Gypsum industry news

Australia: US-based private equity company Lone Star Funds is considering acquiring Boral, according to the Australian newspaper. Lone Star Funds purchased building materials manufacturer Forterra from Heidelberg Cement. Boral later formed a joint venture with Forterra Brick in the US in 2016. In a separate deal Lone Star Funds later purchased German building materials producer Xella. Despite growing revenue from continuing operations, Boral’s net profit after tax fell by 7% year-on-year to US$301m in the year to 30 June 2019.

UK: Logistics company AV Dawson has officially opened a Euro1.1m new canopy at its Teesside terminal in Middlesbrough to support its contract with British Gypsum. The 100m canopy provides dry-loading capabilities for imported raw materials for plaster and wallboard products to be stored and then loaded onto trains for delivery to British Gypsum’s operations in the East Midlands. Delegates from British Gypsum, the North East England Chamber of Commerce, Department for International Trade and rail freight operator, GB Railfreight attended the opening ceremony. AV Dawson’s contract with British Gypsum was signed in 2018.

US: The American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) has criticised a proposed revision of coal ash regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency because it will restrict the recycling of coal ash.

"EPA's proposals related to the definition of coal ash beneficial use are the opposite of a regulatory roll-back," said Thomas H Adams, ACAA Executive Director ahead of a hearing with the EPA. "Without any damage cases or scientific analysis to justify its actions, the agency is seeking to impose burdensome new restrictions that will cause millions more tons of material to be disposed rather than be used in ways that safely conserve natural resources and energy."

Adams and the ACCA argue that previous EPA rules concluded that beneficial use of coal ash should be exempt from regulation and encouraged to contribute to sustainability. However, the ACCA has taken exception with a 2015 definition of beneficial use, which was intended to prevent ‘disposal activities masquerading as beneficial use.’ By expanding the scope of this definition the ACCA says that more coal ash will be landfilled instead of being recycled.

Coal is the fuel source for approximately one-third of electricity generation in the US and produces large volumes of solid coal combustion products - primarily ash and synthetic gypsum from emissions control devices. This family of diverse products is referred to as coal combustion residuals in a disposal setting and is often generically referred to as ‘coal ash.’

According to ACAA's most recent ‘Production and Use Survey,’ 64.4% of the coal ash produced during 2017 was recycled. By volume, 71.8Mt of coal combustion products were beneficially used in 2017 out of 111Mt that were produced. Coal ash production volume increased by 4% year-on-year from 2016.

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.

Germany: Schenck Process has added the ProFlex C100 to its range of ProFlex C family of products. The new offering is the smallest of the range and it is intended for small extruders. It is designed for flexibility allowing for a range of additives to be used, the asymmetric design is designed to prevent the bridging and plugging of sticky materials, it is equipped with an integrated gearbox for turndown ratios of up to 1:120 and it has a flexible wall liner massaged at eight points, which the manufacturer says allows a constant and accurate filling of the screw feed element.

The ProFlex C feeding system is used for the continuous feeding of bulk materials such as powder, granulates, pellets or fibers. The series is targeted for the compound and masterbatch industries.

Germany: Saint-Gobain has completed the sale of its Saint-Gobain Building Distribution Deutschland (SGBDD) business to the Stark Group. The divestment is based on an enterprise value of Euro335m. The finalisation of this transaction follows the approval of the European competition authority in early September 2019. The sale of its building merchants retail business marks the continuation of Saint-Gobain’s portfolio optimisation strategy.

Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan produced 7000t of building gypsum in the eight months to the end of August 2019, a decrease of 82% from 38,000t in the corresponding period of 2018. Total production in the construction materials sector grew in value by 4.3% to US$303m from US$291m from January to August 2018.

US: Munson has launched a ribbon blender for the homogenisation of dry bulk solids, including gypsum plaster. The unit, which can also blend solids with liquids from its spray lines to pastes or slurries, has a volume of 2.4m³. The company reports that its novel bag dump, which draws dust into filter cartridges by intermittent blasts from a number of nozzles, will improve worker safety and plant hygiene.

Peru: Eternit plans to start upgrading its Huachipa gypsum wallboard plant in 2020. It wants to start investing in the project in early 2020, according to the El Comercio newspaper. Following the upgrade the plant will double its production capacity by the end of 2021. The subsidiary of Belgium’s Etex wants to benefit from increased usage of wallboard products in the country. It was 0.45m2/capita in 2018 and the company is aiming to increase this to 1m2/capita by 2025.

US: National Gypsum’s Shippingport wallboard plant in Pennsylvania and its Anniston paper plant in Alabama have both won the Lloyd H Yeager Award for working 1 million hours or more worked without a lost time accident (LTA). The Shippingport plant reached 2 million hours without a LTA. The award is organised by the Gypsum Association (GA) and 13 plants have been recognised on this occasion. The Anniston paper plant makes face paper for National Gypsum’s wallboard products including the distinctive purple paper used in the company’s Purple product line.

“Under Lloyd H Yeager’s leadership, the GA ran a robust safety training program for the gypsum industry and was very successful in emphasising the importance of workplace safety among GA member companies,” said Stephen H Meima, executive director of the GA.