A 300-acre site on the Mississippi River in Jefferson County is finally development ready after years of remediation work and the company that owns it says it has already entertained an offer for a $850 million battery manufacturing plant.
Doe Run Resources Inc., the St. Louis-based mining company that owns the site, expects this year to finish remediation of the land, which previously housed a smelter, clearing the way for new development after more than a decade of cleanup work.

Located about 35 miles south of St. Louis in Herculaneum, and two miles east of Interstate 55, the site is situated along the Mississippi River with barge access, allowing for streamlined bulk and container shipping, as well as rail and highway access within two miles of the waterfront. It's ideally located for a prospective advanced manufacturing plant, preferably one involved in electric vehicle battery manufacturing and which could make use of the lead, zinc and copper concentrates from Doe Run's mining operations in Southeast Missouri, said Chris Neaville, Doe Run's asset and business development director. “We're making metal and minerals that go into battery manufacturing, so it’d be ideal to have an EV battery manufacturer who also needs to import and export from the site being on the river,” Neaville said. The site hasn't been actively marketed, but has still drawn considerable interest from project developers through the Missouri Partnership, the statewide economic group that solicits new business developments.
Neaville said the site last year was one of two finalists considered for an $850 million electric vehicle battery manufacturing project, dubbed Project Supernova. Neaville said the developer ultimately chose the other site, located in Montreal, due to its proximity to a hydropower plant that could provide lower-cost electricity.
Neaville said Doe Run also fielded calls for 12 other projects interested in the site.
“All we’ve done is picked up the phone when Missouri Partnership or (Greater St. Louis Inc.) calls,” he said. “I think it’s just a matter of time until Herculaneum is be picked by one of these large projects.”