Officials to visit aluminum plants in China

Five city and county officials will be visiting China later this month to view a new type of aluminum manufacturing facility that is proposed here.

The plant is said to be the first in North America to combine aluminum cast house operations with the making of extruded products (parts) and rolled (sheet metal) products under one roof.

If the planned 2.95 million square foot Barstow Aluminum Corp. factory is built here, experts say it will be “a game changer” for this High Desert city of 23,000.

Making the trip during the week of April 21 will be Kelly Reenders, administrator of the San Bernardino County Economic Development Agency, Barstow Mayor Julie Hackbarth-McIntyre, City Council member Merrill Gracey, City Manager Curt Mitchell and Oliver Chi, the assistant city manager who has been working with the project’s developers.

The $1.5 billion plant will employ at least 2,000, each earning on average $40,000, Chi said.

“I call this a game changer,” said Joe Brady, a commercial real estate broker who works in the High Desert.

Chi and Brady noted that Barstow Aluminum would attract ancillary businesses and its large employee base would stimulate home construction as well as a variety of retail outlets hoping to serve this new group of residents with well-paying jobs.

Barstow’s unemployment rate has hovered around 12 percent in recent months.

Chi said most of the project’s financial backers also have interests in China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd., the largest aluminum extrusion products maker in China and the third largest in the world.

The combined Barstow/County group will visit an operating Zhongwang aluminum plant in Liaoning, China, and one under construction in Tianjin.

Chi said the plant in Tianjin, expected to be completed late this year, will be like what is proposed for Barstow.

In addition to working with Zhongwang investors, “The county is excited to support the city of Barstow in better understanding the proposed facility, which would be the first of its kind in North America,” Reenders said. “Beyond providing regional government support for the project, we will be able to more clearly determine what resources can be applied to bring the opportunity to fruition.”

“The county is committed to assisting in the development of workforce strategies to successfully supply the thousands of jobs this opportunity brings. This trip will help the county better understand the scope of the development and the skills our residents need for employment,” she said.

In the aluminum product making business, having a cast house on site allows the product maker control over the characteristics of its metal, said B. Carter Hamilton, an associate professor of metallurgical engineering at Ohio’s Miami University.

Aluminum ingots are melted in the cast house and materials are added to change its characteristics. If strength is desired, copper and/or zinc might be added to the molten aluminum, he said.

If weather resistance is needed, then silicon is added to the brew, Hamilton said.

Combining the cast house, with both extrusion (part) making facilities and rolled (sheet) aluminum facilities probably hasn’t been done before because it would take up so much room, he said.

Prior to becoming a university professor, Hamilton was an engineer for an Orange County aluminum manufacturer specializing in parts for the aerospace industry.

The plant proposed for Barstow will use very little water, although it will have significant demands for natural gas and electricity, Chi said.

Eric Shen, chief executive officer for Newport Beach-based Scuderia Development, played a significant role in making China Zhongwang a publicly traded company and in the set-up of an aluminum cast house in Mexico, Chi said.

“We are confident this group has the financial capacity and the operational expertise to do this project,” Chi said.

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