Gypsum industry news

Oman: The Ministry of Energy and Minerals has announced an auction of four gypsum mines in Thamrait, Dhofar Governorate. Zawya News has reported that the total area of the mines is 27km². Preliminarily assessment of the sites has already taken place. Prospective bidders can participate in the auction through the ministry’s Taqa digital platform.

France: Etex subsidiary Siniat plans to install a new boiler, fired by either solid recovered fuel (SRF) or waste wood, at its Auneuil gypsum wallboard plant in Oise Department. The producer expects this to reduce the plant's gas consumption by 20%. The L'Usine Nouvelle newspaper has reported that the project is part of a planned Euro30m sustainability overhaul of equipment at the plant before 2026. Siniat recently brought the Auneuil plant back online following the installation of a new Euro15m dryer in early 2023, which increased wallboard drying times by 10% and reduced gas consumption by 20%. The producer said that this has eliminated 5900t/yr of CO₂ emissions.

From the remaining Euro3m of its allotted budget for sustainability upgrades, Siniat will build a gypsum recycling plant at the Auneuil gypsum wallboard plant. It currently receives its recycled gypsum from Ritleng Revalorisations' gypsum recycling plant in Rohr, Bas-Rhin Department. Currently, natural gypsum from the Le Pin-Villeparisis and Montmorency mines accounts for 40 - 60% of the Auneuil plant' gypsum consumption.

France: A public enquiry into Saint-Gobain subsidiary Placoplatre's plans to establish a gypsum quarry at Fort Vaujours, Seine-Saint-Denis, opened earlier in November 2022. The producer plans to use the new site to serve its Vaujours gypsum wallboard plant as a replacement for its Bernouille quarry after the latter closes in 2026. The 65Mm²/yr facility consumes 900,000t/yr of natural gypsum.

Eco group Environnement 93 has protested the anticipated enviromental impacts of opening a quarry of sufficient size to reach the gypsum deposit 25m below ground. Placoplatre's proposal consists of a three-stage approach in which it demolishes buildings, clears any hazardous residues from the site's military and nuclear power testing history and only then commences extraction. The company plans to restore part of the site after mining is completed. The enquiry will run until 23 December 2022.

UK: The European Space Agency, University of Glasgow and others are using France-based Saint-Gobain's Bantycock, Nottinghamshire, quarry to test new drill bit designs for their Drill for Extensive Exploration of Planetary Environments Using Robots (DEEPER) project. The project aims to develop tens-of-metres-long spoolable drill 'strings' to help in the search for water on Mars. Researchers will use their prototypes to drill directly into the mine's gypsum deposits. Saint-Gobain said that the hydrated mineral gypsum provides a similar geological profile to that of Mars.

Gypsum wallboard production by Saint-Gobain subsidiary British Gypsum at its nearby Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, and East Leake, Nottinghamshire, gypsum wallboard plants relies on Bantycock gypsum.

Nigeria: State governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya opened the Gombe State Investment Summit in the northeastern state of Gombe on 12 October 2022. The summit aims to attract investors from within and outside of Nigeria. The state government hopes that local mineral reserves and the state's strategic location will appeal to investors from new industries to the state, including the gypsum wallboard industry.

The This Day newspaper has reported that Yahaya said “We have the largest deposits of gypsum in the country." He continued “Gombe is also blessed with huge commercial deposits of coal, oil, and gas."

Romania: Germany-based Knauf has announced plans for the construction of a new gypsum wallboard plant at Huedin in Cluj County. The company said that it plans to invest Euro76m in the plant’s construction. It says that the investment will advance the Romanian government's 'energy savings offensive' by supporting a renovation drive for the country’s housing stock. The government aims to increase the national area of modern renovated properties by a factor of six, with a Euro30bn allocation from its Recovery and Resilience Fund.

Knauf's managing partner Alexander Knauf said “The commitment demonstrates our trust and confidence in the country and our employees. We look forward to becoming part of the local community. Together, we are setting new standards for building and living in Romania.”

Knauf had previously planned to build a 35Mm²/yr gypsum wallboard plant at Huedin at a cost of Euro70m. A mine at nearby Aghireșu would supply the planned plant with raw materials. The Aghireșu mine reportedly has 100 years' worth of gypsum reserves. Knauf first delayed its Huedin plant plans in 2009 in light of the economic situation at that time.

Australia: Cohiba Minerals has received notification that it has successfully secured a 5-year extension of its exploration licence for its Pyramid Lake gypsum mine in south-western Western Australia. The new lease will expire on 4 July 2026.

The company says that it has recommenced its application for a mining lease for the high-grade area of the Pyramid Lake mine, which is not covered by its present lease. It says that it had previously delayed the process due to a change in its application conditions.

Cohiba Minerals previously announced the planned expansion in December 2020 as part of a countrywide expansion of its extraction activities, towards which it was raising US$1.5m through a share purchase plan.

Canada: ScoZinc says that it has increased the gypsum resources at its Scotia mine project in Nova Scotia following a mineral resource estimate. The site has total measured and indicated gypsum mineral resources of 5.18Mt at a grade of 91.8%. Further inferred gypsum resources of 0.79Mt have been recorded at a grade of 91%. The company says that the project has a mining recovery rate of 95% and a cost of US$2/t for gypsum.

Australia: Cohiba Minerals has announced plans to raise US$1.5m through a share purchase plan. It plans to use the money to expand its mineral extraction operations across Australia, including the finalisation of a mining lease for its Pyramid Lake gypsum mine in Western Australia.

The company said, “Some of the funding will also be applied to working capital to achieve these ends.”

US: American Pacific Borates (ABR) has shared plans to begin mining natural gypsum at its Fort Cady borate mine around Barstow in San Bernardino County, California. The company says that it will extract its first batch for sale to the gypsum wallboard industry in mid 2021.

The Fort Cady borate mine works the world’s largest borate deposit. It also yields boron-enriched sulphate of potash for use as an agricultural fertiliser.