Gypsum industry news

China: Rescuers have dropped provisions to four Chinese mine workers trapped for 10 days in a wrecked gypsum mine and are slowly drilling a route to save them, according to Reuters.

The men are trapped more than 200m below the surface and state media has reported that they are in good condition. Because the ground is so fragile, the rescuers managed to drill only 25m deep after more than 40 hours. Rescue leader Du Bingjian said that he could not give a time when the men would be pulled up. The mine collapse on 25 December 2015 in Shandong killed at least one person. 13 others are missing and 11 made it to safety or were rescued earlier.

China's mines have long been the world's deadliest, but safety improvements have reduced deaths in recent years. In 2014, some 931 people were killed in mine accidents in China, drastically down from the year 2002, when nearly 7000 miners died.

China: 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.

UK: About 90,000t/yr of testliner capacity will soon be lost from the UK market. DS Smith will close its Wansbrough mill in Somerset, which also produces other products such as gypsum wallboard liner, on 23 December 2015.

DS Smith had announced a possible closure at the end of August 2015. At that time, the company had said the decision had been made after an assessment of the facility's long-term prospects.

The Wansbrough mill operates two paper machines. According to the plant manager, they manufacture roughly 90,000t/yr of testliner III, 30,000t/yr of coreboard, 18,000t/yr of recycled paper for bags, 12,000t/yr of recycled envelope paper and 10,000t/yr of other products such as wallboard liner.

DS Smith operates another paper mill in the UK, the Kemsley mill in Kent, where the company produces corrugated case material on three machines with a total capacity of around 800,000t/yr.

Kyrgyzstan: On 11 December 2015, Prime Minister Temir Sariyev inaugurated the Kyrgyz-Iranian gypsum plant in Ak-Suu, Issyk-Kul.

UK: Wastecycle's recycling facility in Colwick, Nottinghamshire is now one of the largest in the UK after an expansion of the site. By acquiring seven acres of property, which the company previously leased, and buying an additional four acres, Wastecycle has extended its site to nearly 20 acres.

"It's an exciting time for us because this expansion provides us with the platform we need to reach the next stage of growth as a company," said Financial Director Nathan Cole. "Over the long term, we plan to use the additional land to expand our extensive recycling and resource management activities. This will help us broaden the services we offer our customers while improving the quality and sustainability of the recycled products we manufacture."

The company has also completed an expansion of its main office to accommodate its growing workforce. After a 20% growth in staff 2015, it now employs almost 300 people across its Colwick site and its two sites in Leicestershire. "Ensuring our teams are comfortable in their working environments is very important to us because, not only does it increase productivity, but it also creates positive morale," said Cole. "Larger premises also provide the opportunity to open up new jobs, while improving the quality of service we can provide to customers."

Wastecycle separates 500,000t/yr of waste, including 18,000t/yr of recycling from 126,131 homes in the Nottingham City Council area. Some of the waste is turned into refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for use at cement plants. It also sorts through the rubbish of thousands of businesses across Nottinghamshire, runs a skip hire service and operates a wallboard recycling facility, which it developed with British Gypsum.

In 2014, Wastecycle's turnover increased to Euro42.8m from Euro35.9m in 2013. In 2015, it won four awards, including a bronze environmental best practice accolade at the Green Apple Awards in November 2015. It was recognised for the success of its wallboard recycling scheme, which has prevented more than 30,000t/yr of wallboard from reaching landfill.