Reserve bauxite processing plant comes with 100 jobs
Published 5:24 pm Thursday, June 18, 2015
- First Bauxite Corp. of Canada announced plans to invest $200 million to develop a bauxite processing plant in St. John the Baptist Parish.
First Bauxite plans to build the plant on a 30-acre tract at the Globalplex Intermodal Terminal, which is owned and operated by the Port of South Louisiana in Reserve.
“Completion of our feasibility study is a significant milestone in the development of our bauxite industrial minerals project,” Roughead said. “The proposed facility will be located in a region offering competitive infrastructure, energy, labor and market access. We are very grateful for the assistance provided by LED, the Port of South Louisiana and the local authorities and business community.”
LED began discussing the potential project with the company in March 2014. To secure the project, the state offered a competitive incentive package that includes a performance-based grant of $950,000 to offset the costs of infrastructure improvements, and First Bauxite would receive the comprehensive solutions of LED FastStart®, the state workforce development program. The company also is expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.
First Bauxite plans to initiate discussions with third parties to develop strategic initiatives to finance the project this year. The planned construction period is 27 months, followed by an estimated three-year production ramp-up.
“It is a great time to be in St. John the Baptist Parish and we are extremely pleased that First Bauxite Corp. is preparing to make its $200 million investment along our industrial corridor,” St. John the Baptist Parish President Natalie Robottom said. “A project of this magnitude creates new quality jobs for our residents, increases opportunities for local business owners and enhances economic development of the parish.
“St. John relies heavily on industrial support and collaboration and this investment improves the parish’s overall competitiveness. We look forward to working with representatives of First Bauxite to bring this project to fruition.”
Port of South Louisiana Executive Director Paul Aucoin said the Port officials are pleased First Bauxite chose to construct its plant at it’s terminal in Reserve.
“We look forward to working with them and making this project a huge success,” he said. “We are particularly happy about the 100 new good-paying jobs that will come with the project.”
