Century Aluminum begins shutting down plant with 600 workers

Century Aluminum began closing its Goose Creek plant Monday, a move expected to put 600 people out of work eventually.

The company started to shut down one of the two lines that make aluminum at the plant, Century spokeswoman Samantha Dubay said. The first layoffs will come next week, with about half of the plant's employees affected by the initial line closure, Dubay said.

The company announced in October that it would close the plant by year's end unless it was able to reach a new power contract with Santee Cooper, South Carolina's state-owned utility.

Century proposed buying all its power from an out-of-state provider and paying Santee Cooper to transmit it. Santee Cooper said it could not agree to a rate that would increase costs for its other industrial customers.

Rep. Bill Crosby, R-North Charleston, and other legislators are scheduled to meet Monday with Lonnie Carter, the president and CEO of Santee Cooper. Crosby said he hopes to persuade both sides to continue operating under the current power contract for another six months so the state Legislature can find a solution once it convenes in January.

Copyright and Exemption Declaration :¢ÙAll articles, pictures and videos that are marked with "China Aluminum Network" on this website are copyright and belong to China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn). When transshipment, any media, website or individual must list the source from "China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn)". We seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÚArticles that marked as copy from others are for transferring more information to readers, do not represent or endorse their opinions or accuracy and reliability. When other media, website or individuals copy from our website, must keep the source. Anyone that changes the articles' sources will hold the responsibilities for copyright and law problems. We also seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÛIf any articles copied by our website concern the copyright and other problems, please contact us within one week.