“Project Jonah” moves along.
According to multiples reports across the US state of Virginia such as WOAY, Pure Salmon is investing USD 228 million, which is one of the largest private capital investments in the area’s history.
The news of the facility was first published in early 2019. The site will be the company’s largest facility with 20,000 tonnes of production a year. Using RAS tech from AquaMaof Aquaculture, Pure Salmon has many projects in the pipeline with sites planned in Japan, France, Italy, Lesotho, and China.
Called “Project Jonah”, the company said that the facility will be located on the boundary of Tazewell and Russell Counties in Southwest Virginia.
Chairman of the Buchanan County Board of Supervisors Craig Stiltner told the publication that Project Jonah will “create a regional project that provides for economic diversity, high paying jobs, and an increased tax base that will inure to the benefit of all three participating counties. Regional cooperation is the future for the coalfield counties of Southwest Virginia.”
Pure Salmon bought 203 acres of land near Southwest Virginia Community College in the summer of 2020, and applied for land-disturbing permits this autumn. Site preparation will begin later this winter, the publication reported.
Pure Salmon added that potential 200 jobs were up for grabs. For residents in the state, home to Jamestown, England’s first permanent settlement in North America, part of Virginia remains an economically distressed region in the USA. In 2018, it was found that 51 per-cent of Southwestern Virginia households lived in poverty, according to United Way of Southwest Virginia.
The project is expected to be complete by the end of 2023.
