July 6, 2026 - A facility harvesting rare earth minerals is set to bring hundreds of jobs to Greenbrier County.

The existing Greenbrier Smokeless Coal mining operation in the Sewell seam is collaborating with companies Flash Metals USA, AmForge, and GreenMet to build a mineral processing hub in Rupert.

The investment is $150 million of private money.

State Senator Jack Woodrum, R-Summers, joined MetroNews “Midday” last week to discuss the project.

“We look at West Virginia’s past, and what we have here is using what was considered waste off of coal, and within that waste and within the acid mine drainage from that, there are rare-earth minerals,” Woodrum said. “Those minerals are typically used (for) things you would be familiar with, like fighter aircraft, missiles, cell phones.”

Woodrum said rare-earth minerals are used for much more projects as well. He said those minerals contribute to smart watches, electric motors, transformers, data centers; anything that has to do with chip manufacturing.

There’s a significant national defense need as well, Woodrum said, and the United States government is trying to bring this rare-earth process back into the country.

“Currently that market for this type of processing is dominated by China,” Woodrum explained. “So, part of this is in line with the Trump administration to re-sure a lot of these processes and to bring this to the United States, so we’re not depending upon other countries that may not always be our friend.”

The minerals come from materials that would ordinarily have been thrown away.

“We have a lot of waste,” Woodrum said. “This type of facility is set up to be a modular facility, so that it can set up on these former industrial sites to reprocess that waste. It also has the benefit of cleaning up acid mine drainage, things like that, that we have had problems with for years, going into our streams, this will clean a lot of that up.”

Since the infrastructure was already in place in Greenbrier County, Woodrum said the priority now is bringing people to work.

“West Virginia has an advantage, and I identified this several years ago,” Woodrum said. “We’re a prime location for this type work. We’re an energy state, so that’s a huge piece of it.”

Woodrum said the state has coal resources already in place for this particular processing. He cited former industrial and Brownfields sites that can be reused, and there are people in West Virginia who have the knowledge to work.

There’s anticipation in Greenbrier and surrounding counties for the employment opportunities that will come with the hub, Woodrum said. He said the plant will create jobs for people living in five surrounding counties, not just Greenbrier County. He said the whole geographic area will benefit.

“People are excited about it,” Woodrum said. “When this is built out, fully running, it’s looking at somewhere between 200 and 250 permanent jobs. Those are good jobs, and of course that puts a lot of new income into these communities.

Woodrum said there will be spin-off jobs from the investment as well, impacting store owners, gas stations, convenience stores, and restaurants. He said there’s a “wide range” of people that will be helped with the hub’s arrival.

Woodrum noted the Rupert community was a hard-hit area in the 2016 flood and hasn’t quite recovered. He said the area was dependent in the past on mining and timber, and those industries have had a tough time too.

Additionally, discussions about the facility have included looks at more modern ways of generation, Woodrum said. He listed natural gas, coal, and hydrogen as part of that. He said there’s a potential that hydrogen will be a byproduct of this mineral processing.

West Virginia University has also been involved, Woodrum said, in looking at acid mine drainage.

This investment is only the beginning, Woodrum said, as the companies involved have plans on growing.

“This is going to be a great thing,” Woodrum said. “It’ll help strengthen our economy and it’s going to contribute to our national security. The great thing that I like, it builds on our industrial heritage here in West Virginia, that has especially defined southern West Virginia. It’s a great day for all of us.”