Gypsum industry news

Canada: Red Moon Resources says it has shipped over 0.13Mt of gypsum and anhydrite from its Ace mine in western Newfoundland since May 2019. Production is scheduled to continue into late October 2019 and the company is expecting for total production to exceed 0.15Mt in 2019. The company is working with Vinland Materials, a related company, to undertake contract mining operations and secure sales agreements for gypsum and anhydrite.

“We have successfully opened up the Ace mine and will continue to work towards a larger operation,” said Patrick J Laracy, President of Red Moon.
. “We have engaged some of the best operational resources in the area to make the mine a success and ensure its viability. The economic impact in the immediate area is significant with an estimated 45 people employed on a seasonal basis in mining, trucking, port facility, marketing, shipping and supervision. This is in addition to the utilisation of specific services such as drilling and blasting.”

Red Moon uses a deep-water port approximately 10km from the mine to ship the gypsum. The quarry site covers 12 hectares and has the potential for a 10 year mining life at an average production rate of 350,000t/yr. The company says that if it can access markets requiring production rates beyond the Ace mine capacity, the company is prepared to develop other existing gypsum deposits located on its mineral licences, which cover approximately 700 hectares of the historic Flat Bay gypsum mines.

US: GMS’s half-year wallboard sales have risen due to its acquisition of Canada’s Titan on 1 June 2018 and rising prices. Its wallboard sales rose by 14% year-on-year to US$652m in the half year to 31 October 2018, from US$573m in the same period in 2017. Overall, the wallboard distributor’s net sales increased by 25% to US$1.61bn.

Canada: Red Moon Resources has loaded its first shipment from its Ace gypsum mine in western Newfoundland. The company is working with Vinland Materials, a related company, to undertake contract mining operations and secure sales agreements for gypsum and anhydrite. A deep-water port connected by a haulage road is located approximately 9km from the mine. The site covers approximately 11.79 hectares and has the potential for a 10 year mining life at an average production rate of 350,000t/yr.

Canada: Red Moon Resources Inc. has said that it will commence development of the Ace gypsum mine in western Newfoundland after it received government approval for its plan for an open pit operation.

Operational work, consisting of scrubbing vegetation and overburden removal, has begun at the site. The Canada-listed explorer is working with Vinland Materials Inc. to undertake contract mining operations and secure sales agreements for gypsum and anhydrite. In addition, it is working towards initiating shipments in 2018, with sales contracts to be sourced by 2019.

Red Moon estimated potential resources of 3-5Mt within the mining lease, which was obtained in October 2017.

Canada: The Canada Border Services Agency has started an investigation into gypsum board products being imported from the US. The probe has been initiated by a complaint by CertainTeed Gypsum Canada about the products being imported into British Colombia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as well as the Yukon and Northwest Territories, according to the Canadian Press newspaper. It is the second complaint that CertainTeed Gypsum Canada has made in recent years, following a similar allegation in 2016.

In 2016 preliminary tariffs were imposed on US imports and then reduced after being blamed for raising the price of wallboard. The increases were linked to higher costs for domestic customers in Fort McMurray, Alberta following destruction caused by wildfires. The Canadian International Trade Tribunal later ruled that US imports had caused injury to local producers but that maintaining duties would not be in the country's trade interests.

Canada: Red Moon Resources has submitted a development plan for an open cast gypsum mine at the Ace deposit in western Newfoundland to the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. The project has already received environmental clearance. It is currently attempting to find customers for gypsum and anhydrite from mine. Previously the site was used by the Flat Bay mine, which produced at least 15Mt of gypsum prior to 1990.

Red Moon Resources is an industrial minerals company developing the Ace Gypsum deposit, the Black Bay Nepheline deposit and the Captain Cook Salt deposit in Newfoundland and Labrador. Its majority shareholder is Vulcan Minerals.

Canada: Lafarge Canada has filed an application under the Environmental Management Act to discharge emissions from a pumice dryer and gypsum granulator at its mothballed cement plant at Kamloops in British Colombia. The building materials manufacturer plans to produce agricultural gypsum and dry pumice for concrete production at the site, according to the Kamloops This Week newspaper. The plant stopped cement production in late 2016.

US: United States Geoogical Survey (USGS) data reports production of gypsum-based board products rose by 2.4% year-on-year to 2.35Mm² in 2017 from 2.29Mm² in 2016. Mined gypsum production increased by 7% year-on-year to 18.2Mt in 2017 from 16.7Mt in 2016. Synthetic gypsum supply rose by 4% to 16.7Mt from 16Mt. Imports of crude gypsum rose by 12.7% to 4.89Mt from 4.34Mt. The major importing countries remained Mexico, Canada and Spain. Exports of gypsum board products fell by 30% to 0.71Mt from 1.01Mt. The mjaority of these products were exported to Canada.

Canada: The British Columbia government has granted an environmental assessment certificate for a 0.4Mt/yr opencast gypsum mine in West Kootenay proposed by CertainTeed Gypsum Canada. Construction of the project is expected to cost US$19m, according to the Canadian Press. Gypsum from the mine will be used to manufacture gypsum wallboard, cement and plaster products.

Canada: The government has opened its Drywall Support Program for applications until the end of May 2017. This program provides drywall contractors and builders in Western and Northern Canada with compensation for elevated drywall costs due to anti-dumping duties imposed on imported drywall from the US, according to Canadian Newswire. The initiative is also intended to homeowners in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo (RMWB) whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed by the 2016 wildfires and are now facing higher rebuilding costs. The US$9m scheme will be administered by Western Economic Diversification Canada and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.