According to news reports in Indiana, Dana Corp. has preliminarily agreed to sell its Richmond, IN, foundry to a firm that would lease and subsequently buy the operation. Richland Ltd., Spring Green, WI, would maintain about 65 of the 100 hourly and salaried positions at the foundry, adding more as the business grows.

A leader of the Wayne County Economic Development Corp. said the agreement is due to be finalized November 7.

Dana's Richmond foundry casts liners for heavy-duty diesel engines, but the company announced plans to close the plant and an adjacent machining plant last year. The foundry is described as the last remaining centrifugal liner plant in the U.S. There are no apparent plans for anyone to take over the machining operation.

Richland, a machining operation that has been a Dana customer will be buying the foundry equipment. The EDC will buy the building from Dana and lease it to another group, the Richmond Redevelopment Commission. That body –- which manages the city's tax-increment financing district -- then will sublease the facility to Richland Ltd. Final lease terms were not yet reported, but ease payments will be drawn from the Wayne County Board of Commissioners consolidated development income tax fund and the Redevelopment Commission, and reimbursed later. At that point, Richland will take possession of the foundry.

Reports say Richland has negotiated a labor agreement with the United Auto Workers, covering wages and staffing issues.

Dana will complete an environmental remediation program now underway, and the EDC will not be responsible for clean-up costs.