The January closure of a southeast Missouri aluminum plant was blamed on cold weather issues, but now there is a report blaming it really on the high cost of electricity needed to run the plant.
The Magnitude 7 Metals plant in Marston, Missouri had the reported capacity to produce as much as 30% of the total supply of aluminum in the U.S. It was the third U.S. aluminum plant to close in less than two years and now there are only four remaining plants.
E&E News reports that the high cost of electricity needed to make the aluminum was more of a consideration in the decision to close the plant than the publicly stated reason. At least 40% of the cost of aluminum is electricity because of the near-constant high electricity demand in the manufacturing process.
So much electricity was needed at the aluminum plant that Magnitude 7 Metals was the single largest consumer of energy in Missouri.
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