Home » Employment News » New battery plant in West Virginia will train new miners and create 350 new jobs
New battery plant in West Virginia will train new miners and create 350 new jobs
https://www.whatjobs.com/news/employment-news/new-battery-plant-in-west-virginia-will-train-new-miners-and-create-350-new-jobs
By Nithya Bose in Employment News, posted March 22, 2022
The energy battery plant, SPARKZ will build a new factory in West Virginia, creating 350 new jobs.
The company will recruit and train miners to be the factory's first production workers in collaboration with the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA).
UMWA International Secretary-Treasurer Brian Sanson said: “We need good, union jobs in the coalfields no matter what industry they are in.
"This a start toward putting the tens of thousands of already-dislocated coal miners to work in decent jobs in the communities where they live.”
READ MORE: PENNSYLVANIA LOGISTICS FIRM CREATES 75 JOBS IN VIRGINIA IN $20 MILLION EXPANSION
The company’s founder and CEO Sanjiv Malhotra ensured that batteries manufactured will entirely be free from cobalt.
This is a way to lower the price of lithium-ion battery production in the United States.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has long been the world's top cobalt producer, with Chinese corporations dominating the majority of mines.
Malhotra added the venture will help the US battle China's supremacy in the electric battery market.
He described the factory as a major step for West Virginia as it moves away from coal extraction and into the "new energy economy."
The company is nearing the end of the site selection process for the factory in West Virginia, but the exact location has yet to be established.
The company launched in 2019, said the announcements about customer partnerships will be made in the coming months.
Source: WTRF.com
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