After decades largely dormant, the old RCA/Thompson factory has caught a buyer’s eye that could bring many jobs to Marion.
According to their website, American Resources Corp. is “a next generation and socially responsible supplier of raw materials to the new infrastructure marketplace.” CEO Mark Jensen and president-director Tom Sauve presented to the Marion Common Council Tuesday evening what they could bring to Marion if allowed control of the building.
Following this, Grant County Economic Growth Council executive director Charity Bailey and city attorney Tom Hunt proposed a resolution to transfer the title of the facility to the Redevelopment Commission. They believe this will streamline the process as the Redevelopment Commission has more tools at their disposal to move quickly and efficiently.
Council attorney Martin Harker voiced his agreement with the resolution.
The Council voted unanimously in favor of the resolution, with various members sharing that they hope a partnership with American Resources will be beneficial to the health and vitality of the Marion community.
From here, Jensen shared with the Chronicle-Tribune after the meeting, the Redevelopment Commission will go through an appraisal process followed by a 30-day advertisement period. “Unless somebody comes in and outbids what we’re willing to commit to the growth of the community, then I’m guessing in 45 days we can be starting redevelopment of the property, if not sooner,” Jensen said.
Alongside the raw materials supplier, an eco-friendly housing business, also operated by Jensen and his team, which repurposes shipping containers for housing will take up residency on the property as well.
“One thing that we’ve done in eastern Kentucky, where we operate, is we build a lot of homes, and have deployed over 50 of our Eco Homes in those regions,” he said. “When we come to a community, we come in with the community and make sure that we’re not shoving anything down a community’s throat. Trying to work with them to make sure that we’re helping them as they’re helping us creating products for our customers.”
According to Jensen, ARC and their ReElement Technologies are “the first in the country to produce isolated, purified rare earth and critical element.” He said they take end-of-life permanent magnets and lithium ion batteries that have these rare earth elements in them and them break them down, separating and purifying them to go back into new magnets and batteries.
“95 percent of all the magnets and batteries are made in China,” Jensen said, “and they use a really toxic, heavy chemical-related process.” What they have done, he said, is work with former executives of Eli Lilly and Purdue University to put together a technology platform that can accomplish the same goal but more cost effective and environmentally sensitive to enable a domestic supply chain for manufacturing things like electric vehicles, F-35 fighter jets and wind turbines.
Jensen assured both the Marion Common Council and the Chronicle-Tribune that their process is remarkably environment safe. “The harshest chemical we use in the process is sulfuric acid, which is the most commonly used chemical in the world and was actually the mildest chemical used at the RCA building in their process.”
In terms of waste, ARC’s ReElement Technology produces no discharge or emissions and they seek to monetize every element derived from the magnets and batteries, so nothing is disposed. “Where we operate today in Noblesville, we’re actually permitted that our water is almost cleaner than the wastewater that an average household produces,” Jensen said.
Jensen estimated that both businesses will supply roughly 300 skilled and unskilled jobs with high mobility. “We’re going to offer a wide range of jobs. Meaning, individuals coming right out of high school that come through our program and get a job, which is more of an entry-level job, with the ability to be mobilized and move up throughout the company.” He said, “Then we also have some very special jobs, especially jobs that are much more advanced in terms of the recycling process, and also the electricians that we’ll need in the facility.”
He went on to say that Marion is uniquely attractive to these businesses given the communities’ diverse industries, in workplaces like GM, and opportunities for education through the surrounding universities.
According to Jensen, they will be “staffing up pretty quickly and pretty aggressively” if they acquire the property. Even now, he said, they are building a name-list of people interested in employment and encouraged anyone looking for a good job with a highly motivated company to reach out because they intend to move quickly when they gain control of the facility.
“What this will enable us to do is move aggressively and quickly to bring this supply chain back to the United States from China, and having that building in place and the community in place that are excited about getting to work,” Jensen said. “That’s a lot of fun for us.”
Copyright © 2024 Chronicle-Tribune