Lelese, a dolomite mine at Teluic andprocessing facilities at Zlasti. Totalcurrent capacity for marketable talcand dolomite products is around600,000 tonnes/y.

Industrial Minerals, Jun 2008, (489), 21

Russia: Evonik & Synttech – thermalcarbon black

Evonik (of Germany) and Synttech (ofRussia) signed a letter of intent at theend of June 2008, with the aim ofestablishing a 20,000 tonnes/ythermal carbon black plant near thecity of Inta in the northern region ofKomi. Synttech recently acquiredexploitation rights for development ofa natural gas field in this region andnatural gas will be used as the rawmaterial for the proposed thermalblack plant. The two partners will bejointly responsible for production andsales of thermal black, which is mainlyused for mechanical rubber products.

Chemie Technik (Heidelberg), 15 Jul 2008 (Website:http://www/chemietechnik.de) (in German)

Slovakia: EuroGas & Rozmin - talc

In April 2008, the Slovak SupremeCourt ordered the immediate return toRozmin of the mining concessionterritory containing the GemerskaPoloma magnesite/talc deposit in theKosice region of eastern Slovakia.Following this ruling, the District Courtof Kosice issued an injunctionordering VSK Eurotalc to immediatelycease mining at Gemerska Poloma.VSK Eurotalc had intended to extractover 900,000 tonnes/y of material,with a talc content of about 40%.

The Gemerska Poloma deposit isbelieved to contain 150 M tonnes ofhigh-grade talc in total. Rozmin’s titleto the mining concession had beenremoved by the Ministry ofEnvironment three years ago. Nowthat Rozmin’s title has been restored,EuroGas Inc (of Vancouver) plans tobring a talc mine into production here,claiming that Gemerska Polomarepresents one of the largest talcdeposits in the world.

EuroGas has an agreement topurchase a 57% interest in Rozminfrom Belmont Resources Ltd, subjectto receipt of a final purchase pricepayment in the amount ofapproximately $1 M. EuroGas alsoplans to acquire another 33% stake in

Rozmin from McCallan Oil & Gas (ofthe UK) via a share option agreementwith Regent Ventures (of Canada).The remaining 10% stake in Rozminis owned by a private tradingcompany based in Berlin.

EuroGas is an oil/gas company,with shares listed on the HamburgStock Exchange and on the OTC(Pink Sheets) electronic exchange inthe US. It is mainly involved inhydrocarbon exploration anddevelopment projects in Ukraine andPoland.

Industrial Minerals, Jun 2008, (489), 21 & Jul 2008,(490), 14

Thailand: Toyo Ink – plasticscompounds & colorants

Toyo Ink has commenced productionat its new 12,000 tonnes/y plant at theWellgrow Industrial Estate on theeastern outskirts of Bangkok,producing colorants, masterbatchesand compounds for the plasticssector. Toyo Ink is also discussing theprospect of establishing a jointventure in Thailand with SumitomoChemical, to be named SumikaPolymer Compounds Thailand. Thejoint venture would build and operatean 11,000 tonnes/y plant for makingpolypropylene compounds forautomotive applications. This clarifiesearlier reports that Toyo Ink wasplanning a 25,000 tonnes/y facility.(See ‘Focus on Pigments’, Dec 2007,5).

Japan Chemical Week, 22 May 2008, 49 (2466), 4

US: BASF - kaolin

BASF (of Florham Park, NJ) – theworld’s largest chemical company –substantially expanded its presence inNorth America with the acquisition ofEngelhard in 2006. BASF nowemploys more than 15,000 people inNorth America. It has been keen tocut costs at the operations inheritedwith the Engelhard acquisition. At theMcIntyre kaolin complex in centralGeorgia, BASF is spending $10 M ona series of measures designed toreduce energy usage and to reduceCO2 emissions.

In Phase 1, completed last year,the company cut back on electricityconsumption for making compressedair; it reduced the water content ofprocess slurries, thereby reducing

heating requirements; it improvedprocess equipment insulation; and itdevised various energy-savingalternative processing steps. Thesemeasures lowered annual energyconsumption by 14.7 MJ (or 582 bnBThU). Also, CO2 equivalentemissions were reduced by 57,275tonnes/y.

In Phase 2, due to be completedthis year, annual energy consumptionwill be reduced by a further 18 MJ (or740 bn BThU). Included in this phaseare measures such as: improvedcentrifugation, spray-drying andcalcining operations, better burner-firing and heat-recovery systems, andhigher kaolin yields. CO2 equivalentemissions will be reduced by over70,000 tonnes/y.

Paint & Coatings Industry (PCI), Jun 2008, 24 (6), 18-20

US: Carbolytic Materials – carbonblack substitute from scrap tyres

In collaboration with NorthwestMissouri State University, CarbolyticMaterials Co (CMC) has developedtechnology for producing a “carbonblack substitute” from scrap tyres.Essentially, the rubber is melted andthen “catalytically cracked” togenerate hydrocarbons and a solidresidue. The oil is sold as a bunkerfuel oil or it is refined to yieldtransport-grade fuel, similar to diesel.The gas is sold as a high thermalvalue feedstock for generatingelectricity. The solid residue isupgraded to yield a proprietaryproduct, in powder or pellet form –ApexCM, which can substitute for N-700 and N-900 carbon blacks inboth rubber reinforcement and plasticpigment applications.

CMC is now going ahead with aproject to build a small plant atMaryville, MO, which will be capableof producing 5000-10,000 tonnes/y ofApexCM. Financial assistance isbeing provided by Missouri State andFederal agencies. The plant willemploy 20 people, working threeshifts per day, seven days per week.The company claims that this willrepresent the first commercial-scaleventure for producing a pigment orrubber black from scrap tyres in theUS.

Quoting a November 2006 reportby the US Rubber Manufacturers’

SEPTEMBER 2008 5

F O C U S O N P I G M E N T S