Hodgdon Closes GOEX Black Powder Production Plant in Louisiana

Hodgdon Powder Company, on 9/27/2021, announced that it would be shutting down the GOEX Black Powder production center at Camp Minden in Louisiana. This was the last remaining black powder factory in the United States. This could mean “hard times ahead for traditional muzzle-loading and BPCR shooting” (source: NAMLhunt.com). Here is the official announcement on the Hodgdon website:

“Effective immediately, Hodgdon Powder Company, Inc. has made the decision to cease manufacturing operations at the company’s Camp Minden, Louisiana site while evaluating strategic options for the black powder business.

The business will wind down operations while an evaluation process on the future of the black powder business takes place. Strategic options for the GOEX and Olde Eynsford brands of black powder, along with the manufacturing capabilities, will include a potential sale of the business. All affected employees will be retained through December 31, 2021 to assist in an orderly closing of the site and receive severance commensurate with their years of service to the company.

The Hodgdon Powder Co., Inc has been honored to have been a part of the GOEX Powder legacy and sustains a fond appreciation for sporting customers who have enjoyed shooting GOEX powders.”

Ironically, the GOEX logo states “The Tradition Continues”.
With this announcement, GOEX might be gone for good.

Here is a related report by the NRA’s American Rifleman:

The closure eliminates the only domestic source of blackpowder in the United States. According to a company press release, Hodgdon will evaluate “strategic options for the black powder business”, including a potential sale of the company.

GOEX Powder has a long, storied history that starts in 1802 with the building of a blackpowder plant on the Brandywine River in Delaware by E.I. Du Pont de Nemours. Production expanded with the building of the Belin plant in Moosic, Penn., in 1912, and the facility supplied military blackpowder during both world wars, as well as the Korean and Vietnam wars. In the 1970s, the Belin plant was incorporated into the GOEX family, and production moved to Minden, LA, in 1997. [In 1969] GOEX was purchased by Hodgdon Powder Company [which] spent years updating equipment at the Minden facility, enhancing employee safety and blackpowder quality.

Despite Hodgdon’s efforts, the GOEX facility at Camp Minden has a history of manufacturing incidents stretching back to 1998, including a June 2011 incident where 1,000 pounds of blackpowder exploded. The latest incident at GOEX occurred on June 18, 2021, when an explosion required the evacuation of 15 employees inside the facility. Nobody was injured, but the plant observed a 24- to 48-hour waiting period to ensure that nothing else at the facility ignited.