SALISBURY — Carolina Stalite Co., which manufactures lightweight construction aggregate, has reopened its Aquadale plant more than five years after it closed.

Jody Wall, general manager of Stalite and Johnson Concrete, said Tuesday that he is “really excited” to have the plant open again.

“We’re going to be able to produce more material and explore more foreign markets,” Wall said.

He said the company has developed relationships in the Middle East and Eastern Europe and that it is working on several “preliminary” projects in Singapore and Turkey.

“(The new plant) will mean more time and more availability,” Wall said.

The company has hired 14 workers to staff the newly reopened plant.

Wall said the company may hire two more people soon. When a second kiln is built in the next few years, it may hire as many as 14 more workers for the Aquadale plant, he said.

Wall said the business is doing well and the company has a “huge market footprint.”

“We ship from here … literally all over the world,” Wall said.

Although many of the company’s projects are on the East Coast, the company also has assignments in Washington state, Norway and — soon — Newfoundland, he said.

Aggregate, Wall said, is essentially rock that, with other things, has been crushed in a rotary kiln. The technique makes rock into concrete that is about 35 percent lighter and more durable than regular concrete.

Stalite also has a plant in Gold Hill that employs about 100 people. Stalite’s corporate and sales offices are in Salisbury.

Wall said Stalite has been in business since the 1940s.

Contact reporter Jessica Coates at 704-797-4222.