MARSTON, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens says a new aluminum smelter will help revitalize the Missouri Bootheel region.
The company Magnitude 7 Metals announced plans Friday for a smelter at the site of the closed Noranda Aluminum plant in New Madrid County, about 150 miles south of St. Louis. The plant will employ 450 people earning, on average, about $64,000.
CEO Bob Prusak says one line of the plant will open in May, another in November. The company has already hired 140 people who have been working as contractors. They’ll now become employees.
Noranda closed in 2016 after filing for bankruptcy, costing about 900 workers their jobs.
Greitens’ did not take media questions. His appearance comes as he faces an invasion of privacy indictment in St. Louis related to an affair with his hairdresser in March 2015, before he was elected governor.
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