AMU: SDI relocates Arizona recycled aluminum slab project

SDI said differences with Arizona state officials created risks to the facility’s construction and operation. The project was planned as a 150,000-metric-tons-per-year recycled aluminum slab casting center that would supply recycled feedstock to ADI’s 650,000-mt-per-year flat-rolled mill in Columbus. A second 150,000-mt-per-year recycled aluminum slab casting center in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, also was intended to support the mill and is now operating.

Earlier concerns materialized

The relocation follows a dispute that stretched nearly two years and centered on the project’s local approvals.

In September 2025, AMU exclusively reported that a lawsuit challenging the project’s approval could delay or potentially halt development of the Arizona facility.

At the time, Health Over Wealth Benson and individual plaintiffs had sued the City of Benson, its Planning and Zoning Commission and other parties, seeking to overturn a Conditional Use Permit granted to Aluminum Dynamics.

The lawsuit alleged city officials approved a permit that required a height variance, authority the plaintiffs argued belonged to Benson’s Board of Adjustment rather than its Planning and Zoning Commission. Plaintiffs also alleged the city allowed the project to proceed without required landowner authorization.

Although the litigation began as a local zoning dispute, court records show the case remained active through 2025 and 2026 and later advanced into the appeals process.

SDI did not specifically attribute the relocation decision to the lawsuit. However, the company’s disclosure linked the move to differences with Arizona officials it said threatened the project’s construction and operation.

Air permit issued before relocation decision

Notably, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality issued a final Class I air quality permit for the Benson facility on Feb. 18. The permit authorized operation of the planned recycled aluminum casting operation and remained valid through February 2031.

As a result, the relocation decision came after the project secured its principal state air permit.

The Benson facility had been expected to process large volumes of end-of-life aluminum scrap and generate slab for their Columbus operation, but it was also expected to generate aluminum dross, which is an oft-used feedstock in the production of aluminum DeOx, which is produced in the form of wire rod by Steel Dynamics’ wholly-owned subsidiary Superior Aluminum Alloys located in New Haven, Ind.

The Benson facility had been expected to process large volumes of end-of-life aluminum scrap, including the installation of a shredder and downstream sorting equipment designed to process mixed aluminum scrap streams.

In addition, the operation would have generated aluminum dross, a secondary feedstock used to manufacture aluminum deoxidizer products. SDI subsidiary Superior Aluminum Alloy produces aluminum DeOx wire rod at its Indiana facility.

Aluminum mill ramp-up continues

Aside from the Arizona write-down, SDI reported continued progress at its aluminum operations.

The company said second-quarter earnings from its aluminum segment are expected to increase from first-quarter levels, driven by higher shipments and realized pricing.

SDI also noted that commissioning and startup activities continue at the Columbus flat-rolled mill. Two of the facility’s three cold mills are operating. The third is expected to begin qualifying material in July.

Additionally, the first of two continuous annealing and solution heat lines is operating and shipping material for customer qualification. The second line is expected to begin material qualifications during the fourth quarter of 2026.