[www.ferro-alloys.com]Construction is underway on a new manufacturing plant in Laramie expected to create dozens of high paying jobs.

San Diego-based Tungsten Heavy Powder and Parts committed in August to moving a manufacturing facility currently located in China to Laramie. The Laramie plant — located in Laramie River Business Park II at 1665 Venture Drive — is expected to supply tungsten components for military, industrial engineering and medical markets.

A partnership between the company, the city of Laramie, Laramie Chamber Business Alliance and the state of Wyoming, all bringing fiscal contributions to the table, is bringing the project to fruition.

Sam Farstad, project manager overseeing construction, said the project is starting a month behind the anticipated timeframe, with the true groundbreaking date being about May 31.
“The weather — along with some scope revisions to the building — resulted in about a month’s delay in construction,” Farstad said.

“But in that time, we’ve made great progress.”

With all grating done, foundation footers in and stem walls poured, Farstad said he expects utility installation are on schedule for this week, as well as underground electrical and plumbing. He said the erection of the structure is scheduled to start the week of July 18.

“You’ll see some vertical progress by the end of July,” Farstad said.

Tungsten CEO Joe Sery said commissioning and initial production runs on some lines in the facility would start immediately after the exterior of the building is complete. Farstad said the construction schedule is “spot on” for production to start in 2016.

Though the beginning of Laramie’s winter season can be unpredictable and interfere with certain construction projects, Farstad said the building would be “dried in” — where the building is weather-proofed and the majority of outside work completed — before he expects the weather to impede progress.

“If all goes as planned, we won’t be susceptible to weather delays,” he said. “The remaining work at that point will be inside.”

In addition to staying on the new schedule, Farstad said the project appears to be within the planned budget.

“The whole project hasn’t been bought out yet — meaning where you write sub-contracts and purchase orders for labor required for construction — but we’ve got the scope of work to accommodate the users’ needs on budget at this point, and we’re optimistic it’s going to stay there,” he said. “We’re now in a position where we can start getting all the subcontracts out, and it looks like the initial estimates we received that we’ll stay on budget.”

Farstad said Tungsten’s commitment to contribute funds for many of the specialty items that were above the normal scope of constructing the facility alleviated some of the potential burden on taxpayers for the public-private partnership project.

“We’re lucky to have that commitment and lucky to have a working relationship to bring this thing home without overextending the grant dollars,” Farstad said.

Some of the specialized equipment included a mist system to capture airborne particulates, hydrogen and nitrogen tanks outside the facility, trenching and the required electrical service to accommodate the nature of manufacturing tungsten components.

“There’s a lot of very manufacturing-specific furnishings and fixtures that make the project not necessarily more challenging, but require more caution,” he said.

Part of the company’s pitch to its public partners in bringing the manufacturing operation to Laramie included the anticipated hiring of at least 25 employees for high-paying positions. With job listings already posted on www.tungstenheavypowder.com, Sery said he expects to start full production with more than 40 employees.

Sery also indicated on several occasions the demand for the products the Laramie operation would produce is increasing worldwide. Today, Sery said the trend is “very much so (continuing) and even higher” than originally anticipated.

With a visit to Laramie starting Tuesday, Sery said he plans to work with all the contractors and service providers, as well as potentially interviewing prospective employees.

• [Editor:Jiang Li Juan ]