Ames Copper has announced plans to invest around $26.3mn by 2023 to expand its current copper manufacturing facility in Shelby, North Carolina.
The joint venture between Prime Metals Recovery (PMR) and Spain’s Cunext Group will increase these investments to around $50mn over the next five years. Moreover, the new facility will be located close to PMR’s IMC Metals America, which manufactures copper for wiring lightning rods and for applications in the defense industry.
The investment also includes a new copper smelter at the facility and, according to Bernard Schilberg, PMR’s chief executive officer, once completed, the Shelby facility will be the only custom smelter in the US.
The expanded facility will add 46 jobs in Cleveland County, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper announced this week, and the One North Carolina Fund will grant $150,000 to Ames to help locate it to Shelby.