Braidy Industries aluminium rolling mill gets US$4 million grant from the federal government

The proposed Braidy Industries aluminium rolling mill complex near Ashland, Kentucky, will reportedly receive a US$4 million grant from the federal government to finance the construction process.

An Associated Press news story says the money has been awarded by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet’s Division of Abandoned Mine Lands to the Northeast Kentucky Regional Industrial Park Authority, the owner of the land for the Braidy mill.

The fund will be used to prepare a reclaimed coal strip mine to support the company's planned mill. The company also received a significant boost from taxpayers when the state gave it $15 million through an unusual direct investment in 2017.

The funding announcement was jointly made by the U.S. Representative Hal Rogers, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin.

The $1.68 billion aluminium mill had up to that time required “a $1 billion federal loan, $500 million in credit from the German government and as much as $400 million from a crowdfund-style stock sale over the Internet.” (The German support ties to conditions for buying German-made mill equipment.)

The proposed mill will also get the following benefits:

• A 20-year property tax exemption.
• $5 million in state "Road Funds" for "the mill site development project,"
• $2 million in state money for skills training meant to benefit the company

According to Jack Mazurak, a spokesman for the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, supports are provided in order to secure jobs at the Braidy mill and also to develop a cluster of downstream aluminium and aluminium-related businesses, services and workforce expertise that will attract corporate investment and jobs to Eastern Kentucky.

Braidy’s  aluminium rolling mill will produce sheet and plate for the automotive and aerospace industries, near Ashland in 2020 and has promised to create at least 550 high-paying jobs in addition to hundreds of short-term construction jobs. The company is raising money for construction of the plant.