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Awards/COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT (B)

$270,000,000

Department of Energy·Department of Energy

to WIELAND NORTH AMERICA RECYCLING LLC

critical-mineralsactiveONGOING · MOD OF 2025 CONTRACT
WORK BEGAN2025-01-01·LATEST ACTION2026-04-14·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDASST_NON_DECD0000105_089
Award description

THIS PROJECT, “FACILITY TO REDUCE EMISSIONS FOR SOURCING PURE CRITICAL MINERALS AND METALS,” INTENDS TO EXPAND THE CAPACITY AND CAPABILITIES OF A MODERN, FIRST-OF-A-KIND (FOAK) COPPER RECYCLING FACILITY IN SHELBYVILLE, KY THAT WOULD ENABLE PRODUCTION OF COPPER-CATHODE EQUIVALENT MATERIAL (I.E., A COPPER CATHODE SUBSTITUTE) FOR USE IN ADVANCED APPLICATIONS (E.G., ELECTRIC VEHICLES, BATTERIES, AND SEMICONDUCTORS) WITH LOWER EMISSIONS THAN CONVENTIONAL COPPER RECYCLING. THE PROJECT IS ALSO EXPECTED TO SUPPORT ELECTRIFICATION WITHIN THE UNITED STATES BY PRODUCING COPPER-DERIVED WIRE AND BUS BARS, WHICH ARE CRITICAL MATERIALS FOR ELECTRIC POWER DISTRIBUTION. BY RECYCLING COPPER SCRAP DOMESTICALLY, UNDER THIS PROJECT, WIELAND EXPECTS TO PRODUCE APPROXIMATELY 35K METRIC TONS PER ANNUM (MTPA) OF 99.99% PURITY REFINED COPPER INGOT, 35K MTPA OF COPPER WIRE FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLES, AND OVER 20K MTPA OF COPPER CATHODE, THEREBY REDUCING THE NEED FOR COPPER DERIVED FROM ORE FROM COPPER MINES. ADDITIONALLY, THIS PROJECT IS EXPECTED TO PROVIDE THE SHELBYVILLE COMMUNITY WITH GREATER ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AND IMPROVED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT THROUGH THE CREATION OF APPROXIMATELY 130 PERMANENT JOBS AND PRIORITIZE HIRING FROM THE LOCAL COMMUNITY AND EQUITABLE ACCESS TO JOBS FOR UNDERREPRESENTED WORKERS AND WORKERS FROM DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES. THE PROJECT WILL FOCUS ON ONSHORING KEY AMERICAN MANUFACTURING WITH HIGH-PAYING, HIGH-SKILL JOBS. WIELAND COMMITS TO TWO-WAY ENGAGEMENT THROUGH THE CREATION OF A COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD AND SUBSEQUENT COMMUNITY BENEFITS AGREEMENT.

Verbatim from USAspending.gov. Capitalization, abbreviations, and codes are unchanged.

The Buildout's read

What the model surfaced from this award

Confidence: high
In plain English

Expand a Kentucky copper recycling facility to produce 90,000+ metric tons annually of refined copper and wire for EVs and power distribution, reducing reliance on mined copper.

Sub-sectors
copper-recyclingdomestic-refiningev-supply-chain
Why this matters

Onshores critical copper supply for electrification and advanced manufacturing, reducing U.S. dependence on foreign ore and supporting domestic EV battery and grid infrastructure.

Supply-chain signal

Secures domestic copper feedstock for EV battery makers, semiconductor manufacturers, and electrical equipment suppliers; reduces downstream reliance on imported refined copper.

U.S.–China competition angle

Counters China's dominance in copper refining and EV supply chains by establishing U.S.-based production of cathode-grade copper and EV-grade wire.

Generated by award_classification v2.1.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-19. Cost: $0.003621.

Period of performance
Start
2025-01-01
End
2034-12-31
Status
activein 3106 days
Sources

The Buildout does not edit federal records. Any inaccuracy reflects the upstream source; it will update here when corrected there.

$270.0M Department of Energy — The Buildout — The Buildout