RUPERT, WV (WOAY) – Local, state and national elected officials and business leaders gathered in Rupert Wednesday to announce a $150 million investment.
A local coal company is partnering with two national firms in an effort to put Greenbrier County on the forefront of new innovations in the coal industry.
A partnership between Greenbrier Smokeless Coal Company, based in Rupert, along with Flash Metals and Amforge Corporation will result in a $150 million investment in a facility that will extract and develop rare earth minerals.
The investment is expected to employ nearly 250 people and continue to find productive uses for coal mines.
Kris Warner, West Virginia secretary of state, said the development could unlock new potential for coal properties.
“We’ve all looked at coal slurry ponds and coal slag and coal tailings as a reason why a property couldn’t be developed. But when they take rare earth minerals out of it, the potential is endless,” Warner said. “And just as important as coal was to build our economic future in the past, rare earth minerals are going to do the same with technology and cell phones and computers, and we’re going to put West Virginians back to work.”
According to experts, those mine ponds are direct sources of key materials.
“The leachate piles have leachate that have rare earth metals contained in them. So we will be extracting the rare earth metals and then purifying them and making them into a form that can be sold on to other US based metal recovery and metalization companies. We’re also going to be bringing in old rare earth magnets from hard drives and computers and electric engines, wind, windmill nations and even MRI machines. Those magnets have rare earths in them that will crack open, purify and make ready for use these metals are used in many things like your Apple, iPhone, personal computers, F-35 fighter jets,” Steve Ragiel, president and managing director of Flash Metals USA, said.
The investment includes new buildings on the mine site. According to Warner, no state tax dollars are being used for the site.
For leadership at Greenbrier Smokeless, a mine company headquartered in Greenbrier County, it is another way to support jobs around the region.
Amanda Hale, president and CEO of Greenbrier Smokeless Coal, spoke about what the project means to her.
“My heart is for the coal miners. My heart is here at Greenbrier Smokeless. My father helped put the deep mines here in 2006. So this is a very sentimental journey for me, and I feel the weight of that not just for myself, my family, but for the 120 some households that are already here. And I take that very seriously,” Amanda Hale, president and CEO of Greenbrier Smokeless Coal, said.
