$270,000,000
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.
What the model surfaced from this award
Expand a copper recycling facility in Kentucky to produce high-purity refined copper and wire for EVs and power distribution with lower emissions.
Reduces U.S. dependence on imported copper ore by establishing domestic recycling capacity for critical EV and electrification supply chains.
Strengthens domestic copper supply for EV manufacturers and electrical infrastructure, reducing reliance on primary mining and foreign sources.
Onshores critical copper processing to reduce dependence on Chinese-dominated recycling and refining capacity for EV and battery supply chains.
Generated by award_classification v1.0.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-14. Cost: $0.001918.
- Award record ingested from usaspending. Source identifier ASST_NON_DECD0000105_089.
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