American Specialty Alloys (ASA) announced plans to build a $1.2 billion, state-of-the-art, aluminum mini-mill in the southeastern U.S. The 1.4 million square foot, environmentally friendly mill will include over $200 million in pollution-control systems. It will supply more than 600,000 tons per year of aluminum, flat-rolled product to the automotive industry, making it one of the largest suppliers of auto-grade aluminum in the country. The plant will initially create 2,000 temporary construction-related jobs. When fully operational, it will fill approximately 650-850 permanent jobs.

 ASA selected Danieli Group to provide the ultra-modern complete hot-rolling, cold-rolling and aluminum processing mills. In addition, Innoval Technology will support the advanced aluminum processes and industry requirements. Phase-one operations are scheduled to begin in late 2016, with full phase-one capacity production expected to start six months later. According to ASA, the mill will leverage the use of automation, low-cost utilities in the South and will use recycled aluminum to efficiently produce the higher-grade aluminum that will be used to make compliant automobiles for the Obama administration's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.