Hearing plans for business expansions is great news, particularly when it involves adding jobs in our community.

What’s better is when those plans come to fruition, ahead of time.

That’s the case with Great River Industries.

Great River, formerly Enersteel, announced last summer it would expand its floor space by 15 percent, add 25 employees and move its corporate offices from Memphis to Natchez.

While work is under way on the expansion of its facility to 100,000 square-feet, the company has already increased its workforce by the expected 25 jobs.

The expansion is 25-percent complete, and will be home to $4 million in new equipment.

The company, which provides fabrication, engineering and construction services to primarily the energy industry, is most proud that, of the 25 new employees it has hired since the middle of summer, three are Natchezians who had been displaced from their previous jobs. Thanks to Great River Industries, they were able to come back home to Natchez to work.

Better still, the company is working with Co-Lin Community College’s Natchez campus to develop a program to quickly put to work the school’s welding graduates.

We congratulate Great River and look forward to seeing that company prosper and expand its role as a good corporate citizen in Natchez.