River Access Key To Planned Nickel Refinery

Recently announced plans for a new nickel refinery to be established in Natchez, Miss., involve barge delivery of raw materials.

Westwin Elements announced plans October 5 to invest $502 million over five years to establish the refinery.

“Access to the Mississippi River is an important part of the project’s logistics strategy,” said Marissa Plasencia, the company’s chief public relations officer.

Westwin is building a commercial-scale Class 1 nickel refinery at the Belwood Industrial Site in Natchez. The project is expected to create 134 full-time jobs in its first phase of commercial operations at an average annual salary of approximately $84,000. The Natchez facility will build on Westwin’s experience at its 20-ton-per year demonstration plant in Lawton, Okla., which has produced multiple production campaigns of on-spec Class 1 nickel powder, a high-purity nickel powder used in applications such as batteries and special alloys, using carbonyl refining technology. Carboynyl refining is a chemical process that uses carbon monoxide to form nickel carbonyl, which can be separated from impurities and then decomposed to recover high-purity nickel.

Westwin has completed a feasibility study for the Natchez site and secured a long-term lease. The first phase of the project plans to produce 18,000 tons of class 1 nickel annually, with commissioning targeted for 2029, according to a company announcement.

Plasencia said the river was key in selection of the site.

“Mississippi River access and proximity to the Port of Natchez were important advantages in selecting the Belwood site,” she said. Those connections support the movement of a high volume of raw materials needed for commercial-scale refining, which enables us to leverage the site to rebuild domestic refining capacity.”

The site is directly off the Mississippi River with the planned refinery development located within the existing ring levee, she said. However, current plans do not include development either outside the levee or along the riverbank.

There is also no existing dock on the property and no plans for Westwin to build one, but the company does plan to receive raw materials through the adjacent Port of Natchez/Adams County, Plasencia said. The materials would be unloaded from barges and then transported to the refinery.

“Westwin was founded with the mission of delivering a win for the West and restoring the blue-collar American dream by bringing a critical industry back home,” KaLeigh Long, founder and CEO of Westwin Elements, said in announcing plans for the refinery. “The Natchez site gives us the capacity to produce American-made Class 1 nickel at scale, strengthening a critical domestic supply our country needs while creating high-paying careers.”

High-purity Class 1 nickel is used in national defense, aerospace, advanced manufacturing, specialty alloys, energy and other industrial applications. Westwin said that developing domestic refining capacity is critical to reducing U.S. dependence on foreign processing and strengthening the supply chains that support those industries.

“Westwin’s selection of the Belwood Industrial Site is the result of an extensive site-selection and due-diligence process and represents an important milestone for both the company and our community,” said Chandler Russ, executive director of Natchez, Inc. “Belwood’s Mississippi River access, industrial infrastructure, available land and ability to support a project of this scale made Natchez a strong fit for Westwin’s long-term plans. We are proud to have been selected and look forward to continuing our work with Westwin, the Mississippi Development Authority, Entergy and our local partners as the company advances the financing, engineering and permitting necessary to move this significant project toward construction.”

Construction of the refinery has not yet begun and remains subject to the completion of financing, permitting, engineering and other requirements. Westwin is working with state and local partners to advance the project toward the first phase of construction in 2029.