Rockdale, Texas has been hit hard economically in the last year with the local coal-fired power plant and mine shutting down its business operations. Bitmain is stepping in to ease the economic pain by replacing the coal mining operations with Bitcoin mining operations.
Chinese firm Bitmain Technologies is opening cryptocurrency mining operations at the site of a former aluminum smelter outside Rockdale, according to the local newspaper Rockdale Reporter, and confirmed by a local official.
Last October the state’s largest electricity generator, Sandow, announced it was closing three coal-fired power plants in Texas due to being not profitable, one being in Rockdale, Texas along with the adjacent coal mine.
This was especially hard for Milam County residents, a small town of roughly 25,000 residents about 30 minutes outside of Rockdale. This area was well known for more than 60 years as a coal an aluminum town as many residents and their families were coal miners.
The site of the bitcoin mining operation is next door to Dallas-based Luminant’s Sandow power plant, which closed in January. The new bitcoin operation is expected to create 300 to 500 jobs and offset the 325 jobs lost at the power plant and mine.
While Bitmain has yet to publicly announce their plans or announce when the mining operation will open its doors, the Chinese company has been active on Indeed.com (job listing website), listing a need for a project manager in Rockdale, Texas.
The bitcoin mining operation, however, has been described as the worst-kept secret in the Rockdale area. Many area residents have long been discussing rumors that a bitcoin mining company was planned to move into the old Alcoa plant site, which has been shuttered for about a decade.
On Thursday afternoon, one bitcoin was worth more than $7,400. Previously, the digital currency peaked at more than $19,000 last year.
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