a lack of funding. Amory aldermen terminated the project site lease in June.
Company officials have blamed funding issues for their delay in Lowndes as well, saying they have not been able to receive a commitment from their European banking partners.
Wednesday, Beaver said they still have not secured the financial commitment they need and confirmed they have not yet started soil boring for environmental testing, though they hope to do so within the next 30 days. They said the outcome of the November general election will have no impact on their operations.
Sanders declined to elaborate on the benchmarks the county has set for Silicor Materials, saying he preferred to wait until Friday’s meeting to discuss it.
“The financing being in place is certainly one of the questions of the benchmark,” he said. “Environmental testing, when they’ll put a shovel in the ground, who the partners are — those will all be questions.”
State lawmakers awarded a $75.25 million incentive package to the company last September, including a $59.5 million equipment and construction loan, $11.25 million for infrastructure and $4.5 million for local workforce training. Lowndes County gave an additional $19 million in financial incentives.
Under the new timeline, the company is expected to begin phase one by Dec. 31 and phase two by June 1.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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