SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — Sandersville’s newest mine has nothing to do with mining.
This is a Bitcoin mine, and Sandersville leaders say it has a major impact on the city’s economy.
Last year, 13WMAZ got a tour inside the high-tech facility. Now it has expanded and our cameras have been given a tour again.
This major facility expansion includes its own electrical substation solely to help manage the 250 megawatts of power output. This is 10 times the amount needed to power an entire city. The city itself uses only 25 megawatts of electricity.
“We have some wood and dirt fields, and we’ve come a long way, and we’re going very fast,” said site manager Bo Jin.
After about two months, a large tract of land is being transformed into a vast Bitcoin mining facility.
“We’re halfway up the hill, six buildings approaching,” Ginn said.
The length of each building is Titanic.
All of them will eventually house hundreds of computers that crunch numbers all day long to create Bitcoins.
“Think about cash in the digital age, and that’s what Bitcoin does,” said Isaac Holyoake, chief communications officer at Clean Park. “Unlike other digital currencies that have CEOs, Bitcoin does not have one.”
That’s why the company posted record profits, Holyoak said. He said more people are agreeing and that demand needs to be met. So they are expanding the Sandersville facility into their flagship Bitcoin mine.
“There’s more energy in Georgia than there are uses for it,” Holyoake said.
Sandersville City Administrator Judy McCorkle says that will be an advantage for them. The city runs its own power company, which allows it to cut everyone else’s bills.
That money flowing into city coffers also helps homeowners pay their property taxes.
“At some point, we could see our property tax bill going back to almost zero, almost 0%. That’s a huge deal for us,” McCorkle said.
Ginn says these effects will become even more powerful as they expand.
“We send more than six people back to the city every month, which will be very important after the expansion,” Ginn said.
He estimates he will pay $500,000 a month in taxes alone. The total amount, which is equivalent to approximately $6 million annually, will be donated to the city.
“That’s money that the city doesn’t get. It goes to schools, roads and other community infrastructure that may have been neglected for a while,” Ginn said.
McCorkle said the city’s property tax rate will likely end up being about a million lower. He is also considering using the money to build a hotel.
CleanSpark hopes to have the facility up and running within the next few months.
