In a proclamation at a recent Cleveland County Commission meeting, Albemarle Corporation has been formally recognized by the Commission for facilitating emergency response training opportunities at their Kings Mountain facility.
As part of Albemarle's efforts to redevelop the Kings Mountain Mine, the company purchased several properties and homes on the perimeter of the existing mine property that are expected to primarily serve as a visual and noise buffer. The company plans to demolish these unoccupied structures before mine construction begins and offered use of several properties and structures to support community emergency training.
Since March, over 100 emergency responders, students and K-9 officers have participated in emergency-response training on these properties, with more opportunities expected throughout 2025. In their proclamation, the Commission noted that Albemarle “demonstrated a commitment to public safety, community well-being, and corporate citizenship” by helping to facilitate these training opportunities.

Cleveland Community College has conducted two firefighter academies using the properties and plans to use three additional houses for its fire-certification course. As opposed to courses that use steel shipping containers with wood pallets and straw added to create burn structures, the properties offer real-world training opportunities to students. “Acquired structures, like those offered by Albemarle, are much better than the non-combustible structures that we typically use. It makes all the difference. Having acquired structures is like learning to swim in a pool with a deep end,” said Richard Carroll, the fire and rescue training coordinator for Cleveland Community College.
The Kings Mountain Fire Department’s training sessions included 22 firefighters who benefited from the unique training experience. Fire Chief Greg Main noted, “Live structures provide realistic, invaluable training. Our firefighters can see fire growth and behavior that you don’t see with staged burns.”
The Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office also held K‑9 and narcotics-search exercises in some of the structures, training nine officers and nine K‑9s in realistic residential settings.
Brayden Beaver, mechanical project engineer at Albemarle, emphasized the company’s commitment to safety and responsible planning, “Safety is always our priority. When an organization reaches out with an emergency training proposal, we investigate all the requirements to see if we can help them execute.” said Beaver.
This initiative highlights Albemarle’s dedication to community collaboration, safety and environmental responsibility as it advances the Kings Mountain Mine project.
