Around our site in Gonzales, La.: Mining, oil and gas extraction — and jambalaya

SAFETY SOLUTIONS & SUPPLY has its headquarters in the Central Florida city of Mulberry and a satellite location in the southeastern Louisiana city of Gonzales, a few miles northeast of Baton Rouge. It’s no coincidence that we have a presence in these two cities; nor is it a matter of chance. We’re here — and there, depending on your locale — because companies involved in the major industries we help, with safety training and other services, are located here. Those would include mining, manufacturing, construction, and oil and gas extraction.

A LITTLE ABOUT GONZALES

Gonzales is a small city in Ascension Parish, La. With a current estimated population of 10,832, it’s known as the “Jambalaya Capital of the World.” The city has claim to fame for its annual Jambalaya Festival, which was first held in 1968. We’re not principally here for the jambalaya or the festival, but both are nice perks.

The leading employment sectors in Ascension Parish are health care and social assistance (13.9 percent of the workforce), manufacturing (12.9 percent), retail trade (11.2 percent), and construction (10.7 percent). Taken together, mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction rank low as an employment sector in Ascension Parish, but they — along with utilities, transportation and warehousing — rank highest in worker median earnings.

A mining summary for greater Gonzales shows six plants, 16 producers and six past producers. Mined minerals include aluminum, phosphorus, and sodium. It was interesting to discover that an operation in Ascension Parish called the Darrow Mine dates way back to 1927, when sodium was discovered there. The Darrow Mine is now classified as a “past producer.”

Among the employers in and around Gonzales, Shell Oil Products is an internationally recognized name. Categorized under oil and gas producers, Shell Oil Products has a current estimated annual revenue of $10 million to $20 million. On our Facebook site, we recently posted a photo of several Shell Oil employees engaged in a safety training session at our Gonzales location.

In our next article for the blog, we’ll acquaint you with Mulberry, Fla., the place Safety Solutions & Supply calls home.

For information about Safety Solutions & Supply, please visit our website at https://solutionsinsafety.com/, or call us toll free at 1-866-537-2262.

Article sources: TheDiggings.com; StatisticalAtlas.com; Manta.com; DataUSA; WorldPopulationReview.com; and AscensionEDC.com.