Personal Injury Attorney in Camden, SC.

KERSHAW COUNTY — Dozens of employees of a Camden factory went home for Thanksgiving 2024 in the least celebratory of moods.

Denkai America had notified them the plant would shut down by February.

This was, though, in every sense of the phrase, a one-of-the-kind factory. Denkai’s 60-employee site was the only North American producer of a precise type of copper foil used in a variety of common electronics.

Federal officials and industries had to respond quickly to save the jobs and plant.

“We got the call on a Friday in February,” said Wes Spurlock, chief operating officer and co-founder of Principal Mineral Co, a Dallas-based critical minerals corporation. “We were here the next Tuesday.”

When they arrived, the plant was still running, but job fairs were simultaneously underway to assist employees in securing their futures. Principal Mineral was assessing the purchase of the plant while trying to retain both employees and contract customers, Spurlock said.

“Two months later,” he said, “the deal was closed. We had to move quickly. The time to build a factory is a multi-year process, up to five years.”

The Kershaw County factory, and its workforce, was given new life under Principal Mineral. It also got a new name: Camden Copper.

Among the employees Principal Mineral retained at the Battleship Road manufacturer was a man who’d been there from the beginning. Jim Thrope had worked for the previous owner in New York when it chose to expand to South Carolina in 1991.

“I don't know if it was the incentives from the state, for why we ended up here,” Thrope said. “But there was a lot of work done up and down the East Coast to find a place.”

Kershaw County itself is more broadly known as a major player in the agriculture field, said Ben Connell, chairman of the Kershaw County Council. There are 575 farms in the county, producing crops and raising livestock on more than 100,000 acres.

When the layoff notices went out, Thrope said he considered a wrap on his 40-year career. But the new owners compelled him to return, acknowledging the key to re-opening the plant would be retaining the experience of employees like Thrope.

“We get in workers who have never worked with copper before,” he said. “It takes a minimum of a year to understand what they're doing, and a few more years to be really good at it.”

In the copper foil industry, specifically the type made at Camden, veterans in the field are few and far between.

“We had competitors in Ohio, Arizona, for a bit,” Thrope said. “Then there was just four, then three. It’s a lot of hard work making copper foil. It’s much harder than it looks.”

Like many products under globalization, corporations wanted to shift production of copper foil to other countries, such as those in southeast Asia, because it costs less.

“That's good for some things. It's not for things that are in critical supply chains, things that we need every day,” Spurlock said. “We're seeing more policy positions to make sure that we are building resilient supply chains from the government side.”

Virtually all copper foil is made outside the Western Hemisphere, Spurlock said. Luxembourg is home to the only factory in Europe.

Copper foil is a key component in batteries and circuit boards used in everyday products like phones and automobiles, but also military supplies such as planes, missiles and radars, Spurlock said.

Offshoring production left the Kershaw factory as the only place in the U.S. that makes copper foil.

“The Department of Defense identified that as a single point of failure in the supply chain,” Spurlock said.

While Kershaw remains best known as an agricultural community, Spurlock said he’s appreciated the support shown by Connell and the locals for what is now, Camden Copper.

“You come into a community like this, it's very close knit,” he said, “But never did I feel like an outsider.”

CAMDEN, S.C. (WIS) - Camden Middle School’s hallways are quiet for now, but staff members are already setting classrooms and schedules ahead of the first day of school in Kershaw County, which begins July 30.

With a small drop in enrollment at the school, some teachers are taking on new roles to keep positions filled and maintain course offerings for students, educators said.

Drew Cooper, who is entering her eighth year teaching, said she volunteered to switch assignments after administrators asked for staff willing to move rather than lose teachers. Cooper is transitioning from teaching sixth-grade math to teaching eighth-grade English, including English I.

“We’ve had a small decrease in enrollment here at the school. So we had to have a change in where our staff was,” Cooper said. “Ultimately it came to him asking, who volunteers to change. So that way we don’t have to lose any teachers… I volunteer.”

Cooper said the move brings a “huge mind shift,” trading numbers for words, but she’ll still see familiar faces — including many students she previously taught.

She was back on campus early to begin setting up after switching hallways and classrooms, describing teaching as “an all-year job” that doesn’t stop when students leave for summer break.

“Really, teaching is an all-year job,” Cooper said. “It looks like we’re only here for the school year, but we’ve been working all summer.”

Cooper said her goal is to create a welcoming environment for students, especially as they return earlier in the summer than in years past.

“I just want parents and students to know that Camden Middle is a safe, welcoming place,” she said.

Principal Casey Falkenberry said administrators are preparing for the school year with an emphasis on safety and student growth, while also being mindful of staff needs.

“You never get over the first day jitters,” Falkenberry said, adding that preparation involves making sure staff and students are in “the best position to be successful.”

Falkenberry also pointed to academic changes aimed at giving some students a head start before high school.

English I — along with courses such as geometry — offers high school credit for eligible middle school students, and the state now recognizes those credits as honors, Falkenberry said.

“What’s nice is the state now has recognized them as honors credits,” he said. “It’s an even bigger piece of putting those students at an advantageous position as they go into high school.”

Falkenberry said the earlier credits can help students advance more quickly into higher-level coursework later, including Advanced Placement classes and dual-credit opportunities.

As teachers tape up posters and organize desks, school leaders said the goal is to have students walk in on July 30 ready to learn — and supported by staff who have already been working behind the scenes.

“Show up with a positive attitude. Show up ready to give your best effort every single day,” Falkenberry said. “It’s our job to then do everything we can to help those students be in position to be successful.”

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