It is reported that US Steel Corporation has put its plans for a USD 450 million plant in Sumter County on hold. The project would have produced an alternative to the steelmaking material of coke and created as many as 235 jobs for the Black Belt County.

Mr John Armstrong spokesman for US Steel said that "We adjust the timing of capital projects to market conditions. The timing of that project has been delayed."

Mr Armstrong stressed that the project has not been scrapped but is merely delayed. He added that there is no specified time when US Steel will start work on the project.

Construction on the initial 450,000 square foot facility was supposed to start this year on a 360 acre site near the town of Epes. US Steel was to initially invest USD 150 million and create 75 jobs at the start, with plans to grow to USD 450 million and 235 jobs in coming years.

The project was announced with much fanfare in April 2008, in part because of the investment in one of the state's poorest counties, but also because the plant will use a first of its kind technology to produce a cleaner, more efficient product from coal than coke. Known as Cokonyx, the carbon alloy material is made using a process developed by Carbonyx Inc.