Critical minerals co. reactivates Petersburg operation

Petersburg-based Atlantic Strategic Minerals will invest more than $50 million to restore and reopen a mining operation in Dinwiddie County and a concentrator plant and mineral separation plant in Sussex County, producing critical minerals that are used in various supply chains, the governor’s office announced Monday.  

The project is expected to create 71 jobs at the Sussex County facility. 

Founded in 2020 by CEO Christopher Wyatt and Executive Director Craig Hairfield, Atlantic Strategic Minerals aims to rebuild the United States’ domestic supply of critical minerals that include zircon, a mineral used in ceramic tiles, and ilmenite, a mineral that is the main source of titanium dioxide, which is used for whitening pigment in paints, plastics and paper, according to the company’s website. 

These minerals serve as essential components in supply chains for a variety of industries, including the aerospace and defense industries, according to the governor’s office. 

There’s only one other producer of ilmenite in the United States, according to Christopher Wyatt, ASM’s CEO. China is the world’s largest titanium producer, with its large ilmenite ore reserves, and Canada, Madagascar, Norway, India, South Africa and Vietnam are also major players in the industry.

ASM is majority-owned by Appian Capital Advisory, the London-based investment adviser to private capital funds investing in mining and mining-related companies, and the company purchased the mining operation in Dinwiddie County and plants in Sussex County from Australia-based mineral resources company Iluka Resources in November 2023, according to Wyatt. ASM’s chief administrative officer, Stuart Leinenbach, declined to divulge financial terms of the purchase. 

Iluka discontinued mining in Virginia in 2015, and the majority of ASM’s 13 employees previously worked for Iluka, Wyatt said.