CRU Aluminum: Update on New Aluminum Rolling Capacity, Scrap

In our column of Nov. 4, we updated you on the progress that Novelis and Steel Dynamics (SDI) were making on executing on their planned two mills. Since that time, nothing has really changed. That perhaps is profound in and of itself, in that we have nothing new to tell you about the status of the Manna Capital Partners/Ball Corp. joint venture.

Some skeptics are saying the Manna/Ball mill will never be built now in the aftermath of SDI entering the fray. The harshest critics are saying it was all a ploy just to draw in more rolling capacity, and that Ball had no intention of ever building the mill.