QUINCY (AP) — An ammunition company announced plans Tuesday to build a bullet factory in southern West Virginia and add 400 jobs.

Ranger Scientific officials said the company has acquired 1,000 acres on a reclaimed mountaintop removal coal mine in eastern Kanawha County. The 150,000-square-foot facility will produce more than 500 million rounds of specialty rifle ammunition each year.

Ranger President and CEO Daniel Pearlson said the company chose West Virginia over six other states. According to media outlets, he said bullet manufacturing is expected to begin by 2018.

The plant will mass produce “harmonically tuned” rifle ammunition, which is used in Olympic and other international competitions as well as by expert hunters and in specialized U.S. military applications. Those types of bullets reduce weapon vibration during firing.

The ammunition will be available to both consumers and military customers. The company said military veterans would be among those hired at the facility.

The plant is big news in a state that has seen thousands of layoffs in the coal industry over the past year. West Virginia had the third-highest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the nation at 6.4 percent in April. Alaska and Illinois had the highest at 6.6 percent.

“We’re proud of the business climate we’ve created in our state and look forward to seeing this project come to fruition,” Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin said in a statement. “We’re always excited to see companies locate and expand in West Virginia, and Ranger Scientific’s plan to hire hundreds of West Virginia workers is great news.”