Severstal Columbus, LLC, formerly known as SeverCorr Corporation , was founded in April 2005 by a group of steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...

 executives including former Nucor Corporation CEO John Correnti. It specializes in "mini-mill" plants, designed to recycle steel into new products suitable for the automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 industry

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

. Its first plant outside Columbus, Mississippi

Columbus, Mississippi

Columbus is a city in Lowndes County, Mississippi, United States that lies above the Tombigbee River. It is approximately northeast of Jackson, north of Meridian, south of Tupelo, northwest of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and west of Birmingham, Alabama. The population was 25,944 at the 2000 census...

, across from Golden Triangle Regional Airport

Golden Triangle Regional Airport

Golden Triangle Regional Airport is a public airport midway between the towns of Columbus, Starkville, and West Point, Mississippi, and serving the area known as the Golden Triangle and the surrounding region of Mississippi...

 was completed in August 2007 at a cost of $980 million, and shipped first steel in September of that year. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n steel company Severstal

Severstal

OAO Severstal Russian: Северсталь, "Northern Steel") is a Russian company mainly operating in the steel and mining industry, centred in the northern city of Cherepovets. Severstal is listed on the RTS and LSE. As of 2009, it is the largest steel company in Russia according to The Metal Bulletin....

.In 2008 the company began a $500 million expansion that will double the mill's size and output to 3.4 million tons by the end of 2011. The expansion will increase employment by 93 people in addition to the 545 already at work.

The plant is a major tenant of the Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

Steel Technology Center (MSTC).