ROCKY TOP, Tenn. (WVLT) – From the campaign trail to the national news, tariffs seem to be talked about everywhere, even the office watercooler. This month, China blocked the import of three vital minerals from the tech industry – something forecasted.

China has a chokehold on the rare Earth element and critical minerals market, with experts telling us they control greater than 90 percent of the flow. Now a startup is “breaking ground” on a new plant in Campbell County. This continues our technology series on these elements and minerals that are crucial to new technology. We’re going in depth on the hoped-for renaissance in a string of communities once dependent on coal mining for jobs.

You can call it Rocky Top, but some still call the town Lake City. There’s been at least four names, but this part of Campbell County started out being called ‘Coal.’

“Without coal, there’d be a lot of people around here that starved to death,” Lonnie Dison said.

Dison spends his time at the Coal Creek Miners Museum in town. Before that, he spent nearly 30 years underground. Dison was a coal miner from the age of 14 onwards through his adult working years.

“I ran a bolt machine,” Dison said. ” I loved it better than a hog loves slop.”

From mules to dynamite and the good days, Dison witnessed the speedy retreat of coal.

“These coal mining plants that are shutting down, I mean they have economies that have been built around them,” Dr. Charles Sims said. Sims studies energy at UTK’s Baker School.

The University of Tennessee has a big idea that’s catching on.

“The coal ash itself has high concentrations,” Dr. Sims said.

Pulling valuable raw materials from a difficult waste product, coal ash has to be carefully stored, often held by companies for decades. But the final product that can be salvaged: they’ll go into weapons, phones or your next EV battery.

“We also looked at former mines, the acid mine drainage, the waters and sludge that comes out of the mines are also a good source of that,” Dr. Sims said.

Dr. Sims said this re-use excites business and environmental groups, but it will take a while.

But one factory could come to fruition even sooner.

“We have secured the land, and we have secured the technology,” Jeffrey Willis said. Willis is the chairman of a new company called United Rare Earths. Willis expects the large recycling plant to open in the first half of 2026, with an estimated 87 initial hires.

United Rare Earths will recycle heavy rare earth supply using an Oak Ridge license. That means they pay the national lab money to use their proven technology, even though some ‘de-risking’ needs to take place before they open.

“First, spent magnets which we will yield the rare earths from,” Willis said.

Willis said that his company has already secured at least one domestic source of heavy rare Earth feedstock, which comes from used magnets in other industries.

“Wind and solar and the automotive EV world,” Willis said. In recent weeks, the Chinese government has throttled back or completely banned the export of some critical minerals like antimony, gallium and germanium. But this new plant should bring a real American product when it’s needed for defense weaponry.

The 40 acre land parcel at Erschell-Collins Industrial Park will house United – they broke ground a long while ago, even though the real construction is probably about a year away. Willis said the Department of Energy’s ‘census tract’ program made the land a sweeter deal. That census tract seeks out economically disadvantaged regions for new builds. This section of Campbell County met the threshold in many different ways.

“Which is a prior coal site that could be renewed and revitalized with clean energy,” Willis said.

United Rare Earths said an upcoming merger with an international company could push up the factory’s opening date, production and hiring in Campbell County. The international company has already ‘de-risked’ the technology, according to Willis. Willis told WVLT that the average salary for the initial round of 87 employees should be over $80,000. So former miner Lonnie Dison is starting to hope for his hometown again.

“They don’t have to scramble from one payday to the next,” Dison said.

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