By Kaitlin Fleming, Staff Correspondent
Calcean Minerals and Materials LLC is coming to Gadsden and the company is bringing 70 jobs with it.
On Tuesday, May 29, the Gadsden City Council voted on the abatement resolution, which passed unanimously.
Calcean is a processing company for biogenically renewable high performance mineral known as oolitic aragonite sand.
Oolitic aragonite sand is used as raw materials for products in different industries such as agriculture and plastic manufacturing. Calcean’s core value is creating products in the spirit of biogenic renewability and matching prices competitively.
Calcean harvests oolitic aragonite in the Bahamas. The company currently imports raw materials through Florida, but now it is moving its imports through Mobile and up to Gadsden.
“We couldn’t make this project happen without the IDA Board of Directors and Assistant Director Bill Greene,” said City of Gadsden Mayor Sherman Guyton. “We’re glad to bring a great industry to Gadsden that will have long-term impacts on our community through high-quality jobs and sustainable industry.”
Guyton said that bringing Calcean to Gadsden is great for the citizens.
“We look forward to bringing more industry, more jobs, and more growth to Gadsden,” said Guyton.
At the May 29 city council meeting Guyton said that the city is abating non-educational taxes to help bring Calcean to Gadsden. The tax abatement is for five years and does not apply to taxes that generate revenue for education.
The property tax abated is expected to be $12,615 per year and construction-related transaction taxes are estimated at $27,890.63.
Councilman Johnny Cannon of District 6 said that this project is a win-win for the city of Gadsden.
“Seventy jobs, that’s really remarkable,” said Cannon. “Of course that’s just starting out. As they grow they’ll add more jobs. This is going to bring a lot of money to Gadsden. District 6 is definitely growing.”
Calcean will be using a facility in the Gadsden Commerce Center, in Cannon’s district. The company will have equipment arriving in 2 weeks and then production will begin.
Calcean is investing $2.6 million dollars in their new Gadsden facility, which will be used for state of the art research and lab developments as well as processing and distributing. This project is bringing jobs paying yearly salaries of $44,000.