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Health and Safety

We are Committed to Taking A Leadership Role in Safety, Community, and Environmental Stewardship

Safety is Southern Ionics Mineral's (SIM) foremost priority. The company wants to ensure everyone who works onsite and offsite does their work safely and returns home to their families in a healthy condition. To accomplish this, Chemours strives to create a safety culture so that SIM workers feel empowered to always do what’s right, look out for their coworkers, and help to continually improve performance.

Ensuring a healthy and safe workforce requires training and education, best practices, and the right equipment. All SIM workers, vendors, contractors, and visitors receive Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) training appropriate for their activities. Additionally, onsite safety officers are available to help and advise, as well as develop procedures to ensure work is done safely.

Community Engagement

When SIM moved the corporate headquarters to Offerman, the company's goal was to reinforce their commitment to having a strong local presence and community engagement. This presence is most directly felt and demonstrated by the families in southeast Georgia that are supported by our 140 employees and countless local vendors and contractors.

Economic development can have a huge impact on rural areas, and the company's goal has always been to make a positive impact. Chemours strives to be good corporate citizens so that when people think of SIM, they think of their family, friends, and neighbors who are employees, as well as the community programs the company supports.

To let the community know about company activities and introduce SIM's people, a newsletter will be produced periodically and distributed by area newspapers:

First edition of the newsletter coming soon

Environmental Stewardship

A respect for the environment and a commitment to conserving natural resources are core values of SIM. Southeast Georgia is home to many precious resources: clean air and water, abundant wildlife and fisheries, productive soils and valuable minerals, and a complex cultural heritage. Chemours believes that the use of one resource should not be at the expense of others, so the company strives to be good stewards of the environment in all aspects of SIM's operations.

Environmental stewardship has four main components:

  • Environmental impact assessment and impact mitigation planning
  • Permitting and compliance
  • Operational improvement
  • Education and outreach

Before the first shovelful of dirt is moved, years are spent assessing sensitive resources, such as wetlands and protected species (such as the indigenous gopher tortoise), working with conservation partners to identify concerns, and developing plans to minimize our impacts.

SIM is continuously looking for technology and methods that allow for improved efficiency and reduced environmental impact. The company's goal is to leave the mine site in a condition that ensures the resources will be around for generations to come.

Contact the Minerals Solution Team

If you have any questions or need help, out Chemours team of experts is standing by to assist.
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Helpful Resources

Community activities at the site

  • Local Kids Get Inside Look at Mineral Separation Plant

    Local school children are able to tour the SIM facilities every year. In fact, approximately 80 Patterson Elementary students visited the Mining Separation Plant (MSP) in May 2018.

    Tina Cason, administrative assistant for SIM, said. “[The students] are always full of questions about our technology and the products we make. It’s a great learning experience.

  • Industries in Pierce County Are Connected with the World

    “Pierce County is fortunate to host a diverse industrial base, from Stewart Distribution, which makes peppermint candy and has local distribution to convenient stores and state prison systems, to Southern Ionics Minerals’ (SIM) mining and mill operations,” Matt Carter, executive director of Pierce County Industrial Development Authority said.

    Matt attributes his community’s success in attracting major, global companies like SIM to good public schools, access to transportation, and a good community fit.

  • Education In The Pines: UGA Grad Student Completes Thesis On Local Gopher Tortoises

    Whether he’s hiking through a pine forest in search of burrows or entering data into his laptop, Lance Paden, a UGA Grad Student, spends most of his time tracking gopher tortoises, photographing their burrows, or moving them from the SIM Mission Mine site to a new home at a Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Management Area (WMA).

    “SIM made it possible for this research to be conducted, and for me to do my own work toward a Master’s degree,” Lance said. The study's findings shows these animals can be moved from an area that will be developed to a protected location such as a WMA without being stressed or compelled to try to return to their old burrows.