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Virginia Housing board elects officers
Members of the Virginia Housing Development Authority‘s Board of Commissioners elected Sarah Barrie Stedfast chair, the organization announced last week. Stedfast is venture president at Norfolk‘s RW Towne Mortgage, a subsidiary of TowneBank Mortgage, and is active in the Virginia and Tidewater mortgage bankers associations. She has a degree in business finance from Virginia Tech. [...]
SWVA projects recommended for $10M in federal grants
Four Southwest Virginia economic development projects have been recommended to receive a cumulative $10 million in federal Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) grants, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, announced Monday. The projects are on sites where coal was mined prior to 1977, the year the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation […]
U.S. 460 cell towers signal relief to businesses
Buchanan and Tazewell counties’ businesses will soon receive a needed signal boost, thanks to six cell towers under construction across the Route 460 corridor. The towers will increase wireless access along 20 miles of U.S. 460, from Red Ash in Tazewell to Vansant in Buchanan. It’s not a moment too soon, according to businesses that […]
Buchanan County expands industrial park
Economic development is booming inside the Southern Gap Industrial Park in Buchanan County, where the county industrial development authority is spending $4 million to develop a new shell building and a 20-acre industrial site. With support from the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, the park has become a hub for growth in an area historically […]
5 SWVA projects recommended for $9.5M in federal grants
Five Southwest Virginia economic development projects have been recommended to receive a cumulative $9.35 million in federal Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization (AMLER) grants, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith announced Thursday. The projects are on sites where coal was mined before 1977. Funding for the federal AMLER Program comes through the […]
Filling the steel gap
Metallurgical coal may be an unknown to the general population, but it’s very important to the manufacturing of steel and also valuable in the current economy. In August 2022, Australia-based Coronado Global Resources Inc., which produces metallurgical coal, announced a $169.1 million expansion of its Buchanan Mine Complex in Buchanan and Tazewell counties, expected to […]
SWVA projects recommended for $10.6M in federal funds
Eight Southwest Virginia economic development projects totaling $10.6 million have been recommended for federal funding under Virginia’s Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization grant program, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith announced Friday. Referred to the federal Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation Enforcement for approval, the projects include $2.347 million to [...]
Coronado announces $169M coal mining expansion
Coronado Global Resources Inc., an Australian producer of metallurgical coal, will invest $169.1 million to expand coal mining operations at its Buchanan Mine Complex, located about 10 miles southeast of Grundy in Buchanan County. The expansion will see the mining operation add 181 jobs, bringing its total workers at the site to 781, Virginia Gov. […]
Metal fabricator to add 22 jobs in Buchanan
Buchanan County-based metal fabrication company Skyline Fabricating Inc. will spend more than $675,000 to build a 25,000-square-foot production facility in the county’s Southern Gap area, creating 22 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday. The facility will help Skyline Fabricating meet increased demand for steel and aluminum fabricated products and its expanded customer base outside Vir[...]
State awards $8.85M to redevelop SWVA abandoned mine sites
The Virginia Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization program intends to award funds to eight economic development projects across Southwest Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, announced Friday. The Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, which will be renamed the Virginia Department of Energy on Oct. 1, administers the program. The […]
(Solar) powering the economy
A 700-acre solar farm on a former surface mine outside of Hurley will be more than it appears, according to Adam Edelen. “Buchanan County and the entire region of Southwestern Virginia intends to benefit from the digital economy rather than be a victim of it,” says Edelen, CEO of Edelen Renewables. Based in Lexington, Kentucky, Edelen’s […]
SunCoke to invest $50M in Buchanan County plant
SunCoke Energy Inc., the largest independent producer of high-quality coke for blast furnace steel production in the Americas, plans to invest $50 million in its Buchanan County manufacturing operation, Gov. Ralph Northam said in a news release Tuesday. Calling the project “a much-needed boost” for Southwest Virginia, Northam said the project will retain approximately 100 […]
