A new facility planned for Falls Township will produce a valuable alloy used in jet engines, vehicles, and for rocket exhaust systems.
The Falls Township Board of Supervisors voted to approve preliminary and final land development for Montgomery County-based MM Metals USA LLC to construct a 2,844-square-foot office, laboratory and workshop building; a 15,120-square-foot structure with silos, a substation and a cooling water and heat exchanger for the manufacturing the alloy; and a 10,000-square-foot building for aluminum on a 3.7-acre lot on Middle Drive.
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The facility will produce alloy ferrochrome on property leased from U.S. Steel. The alloy is classified by the U.S. Department of Defense as a “strategic material,” and the country keeps 30,000 tons of ferrochrome in stockpile, said attorney Michael Meginniss of Begley, Carlin, and Mandio, who was representing MM Metals during the virtual Supervisors meeting.
Meginniss said the company will employ 60 to 70 new staff members once the site is in operation. The facility will also be able to produce 18,000 tons of ferrochrome a year.
“In fact, this would be only domestic producer of this material,” Meginniss said.
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“You’re the only domestic manufacturer and it’s going to be right here in Falls Township,” Supervisor Chairman Jeff Dence highlighted.
In addition to ferrochrome, the company will handle aluminum scrap and lime at the site.
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The round-the-clock facility will not emit loud noises and will not have overnight truck parking. The facility will also not handle contaminated items or radioactive materials, Meginniss said, adding the firm went through the U.S Environmental Protection Agency approval process and received the green light.
The attorney for the MM Metals said their planned Falls Township operation will be a “new operation, new entity.”
Supervisor John Palmer said he “loved that fact that they’re bringing jobs to Falls Township.”
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In other business, material production company Gelest received amended final land development for a 550-square-foot accessory structure that will be constructed on their 6.9-acre property situated in the New Ford Mill Industrial Park on Steel Road East.
Meginniss, who also represented Gelest, said building will assist the company expanding manufacturing of bio-safe products, including one that had been identified in helping in the COVID-19 fight.
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