WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Abandoned mine in Alleghany County will become data security center

Abandoned mine in Alleghany County will become data security center

When you visit the Alleghany Highlands, mountain tops cover the landscape.  Underneath one of those mountains in Low Moor lies an economic opportunity.

Deep inside the Alleghany Highlands, a mine has been sitting abandoned for decades.
 
The Low Moor Iron Company used it to mine limestone from the late 1800s to the 1920s.   It is currently owned by a local family, but the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Corporation has entered into an option to purchase it.  That means Alleghany County currently has control of the land, and it plans to sell the mine to a developer who will use it to build a data security center.
 
That's a place where companies or government organizations can safely store information.

"In the event that their primary storage centers are sabotaged or infected by viruses or are hit by terrorist attacks, they know they have a place they can store data safely," says David Kleppinger with the development corporation.

Once a developer is chosen, everything will be kept top secret.

"There'll be high security clearances and special codes," says Kleppinger.  "You just couldn't walk in here off the street."

"They're very secretive type people that very interested in it," says Steve Bennett, chairman of the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors.  "They don't make a lot of noise when they come, but yes there have been some people here to look at this."

Right now, the area is getting ready to market the mine.  An engineer recently declared it safe for this kind of facility.  Next, a geological survey will be made so developers can determine how much space they can use.

Kleppinger says there are more developers than there are mines, so finding someone who is interested in buying the property shouldn't be a problem.  There are only three mines in Virginia that are suitable spaces for a data security center, and this one is the closest to Washington D.C. 

Even though several developers have shown interest, not just anyone can buy it.

"Obviously we're going to be looking to find a data security center developer who will provide us with the most jobs," says Kleppinger.

A data security operation could bring anywhere from 20 to 200 jobs to the area.  The average starting salary for this type work is about $50,000.

"What you really need to do to be successful is to think out of the box, and this is definitely out of the box for Alleghany County," says Bennett.  "High-tech data under a mountain... that's about as out of the box as we can get."

Once a developer is named there's still a lot of work to do, and it could take years before the facility is complete.