coast of Norway. No indications havebeen given of the scale of production,but the company has stated thatinvestment in the new facility wouldbe of the order of NKR 150 M and themanpower requirement would beabout 100 people. A NorwegianGovernment grant – of NKR 100 Mspread over 10 years – might beavailable.

Due to market conditions, OddaSmelteverk is on the point of shuttingdown its calcium carbide plant atOdda, resulting in the loss of 120 outof the 200 jobs at the site. Againstthat background, the company isnaturally keen to move ahead quicklywith its PCC project.

Dagens Naeringsliv, 5 Mar 2002, (Website:http://www.dn.no) (in Norwegian)

US: Kaiser – ATH

Kaiser Aluminum produces about200,000-300,000 tonnes/y of aluminatrihydrate (ATH) at its Gramercy, LAsite, most of which is destined for usein pigments and flame retardants.After declaring heavy losses on itsaluminium smelting business, Kaiserapplied to the Courts in Delaware forChapter 11 bankruptcy protectionfrom its creditors. For the time being,production and shipments of ATHfrom Gramercy have been unaffected.

Industrial Minerals, Mar 2002, (414), 74

US: Onaga – wood/plastic composites

Onaga Composites LLC (of Onaga,KS) is to build a new technical centreto develop applications for wood/plastic composites. The companycurrently produces 6800 tonnes/y ofwood/plastic composite pellets, usinga Berstorff ZE75A 75-mm corotatingcompounder. Onaga believes thatwood fibre represents a viablealternative to conventional fillers andreinforcements, such as kaolin, talc,calcium carbonate and glass fibre.North American consumption ofwood/plastic composites is currentlyof the order of 205,000 tonnes/y.

Modern Plastics International, Feb 2002, 32 (2), 54-55

Uzbekistan: Karagashlinsky – barytes

Pilot-scale mining at theKaragashlinsky barytes deposit hasbeen initiated by the Rudo

Oopravlyeniye (Mines Management)Unit 2 of the Navoi Mining &Metallurgical Combine. Inferredreserves here are 397,000 tonnes,with an average ore content of 69.3%.There are several promising barytesdeposits in Uzbekistan andKaragashlinsky, located near theKrasnogorsk settlement, was selectedfor mining first because it is the mostaccessible deposit in the area.

Industrial Minerals, Mar 2002, (414), 22

COMPANIESBanpu sells Vietnamese kaolin andcarbonate operations to Imerys

Banpu, a listed company registered inThailand, intends to focus on its corebusinesses – coal mining andelectricity generation. It thereforeplans to sell various minerals miningoperations in Vietnam to Imerys forBaht 180 M. These include: MineralResource Development Co (the kaolinproducer, in which Banpu has a99.99% shareholding), MRD-ECC (theball clay producer, in which Banpuholds a 51% stake) and Yenbai Banpu(the calcium carbonate producer, inwhich Banpu holds a 66.6% stake).The sale proceeds will help Banpu tobuy a 108 MW coal-fired power stationfrom Thai Petrochemical for $100 M.

Business Day, 3 Jan 2002 & 12 Mar 2002, (Website:http://bday.net)

Clariant ordered to try to buy-outminority shareholders in Colour-Chem

The Securities & Exchange Board ofIndia has ordered Clariant to issueformal notification of intent to buyminority shareholdings in Colour-Chem (of Chennai/Madras) at an offerprice of Rup 300 per share. Clariantinherited a 50.1% shareholding inColour-Chem as part of its acquisitionof Hoechst’s global business inpigments and dyes.

Chemical Week, 6 Mar 2002, 164 (10), 36

DIC acquires Bayer’s US organicpigment assets

Effective 1 Apr 2002, Sun Chemical (a wholly-owned subsidiary within theDainippon Inks & Chemicals, DICgroup) is to buy Bayer’s high-

performance organic pigmentsbusiness, based at Bushy Park, SC,employing about 180 people. Includedin the sale are Bayer’s Indofast,Perrindo, Quindo and Palomarpigments, which are used forautomotive, industrial andarchitectural paints as well as forplastics and fibres. The businessgenerates annual sales of Yen 7-8 bn.

Bayer will continue to produceMacrolex dyes, Pigment Yellow 150and Bayferrox iron oxide pigments atthe Bushy Park complex. Bayer willalso continue to produce organicpigments at its Lerma complex inMexico.

DIC plans to increase its annualglobal turnover to Yen 1 trillion by2004. DIC is already the world’sleading printing inks supplier and oneof the top five organic pigmentsuppliers. It plans to invest Yen 40 bnto deepen its involvement in thesebusinesses.

Press release from: Bayer Corp, USA. E-mail:Thomas.Rothe.B@bayer.com (19 Feb 2002) & NikkeiNet, 20 Feb 2002 (Website: http://www.nni.nikkei.co.jp/)& Japan Chemical Week, 14 Mar 2002, 43 (2163), 1,3

DuPont aim to sell 5000 tonnes/y ofTiO2 slurry in Japan.

DuPont has begun marketing its RPSVantage TiO2 pigment slurry forpapermaking applications in Japan.The company already sells more than100,000 tonnes/y of RPS Vantage inNorth America, but up until now it hasbeen rather slow to promote TiO2pigment slurries in other regions ofthe world. RPS Vantage is 20-30%more opaque than traditional powderanatase grades and it is 5-10% moreopaque than powder rutile grades ofTiO2. It can be used in a broadspectrum of papermaking applications.Compared against powder, the costsof and time for dispersing the pigmentare reduced; energy consumption isreduced and quality control isimproved. DuPont KK, the company’sJapanese subsidiary, is planning tosell about 5000 tonnes/y of RPSVantage in Japan by 2004.

Japan Chemical Week, 21 Feb 2002, 43 (2160), 8

Fletcher takes control of Romanianpigments & dyes plant

In a deal worth $200,000, the FletcherGroup (based in the US) has

APRIL 2002 5

F O C U S O N P I G M E N T S

PIG402 14/5/02 1:57 pm Page 5 (Black plate)