BISMARCK, N.D. — The North Dakota Industrial Commission has approved a $4.4 million expansion at the North Dakota Mill in Grand Forks, N.D. The expansion will include nine new bulk storage bins.

“The new storage will reduce bulk loading crew labor costs, reduce mill downtime and reduce bulk rail car leasing cost,” said Vance Taylor, president and general manager of North Dakota Mill.

Mr. Taylor estimated cost savings as a result of the project at $656,000 annually.

The project is slated to be completed in the spring of 2016.

Last fall, the commission authorized the expenditure of $19,815,000 to increase milling capacity by 11,500 cwts per day, and last spring an approval was made for an expansion project of $7,985,000 to construct a building on the mill’s property in Grand Forks.

With all the expansion over the past year, the North Dakota Mill has grown to become the sixth largest U.S. milling company, with total daily capacity of 49,500 cwts. It also is the nation’s largest mill, ahead of Kraft Foods’ Toledo, Ohio, mill, which has daily capacity of 31,000 cwts.