GRANVILLE, W.Va. — If you missed the GMS Mining job forum this week, there are still ways to connect with the company for those interested in either entering or returning to the coal industry.

“We’re actually doing the hiring,” Dustin Armstrong of GMS Mining said Thursday. “GMS Mine Repair is the largest underground contractor in the United States. We’re also the safest underground contractor in the United States.”

The Oakland, Maryland-based company is expanding throughout a number of regions, Armstrong said.

“We have work all around the region,” he said. “We do work reaching as far west as Grand Junction, Colorado and as far south as Alabama. All across the country.”

But you don’t have to travel a long distance to join the company.

“We offer underground mining classes for individuals looking to get into a career,” Armstrong said. “And those jobs will most likely be around this area for the individuals coming in [Thursday]. We do have traveling opportunities, but it’s what’s best for the potential employee coming in and what’s best for us.”

Armstrong said after a tough few years, the industry is in the opening stages of a rebound.

“We’ve always done annual job fairs, however our industry is booming right now,” he said. “We’re absolutely expanding. We’re growing at a rapid rate.”

Those interested can go online at www.gmsminerepair.com. GMS Mine Repair does “a little bit of everything,” according to Armstrong. That includes fabrication shops, building conveyer structures, and building bell drives.

You can also stop in at their Morgantown office off of the I-68 Sabraton exit.