Company announces plans for ammunition plant in eastern Kanawha County

Tuesday's announcement was made at Riverside High School in Quincy.
Tuesday’s announcement was made at Riverside High School in Quincy.

QUINCY, W.Va. — A Texas based company plans to create more than 400 jobs in eastern Kanawha County, according to an announcement made Tuesday.

Ranger Scientific will build an ammunition plant on a reclaimed mountaintop removal site looking over Riverside High School in Quincy.

The company announced its plan to acquire the 1,000 acre site during a presentation at the high school Tuesday.

Dan Pearlson, president and CEO of Ranger Scientific, said they spent the last six months searching for a new home for the company and knew West Virginia was the place to be.

“It was no accident that our chief operating officer is a native and grew up in Campbell’s Creek. We have a pretty shiny spot on our heart for Kanawha Valley,” Pearlson said following the event.

The factory will produce more than 500 million rounds of “harmonically-tuned” rifle ammunition each year.

The first training cohort will employ 50 people followed immediately by about 150 workers, so by the first quarter of 2021 they’ll have over 450 line jobs and administrative employees, Pearlson said.

“The full burden, which includes the employee benefits, is an average of about $70,000,” Pearlson said of how much one worker will make annually.

Speakers at Tuesday’s ceremony included Senate President Bill Cole (R-Mercer), Kanawaha County Commission President Kent Carper, Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams and others.

Medal of Honor recipient Hershel "Woody" Williams discusses how Ranger will provide jobs to military veterans.
Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams discusses how Ranger will provide jobs to military veterans.

The company said the jobs brought to eastern Kanawha County will help put struggling coal miners and military veterans back to work. Dave Hardy, Kanawha County commissioner, said that’s good because West Virginians value work.

“There’s a lot of good West Virginians right now that are looking for work — laid off coal miners, laid off surface and underground miners,” he said. “There’s a great work force out here that wants to go to work every day.”

West Virginia beat out six other states in the process. Hardy said Ranger decided to develop their property in the Mountain State for a reason.

“We presented ourselves the way that we should which means we’re honest, we’re hardworking and we’re willing to work every day,” Hardy said.

The company plans to invest approximately $41 million in the first phase of production with another $9 million in 2020 — averaging about $50 million when complete, Pearlson said.

Construction will last about 17 months. Training will take about three months, which means production won’t begin until early 2018.





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