Coosa Riverkeeper is deeply concerned about the proposed graphite mine in Coosa County.
Westwater Resources / Alabama Graphite Company has acquired 42,000 acres of mineral rights in Coosa County. They are preparing to create an open-pit graphite mine that will harm Coosa County and its residents. We must act now to protect our water, woods, and way of life.
Keep reading to learn more about the current action alerts, the mine and processing, the threats we face, and how we can protect our communities and natural resources.
loaded bass boats weigh as much as the amount of ore to be extracted
acres of mineral rights held by Westwater Resources
full olympic sized pools equals the amount of toxic mine waste
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IMPORTANT DATES & EVENTS:
- There are currently no action alerts or upcoming events.
ABOUT GRAPHITE, THE MINE & THE MINING PROCESS
Westwater Resources is preparing to create an open-pit mine that will harm waterways, fill in wetlands, impact wildlife and hunting on the Coosa WMA, quality of life, and create a high potential for acid mine drainage in one of the last remaining wild places in the Coosa River basin.
ABOUT GRAPHITE:
- Graphite is one of the two natural forms of carbon – the other form is the diamond.
- Graphite is thermally stable and can conduct electricity. There are three main types: flake, amorphous, and vein. All three types are important for different industries, but flake graphite is a critical component in lithium-ion and vanadium-redox batteries, and in fuel cells.
- Graphite is deemed a critical material by the U.S. and it has been previously mined in Alabama from the 1800’s to the 1950’s. It has not been mined in the U.S. since 1990.
ABOUT WESTWATER RESOURCES & THE PROJECT:
- Westwater Resources, Inc. is a battery grade, graphite development company. The Company’s primary project is the Coosa Graphite Project – the most advanced natural flake graphite project in the contiguous U.S. – and the associated Coosa Graphite Deposit located across 41,900 acres in east-central Alabama. Alabama Graphite Products, LLC is a subsidiary of Westwater Resources
- The Coosa Graphite Project has two components: (1) construction of the Coosa Graphite Production Facility in Kellyton, near Alexander City for producing Coated Spherical Purified Graphite (CSPG); and (2) and mining of the Coosa Graphite Deposit.
- The Coosa Graphite Production Facility will produce CSPG. CSPG is a critical component in anode manufacturing for battery production, including batteries for electric vehicles.
Photo from Westwater Resources website.
OPEN PIT MINE
IMPACTED WATERWAYS: Weogufka Creek, Noneless Creek, Lake Mitchell
The graphite mine will be taking forested land and turning it into a large, open-pit mine. Open pit mining is considered to be one of the most destructive mining methods. It requires extensive vegetation, topsoil, and rock removal and produces a large amount of waste and by-products.
The first stage of this mine is approximately 1200 acres. That is equivalent to 909 football fields.
CLICK THROUGH OUR CONCERNS:
Acid Mine Drainage
This mine has a high likelihood of Acid Mine Drainage. Acid mine drainage can occur both during mining operations and long after a mine has been abandoned.
Acid mine drainage often results from mining sulfide-rich host rock.
- Host rocks tend to form oxygen-poor reducing environments as they are rich in sulfide materials, such as pyrite or copper iron sulfide. When these rocks are below the earth’s surface in oxygen-poor environments, they are stable.
- To extract and ‘free’ the graphite, the host rock is crushed and exposed to oxygen or oxygenated-water on the surface. When this happens, these sulfide minerals oxidize to form sulfuric acid and release heavy metals that were a part of graphite’s crystalline structure. This sulfuric acid and released heavy metals are then mixed into various wastes leaving the mine.
- Acid mine drainage is the process by which highly acidic water rich in heavy metals is formed and drains into surface water and groundwater.
Water Quality
This mine will negatively impact water quality in Weogufka Creek, Noneless Creek, and Lake Mitchell. There are NO examples of sulfide-ore mines (which is what the Coosa Graphite Mine would be) that have been operated and closed without contamination of surface water or groundwater.
- If the mine is close to the water table, groundwater will need to be continuously pumped out of the mining area. Ground water might even need to be diverted away from the mine. However, once any water has been in contact with the active mining area, it should be considered mining waste and treated as such before being released back into surface water.
- Stormwater from rain events will potentially be contaminated with heavy metals once it comes into contact with the active mining areas.
- The 61 sediment basins are being built to only withstand a 25 Year – 24 Hour rain event. State and federal guidelines state that they should be built to withstand a 100 Year precipitation event.
- Mining activities can cause huge water table depressions over a large area and can have a permanent effect on how groundwater moves in the region, including the threat of sinkholes and dewatering nearby streams. This means a potential for groundwater and surface water depletion.
- There is a potential for groundwater and surface water contamination from hydrocarbons and reagents used in the mining process.
- There is a high liklihood for acid mine drainage and metal leaching into waterways.
- Stream beds can have tailings from previous times of mining (which do exist in this area) that have heavy metals attached to surface sites. These heavy metals can be mobilized by the introduction of new acid mine drainage into streams or by other increases in stream acidity. For this reason, mine tailings in stream beds are often referred to as a “chemical time bomb.”
Dust
As rock is crushed, dust and fine-particles will be released into the air. Because graphite is so fine-grained, dust generation would be a particular problem at an open-pit graphite mine. Moreover, the fine-grained nature of graphite means that it would form a stable suspension, so that any graphite accidentally released into surface water would persist for a considerable distance downstream.
Roads & Traffic
The mine will be operating 24/7/365. There will be increased heavy vehicle traffic causing road degradation, accidents, noise, and emissions. With increased access roads, there could be increased fire risk and invasive species.
Noise & Light Pollution
There will be blasting, including vibrations and flyrock. The mine will be running 24/7/365 and will have light and noise pollution from operations.
ON-SITE WASTE MANAGEMENT
IMPACTED WATERWAYS: Weogufka Creek, Noneless Creek, Lake Mitchell
After the graphite is removed from the ore material, the remains, called “tailings” will be held in storage pods, or “tailing dams”. Tailings have high amounts of minerals and heavy metals and can cause negative impacts to water quality.
Tailings need permanent storage of the wet, fine-grained, and typically toxic material. However, tailings dams are not designed to hold waste forever. There have been nearly 400 documented catastrophic failures of tailings storage facilities.
A tailings dam can never be dismantled, unless the toxic tailings can be moved to some other
location.
The need for monitoring, inspection, maintenance, and review of a tailings storage facility in
perpetuity is, in fact, the official position of the mining industry.
CLICK THROUGH OUR CONCERNS:
Dam Failure
- Once the valuable mineral is removed, the remaining wet waste is known as the tailings and still needs to be stored. The tailings are themselves highly toxic and contain heavy metals. They are typically permanently stored above ground adjacent to the river behind a tailings dam.
- Tailings dams have an inevitable likelihood of catastrophic failures. During the mine operation phase, the tailings storage dams should be regularly inspected, monitored, and maintained. However, those maintenance requirements are less stringent after the mining operation has stopped. Reduced or suspended inspection and maintenance efforts increase the likelihood of catastrophic failure.
- Failure of a tailings dam would be catastrophic in terms of the impact to the creeks, flora and fauna, drinking water, water quality, and infrastructure degradation.
The need for monitoring, inspection, maintenance, and review of a tailings storage facility in perpetuity is, in fact, the official position of the mining industry. According to the opening chapter of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Tailings Management Handbook, “The mining industry has a significant challenge in that these TSFs [Tailings Storage Facilities] will last for perpetuity. Unfortunately, humans have no experience in designing facilities to last forever, so responsible tailings management is required for as long as the TSF exists” (Morrison and Lammers, 2022).
Westwater Resources has never expressed either an intention or a plan to monitor, inspect, maintain, and review the tailings storage facility at the Coosa Graphite mine in perpetuity. Even if Westwater Resources has the intention, it is still highly unlikely to happen.
In addition, Alabama is the only state in the U.S. that historically operated without a comprehensive dam safety program. We still do not have mandatory dam safety laws.
Acid Mine Drainage
This mine has a high likelihood of Acid Mine Drainage. Acid mine drainage can occur both during mining operations and long after a mine has been abandoned.
Acid mine drainage often results from mining sulfide-rich host rock.
- Host rocks tend to form oxygen-poor reducing environments as they are rich in sulfide materials, such as pyrite or copper iron sulfide. When these rocks are below the earth’s surface in oxygen-poor environments, they are stable.
- To extract and ‘free’ the graphite, the host rock is crushed and exposed to oxygen or oxygenated-water on the surface. When this happens, these sulfide minerals oxidize to form sulfuric acid and release heavy metals that were a part of graphite’s crystalline structure. This sulfuric acid and released heavy metals are then mixed into various wastes leaving the mine.
- Acid mine drainage is the process by which highly acidic water rich in heavy metals is formed and drains into surface water and groundwater.
Water Quality
This mine will negatively impact water quality in Weogufka Creek, Noneless Creek, and Lake Mitchell. There are NO examples of sulfide-ore mines (which is what the Coosa Graphite Mine would be) that have been operated and closed without contamination of surface water or groundwater.
- Stormwater from rain events will potentially be contaminated with heavy metals once it comes into contact with the active mining areas.
- The 61 sediment basins are being built to only withstand a 25 Year – 24 Hour rain event. State and federal guidelines state that they should be built to withstand a 100 Year precipitation event.
- Mining activities can cause huge water table depressions over a large area and can have a permanent effect on how groundwater moves in the region, including the threat of sinkholes and dewatering nearby streams. This means a potential for groundwater and surface water depletion.
- There is a potential for groundwater and surface water contamination from hydrocarbons and reagents used in the mining process.
- There is a high liklihood for acid mine drainage and metal leaching into waterways.
- Stream beds can have tailings from previous times of mining (which do exist in this area) that have heavy metals attached to surface sites. These heavy metals can be mobilized by the introduction of new acid mine drainage into streams or by other increases in stream acidity. For this reason, mine tailings in stream beds are often referred to as a “chemical time bomb.”
THE PROCESSING FACILITY
IMPACTED WATERWAYS: Sugar Creek, Lake Martin, Tallapoosa River
The processing facility is already completed in Kellyton, Alabama. This facility will operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with 48 total presonnel. The Westwater Project Summary reports that 460,000 gallons/day of fresh water will be required for the processing plant.
Processing Plant will discharge to the Alexander City publicly owned treatment works (POTW), Sugar Creek Industrial Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (AWWTP). As an industrial user the Processing Plant will be required to meet pretreatment standards by obtaining a state indirect discharge permit from ADEM. The AWWTP discharges to Lake Martin (Tallapoosa River) which is designated for swimming and fish and wildlife uses. It is currently listed as impaired due to the atmospheric deposition of mercury.
CLICK THROUGH OUR CONCERNS:
WWTP Capacity
- Can the system properly filter out the reagents used in the processing facility?
- Can the system handle this large increase in wastewater?
Water Quality
OUR QUESTIONS
- Can the system properly filter out the reagents used in the processing facility?
- Who will be monitoring the discharge reports to ensure compliance?
- Who will be monitoring water quality consistently?
ABOUT THE PERMITS
The Coosa Graphite Mine has been accepted into the Federal FAST-41 Program. Through FAST-41, the Permitting Council provides focused, hands-on permitting support to infrastructure projects, and improves efficiency through clear timelines and better coordination across federal agencies. This process removes “unknown unknowns” and provides certainty to project developers, but not necessarily protecting the community or the environment.
404 ARMY CORP OF ENGINEERS
Westwater Resources is requesting discharge fill material into 23,284 linear feet of intermittent streams and 3.54 acres of wetlands for surface mining operations to extract graphite mineral within a 1,136-acre parcel of land. The impacts include mining and construction of sediment basin impoundments associated with the proposed surface mining operations.
OUR MAJOR CONCERNS:
- Filling in wetlands
- Filling in streams around the area
- Impact to water quality
- Impact to wildlife, including threatened & endangered species
- Impact to hunting & fishing in the Coosa Wildlife Management Area
- Acid mine drainage
COMMENT PERIOD CLOSED JULY 26
AL DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
OUR MAJOR CONCERNS:
- No public comment period (that we know of)
- Lack of transparency and responsiveness from agency (we have reached out several times…)
- a ONE page application
ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT - NPDES PERMIT
A NPDES permit is required under the U.S. Clean Water Act and allows the regulated discharge of treated stormwater and other permitted water associated with mining and related site activities. Although the application includes site-specific engineering, hydrologic, and environmental analyses to support compliance with applicable federal and state water quality standards. ADEM will review the application in accordance with its established regulatory procedures, which include technical evaluation and a public notice and comment period.
OUR MAJOR CONCERNS:
- A state agency that does not have the capacity or political will to hold polluters accountable
- 50+ stormwater holding ponds and outfalls
- Toxic pollution from the mining process, leaching from tailing dams, and acid mine drainage into Weogufka Creek, Noneless Creek
- Groundwater & surface water pollution impacting Weogufka Creek, Noneless Creek, and Lake Mitchell
- Loss of wetlands
- Loss of wildlife habitat
- Impacts to threatened and endangered species
- Erosion, loss of topsoil and decreased soil fertility
- Permanant landscape alteration – tourism impacts to Flagg Mountain, Hatchet Creek, Rockford, and Coosa County
- Quality of life – impacts to hunting and fishing in the Coosa Wildlife Management Area
- Westwater Resources has only submitted designs for 8 of the 61 sediment basins.
ADEM has not issued a public notice for the NPDES Permit. When they do, we hope you will consider submitting a comment. Stay tuned.
OUR OVERALL CONCERNS
Water Pollution
The Coosa Graphite Mine will have major impacts to water quality in Weogufka Creek, Noneless Creek, and Lake Mitchell for generations. This pollution will impact both human and ecosystem health, including the impact to 13+ threatened & endangered species.
Water pollution will be caused by:
- Heavy metals – exposed and get into our waterways by stormwater runoff, groundwater contamination, permitted discharges, and accidental unpermitted discharges.
- Reagents – used in the mining process may leak or spill, contaminating our waterways.
- Acid Mine Drainage – highly likely during mining operations and after operations have stopped
Mining Waste & Dam Failure
Mining waste includes previously released sediments and “tailings”.
- Because this area has historic graphite mining activity, there is a concern that the historic mining activity has washed sulfide-rich sediments into the creek bed that exist currently.
- New mining activity can cause this historic sediment load to release their heavy metals when water chemistry is altered, which is the “chemical time bomb.”
- Tailings:
- Once the desired mineral is removed, the remaining wet mass is known as the tailings and must be stored. The tailings are themselves highly toxic and contain heavy metals. They are typically permanently stored above ground adjacent to the river behind a tailings dam.
- Tailings dams have an inevitable likelihood of catastrophic failure, says Dr. Vick who wrote the standard textbook for designing tailings dams. During the mine operation phase, the tailings storage dams should be regularly inspected, monitored, and maintained. However, those maintenance requirements are less stringent after the mining operation has stopped. Reduced or suspended inspection and maintenance efforts increase the likelihood of catastrophic failure.
- Failure of a tailings dam would be catastrophic in terms of the impact to the creeks, flora and fauna, drinking water, water quality, and infrastructure degradation. If you don’t like the idea of the tailing dam failing somewhere, don’t build it there!
Economy & Property Values
We believe the economic value that Lake Mitchell, Flagg Mountain, Hatchet Creek, and the Coosa Wildlife Management Area is worth more than a 22 year mining operation that will destroy these beloved places. Fishing tournaments, boat and lakehouse sales, marinas and lakefront grills, hiking trails, camping, and many other economic engines are fueled by the beauty of Coosa County.
Property values will undoubtedly be impacted by the 24/7/365 mining operations, noise, air, light, and water pollution, and the destruction of tourism in areas like Hatchet Creek, Flagg Mountain, and Lake Mitchell.
Although Graphite has been deemed a critical mineral, the demand of natural graphite will soon surpass the supply available. If we are already going to need synthetic graphite in the near future, why would we decimate beautiful Coosa County for a few short years?
Public Health
Graphite mining will disturb many heavy metals that will be released into the air and water. Acid mine drainage is highly likely. Both of these will likely impact public health in surrounding areas.
Hunting, Fishing, and Ecotourism
Many people caught their first deer in the Coosa Wildlife Management Area, their first fish on Lake Mitchell, and have paddled to see the Rocky Shoal Spider Lily. This is one of the last remaining wild places in the Coosa River basin. The places where people have looked to put dinner on the table for their family for generations will be directly impacted by the Coosa Graphite Mine.
Quality of Life - Light & Noise Pollution, Road Degredation
Mining operations 24/7/365 will produce light pollution, noise pollution. There will likely be road degradation, accidents, noise, and emissions from increased heavy vehicle traffic.
Cultural Significance
This area is known to be culturally significant for Creek Native Americans. We must protect part of Alabama’s history and heritage.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is graphite important for our military?
Although graphite is used by the United States military, Westwater Resources (WWR)/Alabama Graphite Company does not currently have any contracts with the United States to purchase graphite. The primary contract was with South Korea, who terminated their contract with WWR in early 2026.
Don't we need graphite for electric vehicles?
Coosa Riverkeeper is in favor of renewable resources, however, our mission is to protect the Coosa River, its tributaries, and communities. That comes first and foremost.
Additionally, it is predicted that the demand for graphite will be greater than the natural supply within a few years. This means we would soon have to rely on synthetic graphite. We believe using synthetic graphite from the start would be a more reliable resource long-term and is not as harmful as an open-pit mine.
What is Westwater Resources (WWR) current financial situation?
Westwater Resources currently has no buyers. Their Executives are making 6 figures while stockholders are not getting any payouts and the company is reporting net losses. Westwater Resources’ primary buyer was with SK On, an electric vehicle battery manufacturer in South Korea. However they terminated their contract in March of 2026.
Why aren't you picking on the timber industry?
Coosa Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect, restore, and promote the Coosa River and its tributaries in Alabama. We know industry is a part of life, however, there must be responsibilty and accountability.
Although it has negative impacts to our waterways, the timber industry cannot be compared to a 1,100+ acre open-pit mine that will forever alter the landscape, quality of life, and water quality in Coosa County.
Coosa Riverkeeper is currently addressing the timber industry through advocacy, Elected Official education, and water quality sampling.
How will this impact my well?
There are approximately 1,500 homes on wells in Coosa County. Because the Coosa Graphite Mine will be altering the landscape, topography, and interacting with the geology of the area, there is a good chance wells will be impacted. We are researching, learning from experts, and will update this regularly.
Won't this bring jobs to Coosa County?
Westwater Resources says the mine will bring 82 jobs to the mine and 48 to the processing facility. However, they have not guarenteed those jobs to locals or given details on the safety measures in place to protect their employees. Coosa Riverkeeper believes that we should focus on bringing jobs to Coosa County that protect our natural resources AND boost our local economies.
What will an open-pit mine be like?
An open pit mine will be conical in shape. The first stage of this mine is approximately 1,200 acres, or the same size as 909 football fields.
Why are you just now bringing this up?
Although exploratory drilling has been going on for years and Governor Kay Ivey announced Westwater Resources’ plans in Alabama in 2021, the Army Corps of Engineers permit notification and comment period in July of 2026 is the first concrete step towards the Coosa Graphite Mine becoming operational as well as was the first public comment opportunity in the process.
Disclaimer: These FAQs are answered to the best of our ability with the most recent information we have.
