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BAT CAVE, NC - Shortly after Hurricane Helene hit Western North Carolina, a group of people showed up in 'Bat Cave', a small village on the banks of the Broad River to the east of Asheville.
They established an 'outpost' near the post office at the opening to the town on Highway 74, and told residents, "We're here to help".
And help they did, in many ways we were told, but after some time, some residents became suspicious.
"They were blocking people coming into the town," one resident of Bat Cave told CDM.
CDM was on-site in Bat Cave and Western North Carolina for several days last week interviewing citizens of the hurricane impact area.
"They set up a road block", the resident added. "They were intimidating people who asked any questions." One man was so frightened we were told he was isolated in what remained of his house in order not to have to deal with what he called 'threatening big dudes' near the outpost, who were armed.
The group who arrived at the town soon began to bring in heavy earth moving equipment. "At first, they told people they were a church group, who organically formed after the storm to help others in the area," we confirmed with one Bat Cave resident who wanted to remain anonymous.
Then they put up a flag at their location -- Alpha Metallurgical Resources (AMR).
"It looked like they were staking out a claim on the town," said one resident.
The 'road' AMR built to neighboring Chimney Rock, another village which was almost totally destroyed by the hurricane, has gained national exposure.
The governor of West Virginia praised the accomplishment and legacy media chimed in - 'They moved a mountain,' proclaimed the New York Post. (They didn't move a mountain and that was later debunked)
A spokesman for the DOT said the miners did not build an access road further down near Bat Cave that's safe for traffic.
"We appreciate the intentions of a mining crew from West Virginia," said David Uchiyama, an NCDOT spokesman. "They're the creation of a path — not enough to support vehicular traffic — south from Bat Cave occurred on private land and beyond the purview of transportation officials."
There are also complaints from residents the mining group did not respect private property, and just did what they wanted, going onto private land at will to 'help'. We spoke with residents who asked them to leave their property.
One resident said the group came on their land and began clearing debris, not near their home and vehicle which was covered with material from mud slides, but up the mountain near the crest line.
"Why are you cutting up there?" one resident told CDM. "I need help here near my house."
"We are here to help", the resident was told.
Then there were the drones.
We spoke with one resident who claimed truck loads of material were brought out by truck at night, with drone coverage overhead.
"There seemed to be a huge hurry to cut a path to Chimney Rock," one resident told CDM.
We are told the NC DOT had to tell the group to leave the county, and there were confrontations over jurisdiction for the 'path' being built from Bat Cave to Lake Lure.
"I think they were prospecting," one resident told CDM. "There were huge cuts in the mountain, revealing information about contents that would have taken years to discover. They seemed to only be cutting around drainages."
Other residents, like Mark Staton who owns the post office in town near where the AMR outpost was located, told us the miners did a lot of good, cleared debris and generally were very welcomed and appreciated.
"I know there was controversy, and disagreement with the county jurisdictions, but that all got worked out." (paraphrasing)
We reached out to AMR for comment and as of publication have not heard back.
