Gypsum industry news

India: Residents of Baramulla have commenced protests against renewed gypsum mining in the district in Jammu and Kashmir. Local press has reported that the protestors claim the operations cause ‘serious’ harm to health and agriculture. The village council of Salamabad responded by temporarily suspending operations at the site in question.

US: Beneficial Reuse Management (BRM) has acquired Pennsylvania-based gypsum wallboard recycling firm USA Gypsum (USAG).

BRM board chair Dave Schuurman said “The acquisition of USAG gives BRM an opportunity to further diversify our sources of gypsum to include recycled scrap wallboard, as well as to grow our geographic footprint. USAG’s operations will complement our existing gypsum processing operations, which provide gypsum in pelletised form to agricultural and other markets. This acquisition aligns perfectly with our mission of providing sustainable solutions for the management of industrial byproducts to divert materials away from landfills.”

US: CertainTeed soil conditioner and soil amendment subsidiary Western Mining and Minerals has taken over management of the former CertainTeed gypsum wallboard plant site in Cody, Wyoming. The Cody Enterprise newspaper has reported that the plant will produce gypsum for agricultural purposes. The producer decommissioned the former wallboard plant in December 2020 after it ceased production in January 2020.

US mining operations manager Roberto Margutti said, “With the agri-gypsum business (and other business opportunities generated with the mine operation), we expect to grow the team from 30% to 50% in the next three to five years.” He added, “We are pleased to be building our new operation with support from many of the same employees who have worked in our drywall plant previously, who will now help operate and manage the agricultural gypsum business.”

UK: Durham County Council has granted Agricore permanent permission for its Hill Top Farm gypsum wallboard recycling plant near Darlington, County Durham. The Darlington and Stockton Times newspaper has reported that the gypsum producer had previously held permission on a five-year basis.

Locals in the rural former coal mining area had appealed against the application. Many of the 110 complainants claimed that heavy traffic had rendered a local lane dangerous to walk and cycle on. Agricore sells gypsum to local farmers for use as fertiliser.

The county council required that the company submit plans for a power supply transition from diesel generators to ‘a more sustainable alternative’ before 3 September 2020.

Australia: Albacutya Gypsum, based in Victoria, has been embroiled in confusion surrounding a five-day snap coronavirus lockdown in the state. The agricultural gypsum business, which operates from a quarry in Rainbow, was forced to temporarily close in mid-February 2021 due to uncertainty over whether it was an essential service or not, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. However, local farmers, who are deemed ‘essential’ continued to require the product. The owners say the closure cost them around US$15,000 in lost income.

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.

Argentina: Centurion Minerals is in the process of buying the remaining 50% share in the Ana Sofia Agri-Gypsum Project from its joint-venture partner Demetra Minerals. The final transaction will be subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

"Owning 100% of the Ana Sofia Agri-Gypsum Project has been our goal since we were first introduced to the project. Despite unprecedented weather-related disruptions for the agricultural industry in South America in 2017, we see these short-term challenges as long-term benefits that will drive increased agri-gypsum demand," said Centurion's president and chief executive officer, David Tafel.

Argentina: Canada's Centurion Minerals has achieved its design capacity level of 2000t/day in January 2017 at the Ana Sofia Property agricultural gypsum fertiliser pilot plant located in Santiago Del Estero. The plant and operating team have been able to extract, crush and bag approximately 1000t of material since the unti started operation. Some of this material has been sold and delivered to Argentine fertiliser distributors. Centurion's local joint venture partner is currently negotiating supply contracts with distributors in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Gypsum is quarried at the site from near-surface, flat-lying beds within a sedimentary formation. The gypsum rock is fed into a hopper leading to primary and secondary crushers, then screened and sorted into two agricultural gypsum fertiliser products. The plant produces both a pellet-sized granular product and a powdered product, each comprised of a minimum 85% gypsum content, that are packaged into 1t big bags.

Argentina: Demetra Minerals, the joint venture partner of Canada's Centurion Minerals, has entered into a purchase agreement for both a primary crushing facility and a secondary crushing unit for its Ana Sofia gypsum-mining project in Santiago del Estero. Once operational the pilot plant will process up to 40,000t/yr of gypsum for agricultural markets.

At present, upgrading and refurbishing of the primary crusher is underway and manufacturing of the secondary crusher is on-schedule. Demetra anticipates the crushers will be transported to the project site in early October 2016. Site preparation, including clearing, compaction and access road is nearing completion and concrete foundations are being installed in preparation for mounting of the crushing facility.

All mining extraction, environmental and export permits are in place to operate the plant and Demetra's fertiliser distributor in Paraguay has reconfirmed an off-take agreement to purchase up to 50,000t/yr of agricultural gypsum material at the current market price.

"We are extremely pleased with the advances our Argentine partner has made in designing and developing a low cost pilot plant operation. This initial plant facility will allow us to fine-tune the material delivery, crushing and processing operations while we complete initial and subsequent resource estimates of the property. Having a sales distribution arrangement in place will allow us to generate revenue offsetting the cost of resource delineation, operational expenses and processing expansion," said Centurion CEO, David Tafel.

The Ana Sofia project comprises two mining concessions of 50 hectares in size within a larger (approximately 500 hectare) exploration permit area. Trenching and test pit sampling work completed by joint venture partner Demetra Minerals in 2014 - 15 and Centurion in 2016 identified multiple, high grade, near surface gypsum layers. Small scale producers located in the vicinity are currently extracting agricultural gypsum and selling to fertiliser distributors and farmers.