A $1.5 billion metals refinery ostensibly planned for construction in Amarillo, Texas, by Canadian corporation Chemical Vapor Metal Refining and its founder, Kamran Khozan, was instead abandoned.
Westwin Elements and its founder, KaLeigh Long, previously had an agreement with CVMR but it, too, fell apart.
CVMR’s Amarillo facility was projected to encompass approximately 500,000 square feet on 540 acres off US-60, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held in June 2022.
Company, county and city officials said CVMR expected to hire 1,000 new employees in the first phase of the project, with the potential of up to 2,500 employees in future phases, consisting of $97 million of annual projected payroll.
According to the Texas Real Estate Research Center, the Amarillo deal would provide CVMR with $20 million for the creation of more than 1,000 jobs over a 10-year period and a 100% tax abatement for 10 years.
CVMR officials met with members of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation on Nov. 18, 2024. The first phase of the CVMR refinery was projected to produce 10,000 tons per year of high-purity nickel powders and nickel nano powders based on CVMR’s proprietary powder metallurgy processes and technologies.
Khozan and CVMR President Michael Hargett were photographed together at the Amarillo site on Nov. 19, 2024.
Phase one of the project was to have involved the refining of nickel; thereafter the modules for the refining of heavy rare earth elements would be commissioned and become operational, CVMR reported on its website.
Most of the minerals CVMR said it planned to refine in Amarillo are “sourced within the United States and Canada, thus making sure that their supply chain is secure and the risks associated with the supply of raw materials are minimized,” the company wrote.
Nevertheless, “Nothing was built,” Doug Nelson, senior vice president of the Amarillo Economic Development Corp., told Southwest Ledger. “Basically, we were under an agreement to incentivize them to come to our community” and build a refinery. However, “They did not meet all the terms of that agreement,” Nelson said.
“Early on we transferred land to them. But because they didn’t meet the terms of that agreement by the start date, they gave us that land back” and the contractual agreement was canceled.
Westwin Elements sued Khozan and CVMR in Oklahoma City’s Western District federal court on Jan. 6, 2025, accusing Khozan of “actual and constructive fraud” and alleging “breach of contract” by CVMR.
Their agreement provided that CVMR would “design and construct” a refinery for Westwin capable of producing 10,000 tons annually of refined product “for an estimated cost to Westwin of approximately $150 million.” Westwin and Long claimed they paid Khozan and CVMR $3 million for a feasibility study that was never delivered.
Khozan and CVMR filed an “abuse of process” claim against Westwin on May 6, but Western District Chief Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti dismissed their motion on Dec. 3. The federal lawsuit remains active.
Meanwhile, a financial advisory firm filed a lawsuit Oct. 13 in New York’s Southern District federal court against Westwin Elements, alleging breach of a financial agreement.
The suit was filed by Woods Capital and Woods Equity Partners. Woods is a financial advisory firm that provides “institutional-grade financial structures, advanced modeling, and capital solutions in the innovation, infrastructure, energy, and technology sectors.”
A pretrial conference in that case is scheduled for Jan. 15.