Secondary recovery phosphate rock producer Mineral Development LLC (MDL) plans to hold a groundbreaking event on April 14 to mark the start of construction on a new $70 million phosphate beneficiation plant in Bartow, FL, a release announced Wednesday. The company said the site will be the first independent facility of its kind constructed in the US in more than three decades.

“This is a very clean and eco-friendly project involving only previously mined lands,” MDL’s president and CEO Lance McNeill said in a statement. “We’re very proud of what we’re doing.”

MDL uses secondary recovery to extract phosphate from previously mined land on Clear Springs property in Bartow. Old mine tailings are reprocessed into feedstock for fertilizer production. The operations will only use surface water from existing ponds at the location and implement water recycling methods.

Processes used to reclaim the phosphate help to restore the land to DEP reclamation standards, encourage the growth of native vegetation, and helps natural surface water flow, according to the company.

55 new full-time jobs will be created with the opening of the plant.