In 2012, Canadian company Alabama Graphite Corp. began prospecting in Coosa County in an area that hadn't been mined since World War II. After six years of generating excitement among local officials, however, the company failed to get the financing, sold to Colorado-based Westwater Resources and "The Coosa Project" went quiet.

Then the Lake Martin Area Economic Development Alliance (LMAEDA) got a call from Westwater representatives in January, just before the capitol insurrection.