RUPERT, W.Va. — Following a press conference last Wednesday, Secretary of State Kris Warner spoke to the Clay County Free Press and outlined plans for a $150 million private investment in West Virginia’s future through a new partnership involving Greenbrier Smokeless Coal Company of Rupert, Flash Metals USA of Houston, Texas, and AmForge Corporation of Washington, D.C.. The partnership will employ a patented process to extract rare earth minerals from millions of tons of coal tailings, which will be processed in Greenbrier County.
Rare earth minerals are essential to the production of everyday technologies such as cell phones and computers, but they are also critical to advanced technologies, modern energy infrastructure, and national security systems.
“While there has been a lot of talk about developing this technology, these companies have figured out how to do this, do it at scale, and turn a profit,” Warner said.
Once fully operational, the Greenbrier County facility is expected to employ nearly 250 people. Additional commitments for infrastructure and mineral development investments are expected to support project expansion and job growth throughout the state, however it is unclear if any aspect of the project will be developed in Clay County.
“Today we had county commissioners from Fayette, Nicholas, Summers, and Greenbrier counties here, knowing that we are going to have to call upon surrounding counties for the workers that are going to be needed to staff this facility,” Warner said.
While the group plans to initially source material from permitted mine sites across West Virginia, mineral offtake agreements are already in place with suppliers in Greenland, Canada, and Cameroon. These agreements will allow the facility to process additional critical minerals from international sources.
“The big thing is, there is a national defense implication to this, so we’re not depending on foreign countries. We are reshoring this here to America.” Warner said, “West Virginia will take a national lead on extracting rare earth minerals from coal tailings, starting in Greenbrier County, and then expanding across the state,” Warner said.
Despite its controversial history in West Virginia, coal slurry may prove to be one of the state’s most unexpected and valuable resources. Rare earth minerals will be extracted directly from coal tailings through a process that involves rapidly heating the material to approximately 1,800 degrees and then rapidly cooling it before the rare earth minerals are separated.
Warner also applauded Drew Horn, chief strategy officer and co-founder of AmForge, for his expertise in rare earth minerals, and his role in developing the project in West Virginia.