Smelting plant could employ 400 in county

Baileyville voters will be asked to approve a $2.5 million bond package as conduit financing for Ecomelt Corporation for a project that could ultimately employ as many as 400 people. The town meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, August 3, at the Woodland Elementary School.

Ecomelt, a company incorporated in Maine in August 2003, is working with Louisiana-Pacific to purchase the vacant oriented strand board (OSB) mill for use as a facility that would use a smelting process to melt basalt into a continuous filament that can be used for a variety of industrial uses. According to company spokesman John Wakin, the supply of basalt would come from Grand Manan and be transported on the Grand Manan ferry and then on land by truck to Baileyville. Grand Manan has spectacular exposures of basalt.

Baileyville Town Manager Scott Harriman says the town would not be obligated for the payment of the bond. Repayment of the bond would be the responsibility of the company. Harriman says the town would serve as a conduit for financing through the Finance Authority of Maine (FAME), the agency that would make the decision to loan money. There will be many levels of financing involved in the project, and FAME would probably issue an industrial revenue bond.

Harriman says such an operation would contribute to the town's tax base and would provide much needed employment for Washington County.

Basalt is cooled lava, a dark-gray rock with a melting point of 26000 F. In fiber form it outperforms nylon and carbon fibers in high-temperature and cryogenic environments. Rods made of a composite of basalt fibers offer significant advantages over steel rebar in a variety of applications, as they are 89% lighter in weight. One ton of basalt reinforcement rods provides the reinforcement of 9.6 tons of steel rebar and is resistant to corrosion and deterioration by natural elements. It is also resistant to alkali. Other uses for the filament include construction of filtration bags for industrial plants and as an insulator in sheet rock. It is also used to replace fiberglass on the hulls of boat.

At this time, there is no American company operating such a facility. Sudaglass Fiber Technology, a Russian company, does have an operation based in Houston, Tex.