Hamburg, Germany-based copper producer Aurubis held the groundbreaking ceremony for its new copper-smelting facility at Augusta Corporate Park Friday morning.
“I believe that this is going to be the future,” said Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in his presentation as a guest at the groundbreaking. “It’s good environmentally, but it’s good from a business perspective on what our strategic vision has been, to continue to support existing industries in our state and new emerging industries.”
Several state and local leaders attended the event, including Sens. Max Burns and Mark Newton, six Augusta Commissioners and mayoral candidates Garnett Johnson and Steven Kendrick, who is also chairman of the Augusta Economic Development Authority.
Aurubis selected Augusta as the location for its new smelting and recycling plant late last year. The operation, called Aurubis Richmond, will specialize in multimetal recycling that is estimated to process up to 90,000 tons of complex metals a year, including those used for printed circuit boards and copper cables.
The facility, scheduled to be complete by the first half of 2024, is an investment of approximately $340 million, set to bring 125 jobs to Augusta ranging from the manufacturing floor to engineering, administrative and leadership roles, says Aurubis communications manager Meino Hauschildt.
“They’re going to continue to expand,” said Pat Wilson, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, who was also in attendance. “This is not a project just of today. It’s really a 50-year project, with potential to expand multiple times. But because of what they do and who they supply, there are other companies that could locate here just because they want to be in that supply chain.”
Savannah River Keeper has opposed Aurubis’ arrival as a potential environmental hazard. In May 2016, a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation inspector cited the Aurubis Buffalo, its copper manufacturing plant in Buffalo, N.Y., for several violations relating to improper storage of hazardous waste and failure to produce contingencies plans for to minimize hazards.
This led to years of back and forth between Aurubis Buffalo and the State of New York regarding violations, including one incident in April of 2018 where the company failed to report 60,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide wastewater, and two spills in 2020 the led to an estimated 85 gallons of sulfuric acid to be washed in a storm drain.
In March of last year, Aurubis Buffalo agreed to a settlement with the Department of Environmental Conservation, paying more than $240,000 in fines, though last year was still considered a “Significant Noncomplier” by the Environmental Protection Agency for several Resource Conservation and Recovery Act violations.
Officials of Aurubis Richmond, however, have touted its commitment to being green.
“We trust the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and their fact-based review process to find that our state-of-the-art multi-metal recycling facility will meet or exceed all regulatory requirements without exception,” said Hauschildt.
The facility is to cover 150 acres at Corporate Park. Aurubis is but one of the latest development investments to come to south Augusta. On May 31, Kendrick announced Cardinale Management’s mixed-use project to redevelop its Regency Mall property. He has since held two town hall meetings to address both that project and rising concerns about the development of south Augusta.
Augusta Economic Development Authority president Cal Wray, who was present at the ceremony, says south Augusta is already on that trajectory.
“One hundred thousand people live below 520,” said Wray. “The lion’s share of our manufacturing is below 520. About 15,000 manufacturing jobs are south of I-520.”
Wray argues that a lot of pessimism regarding south Augusta and its potential is due to little exposure and how seldom many Augustans drive to the area. He noted the 25 minutes it takes to drive from his office downtown to the site of the future Aurubis facility.
“You have to know you’re going here,” said Wray. “You’re driving two miles off the main road.”
Wray points recent development investments in the area, citing, among others, the $330 million investment of the Starbucks plant, the $440 million of the PureCycle Technologies recycling plant, which broke ground in Augusta Corporate Park in late March.
“More than one and a half billion dollars from south Augusta since 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic,” said Wray. “So that’s a good start when you got one and a half billion dollars of new investment going in the ground.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering education in Columbia County and business-related topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
