Gypsum industry news
Eight trapped miners contacted five days after gypsum mine collapse
30 December 2015China: Rescuers have found eight survivors five days after a gypsum mine collapse in Shandong Province. The accident happened on 25 December 2015 in Pingyi County when 29 people were working underground. One is confirmed dead, four managed to escape, and another seven have been rescued so far. The owner of the mine drowned himself by jumping into a well when working with the rescue team on 27 December 2015. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
CNBM to buy stake in Taishan Gypsum via BNBM for US$661m
14 October 2015China: China National Building Materials' (CNBM) 45.2%-owned subsidiary Beijing New Building Material Public Limited Company (BNBM) has agreed to acquire a 35% equity interest in Taishan Gypsum Company through a private issuance of 369 million BNBM shares to Taishan Gypsum minority shareholders at US$1.79/share for a total of US$661m.
Upon completion, BNBM will directly and indirectly hold the entire equity interest in Taishan Gypsum. Taishan Gypsum minority shareholders will hold 20.7% of the enlarged issued share capital of BNBM after the private issuance. The equity interest held by CNBM in BNBM will reduce from about 45.2% to 35.84%.
Upon completion of the transaction, Taishan Gypsum will be wholly-owned by BNBM, enabling CNBM to further integrate its internal resources, allowing BNBM to improve its operating results and further consolidate the group's market position.
China: China Vanadium Titano-Magnetite Mining said that it has agreed to acquire 51% of the paid-up registered capital of Sichuan Haoyuan New Materials Co Ltd at US$59.3m. Sichuan Haoyuan's wholly-owned subsidiary Hanyuan County Xinjin Mining Co Ltd currently holds the mining permit of the Shigou gypsum mine, which is located in Sichuan Province. The mine has a raw gypsum output capacity of 0.30Mt/yr.
CNBM produces 1.65BnM2 of gypsum board in 2012
05 February 2013China: China National Building Material Group (CNBM) produced 1.65BnM2 of gypsum board in 2012. The Chinese state-owned building materials manufacturer reported that its operations revenue in 2012 grew by 14% year-on-year to US$35.5bn. CNBM saw its profit reach US$1.81bn, while its net profit for the year hit US$1.38bn. As the end of 2012, CMBM had US$46bn in total assets, 38% more than at the end of 2011.
BNBM to spend US$39.3m on gypsum projects
21 August 2012China: Beijing New Building Materials has announced that its holding subsidiary Taishan Gypsum will spend more than US$39.3m building two gypsum wallboard plants and one cement retarder project using industrial by-product gypsum.
Taishan Gypsum will build one of its wallboard plants in the Shanghang Jiaoyang industrial park in Longyan City, Fujian Province. The project is estimated to cost roughly US$18.6m, of which US$5.6m will be raised by the company itself and US$13m from a bank loan.
K-gypsum powder plant announced
18 July 2012China/Singapore: Sincap Group, a gypsum mining company in China's Shandong Province, has launched an initial public offering for a listing on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. The company is offering 32.5 million shares, comprising 25.5 million new shares and seven million vendor shares, at US$0.16 apiece.
Sincap hopes to raise US$4.1m, which will be earmarked for use in diversification of its products and for general working capital. Specifically, the group plans to construct and commission a K-gypsum powder plant. K-gypsum powder, which can only be processed from crystalline gypsum, is commonly used in the manufacture of moulds for precision casting as well as plaster casts for medical uses. The company also possesses mining and exploration rights to some of the largest gypsum reserves in the Dawenkou Basin in Shandong Province.
"Our decision to list is timely considering our current stage of development. With the funds raised we will be able to realise the untapped potential in our gypsum business, particularly with regard to a new product, K-gypsum powder, that we intend to develop," said Sincap's chairman and CEO Fu Hao.
US: In one of the most important steps in the saga over allegedly-tainted Chinese-made wallboard, attorneys have announced that a US$13m settlement has been reached between homeowners in Virginia, whose properties were built with the product and some of the companies they sued.
The settlement involves companies that imported and sold the wallboard as well as numerous other firms involved in the cases and around 200 local homeowners.
Federal product-safety regulators have found that the wallboard emits gases that corrode metal in homes and recommended that such wallboard be removed, although the legal battle over who will pay to fix the properties is now in its 38th month. Many homeowners have already abandoned their properties or lost them through foreclosure or bankruptcy. Others have sold their homes, sometimes for less than half of what they paid.
In July 2012 the settlement will go before a federal judge in New Orleans for a preliminary approval, with a final approval possible by 13 November 2012.
China: Beijing New Building Materials has announced plans to build three gypsum board lines in Tianjin, Quanzhou of Fujian province and Liaocheng of Shandong province with a total investment of over US$62.9m.
The Tianjin project is a 50Mm2 plasterboard production line. Products from the project will be sold to Tianjin, Beijing, Tangshan, Qinhuangdao, Cangzhou, Dalian and overseas markets. The company plans to set up a wholly owned subsidiary with a planned registered capital of US$7.9m in Tianjin to run the project, which will also include a steel plant. The Quanzhou project will be a 30Mm2 plasterboard production line using FGD gypsum. Products will be sold to Fujian, eastern Guangdong and Taiwan.
Knauf expands capacity by 50% in China
23 May 2012China: German construction group Knauf is currently expanding its business in China as the local housing market booms. Knauf produces 65mm2/yr of plasterboard at its three existing plants in China. With a new facility in Greater Shanghai the production capacity will increase by more than 50%.
However, Knauf is facing heavy competition from two local state firms which have considerably larger production capacities. The German company intends to fight this with a long-term strategy envisaging investments in its own plants and training of drywall finishers and distributors.
Knauf, which entered the Chinese market in 1997.
China to enhance recycling of industrial wastes
06 March 2012China: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released China's 12th five-year (2011-2015) plan for major industrial solid waste. The plan will target US$80bn from recycling solid waste with a comprehensive utilised volume of 1.6Bnt by 2015.
Under the plan, which will cover industrial by product gypsum, gangue, coal ash smelting slag, red mud and carbide slag, China is expected to generate 2.5 million new jobs in the field of industrial solid waste management. In the case of gypsum, it is likely that the by-product will be used in the production of wallboard.
MIIT predicts that China will generate an incredible 15Bnt of industrial solid waste in total during 2011-2015.