SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) _ South Bend is planning to buy a $2 million corn oil extraction unit and lease it to a company as part of an agreement for the reopening of a shuttered ethanol plant.
The city and Noble Americas are negotiating terms of the deal that calls for the city to lease the unit back to the company for no less than $100,000 a year over five years.
The subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Noble Group bought the plant for about $8 million in July after previous owner New Energy Corp. declared bankruptcy.
Noble Americas spokesman Bernie Punt tells the South Bend Tribune the company is spending $28 million to get the plant ready for production in July.
The plant first opened in 1984 and was shut down in 2012.
