ROSEMOUNT, Minnesota — With its new $71 million expansion, EGA Spectro Alloys in this southern suburb of the Twin Cities becomes one of only about 40 plants in the U.S. that can make recycled aluminum billets.

Think 25-foot-long poles of solid aluminum.

The 90,000-square-foot plant gives companies a needed domestic source for the much-in-demand billets at a time when most aluminum in the U.S. is imported and faces a 50% tariff set in June by President Donald Trump.

At the same time, it becomes a much bigger buyer of industrial metal scrap, a new buyer in Minnesota for recycled beer and pop cans and gives Spectro Alloys its first new product line in 53 years.

“So there’s a lot of demand. We are in a really good position,” said EGA Spectro Alloys President Luke Palen.

Because aluminum is used in everything from cars and fighter jets to food containers and America’s ever-expanding energy grid, U.S. demand “approached near record levels in 2024,” said Aluminum Association spokesperson Katie Rosebrook.

Spectro Alloy employs about 150 workers in its original aluminum recycling plant, which makes 28-pound bricks, called ingots, that eventually become parts for Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Polaris ATVs and products made by companies like General Motors, Tesla, Black & Decker and Caterpillar.

The company, which is majority owned by Emirates Global Aluminum in the United Arab Emirates, now is scrambling to add 50 new workers and expects the new billet operation to boost business by 50%, Palen said.

“Their investment (of) $71 million and creating 50 new jobs for the area is a huge impact for us,” said Adam Kienberger, community development director for Rosemount.

Last week, the first molten metal glided from one new three-story furnace, oozed down chutes and spilled into 26-foot casting cylinders, deep in the floor of the expansion.

Three new rumbling furnaces came from Austria.

Once they had cooled, crane operator Lorenzo Martinez gingerly hoisted 10 billets from the “vertical casting pit” and onto a giant conveyor belt. The load weighed nearly 18,000 pounds.

The billets will be marketed under the RevivAL brand name, a nod to the fact the aluminum came from 250 recyclers.

“With this expansion, we will make 120 million pounds a year of high-quality, recycled billet,” said Palen, who said it also helps companies meet environmental goals. “It will ... contribute to a circular economy in our region and throughout the U.S.”

Customers are already lined up for the billets, which will be used to build door frames, stair railings and boat docks besides auto parts and more.

Last week, the first truck load shipped to Crown Extrusions in Chaska, which is working with a dock maker.

The company plans to add more equipment so it can produce other products such as sheet metal alloys.

Since selling 80% of the company to EGA last year, the Palens have sent engineers, technicians, chemists and metallurgists to Abu Dhabi for billet training.

With the new billet plant, Minnesota will no longer have to send all of its curbside-collected aluminum-can scrap to other states for processing. Some of Spectro’s billet alloy recipes will allow for some old cans, in addition to the usual industrial aluminum scrap.

“This is exciting, because it’s not only going to increase the aluminum that’s recycled overall, but it’s the first local outlet for aluminum cans in Minnesota, at least that I’m aware of,” said Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) spokesman Mark Rust. “It is critically important that people understand there’s a reason to recycle. These products really do have value. The more material that enters the market, that adds value to Minnesota’s economy.”

Gwen Jenkins, MPCA’s recycling and organics specialist, said she hopes Spectro’s ability to use additional types of aluminum scrap will remind and encourage Minnesotans to recycle more.

Right now, Minnesotans recycle just 51% of aluminum beverage cans or about 14,000 tons a year, she said.

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