asphalt, plastics, paints and paper. Atpresent, the breakdown of Shengda-Tech’s sales volume by end-usesector is: 40% for tyres and rubberproducts; 26% for polyvinyl chloride(PVC); 15% for polyolefins, notablypolyethylene; 10% for adhesives andlatex; 4.5% for paints; 3.5% for inks;and 1.5% for paper.

ShengdaTech’s nPCC businessoriginated with Faith Bloom Ltd, acompany registered in the BritishVirgin Islands and founded by MrXiangzhi Chen. Faith Bloom wasacquired by Zeolite Exploration Co inMarch 2006 and that companychanged its name to ShengdaTech inJanuary 2007. Mr Xiangzhi Chen isnow the President & CEO ofShengdaTech. Ms Anhui Guo (theChief Operating Officer) was also asenior executive at Faith Bloom forthree years prior to 2006. The otherthree members of the ShengdaTechBoard of Directors are: Mr DongquanZhang (who also serves on the Boardof the All-China Association ofPetrochemical Industries); Mr CarlMudd and Mr Sheldon Saidman (twoUS citizens, who were appointed tothe Board in February 2007).

At the end of 2010, ShengdaTechwas operating three nPCC plants witha total combined capacity of 300,000tonnes/y. Its largest plant, located atZibo City (Shandong province), has acurrent capacity of more than 100,000tonnes/y. The two smaller plants arelocated at Tai’an (also in Shandongprovince) and Xianyang (Shaanxiprovince). Last September,ShengdaTech completed theacquisition of Anhui Yuanzhong, witha currently inactive nPCC plant inHanshan County (Anhui province).ShengdaTech plans to introduce itsown process technology here and toraise capacity from 10,000 tonnes/y to250,000 tonnes/y.

The company has a market shareof nearly 50% in the rapidly growingChinese market for nPCC. It is alsokeen to build up its sales in exportmarkets. The Hubron group (based inManchester, UK) was recentlyappointed to sell ShengdaTech’snPCC in European markets.

For the first nine months of 2010,ShengdaTech reported net income of$20.6 M on sales revenues of $97.9M. That compares against $11.4 M on$72.1 M for the comparable period of2009. For full-year 2008, net income

was $40.0 M and sales revenuesreached $149.4 M.

Press Release from: ShengdaTech Inc, Tai’an City,Shandong Province 271000, China. Tel: +86 538 8560668. Website: http://www.shengdatechinc.com (10Dec 2010) & Plastics and Rubber Weekly, 10 Dec2010, 6

Silvergate works with GlyndwrUniversity to improve masterbatchmanufacturing efficiency

Silvergate Plastics (of Wrexham), aprominent manufacturer of colour andadditive masterbatches, recentlysigned a knowledge transfer alliancewith the local Glyndwr University,whereby Dr Rob English and Dr KaLun will carry out studies onformulation chemistry and processrheology in order to improve theoverall efficiency of the masterbatchmanufacturing process. This work willalso attract funding of £73,000granted by the Technology StrategyBoard and the Welsh AssemblyGovernment.

Silvergate used to be part of theBritish Vita group between 1997 and2007, but it was then hived off as amanagement buy-out, led by Mr TonyBestall. At the time of the transfer ofownership, Silvergate employed 54people and reported sales revenuesof around £6 bn. The company nowemploys 48 people and recentlyagreed a 2% wages increase with theGMB trade uinion and the workforce.

Plastics and Rubber Weekly, 12 Nov 2010, 8 & 10 Dec2010, 2

Tronox emerges from bankruptcy

Effective 14 February 2011, TronoxInc declared that it had emerged fromChapter 11 protection from itscreditors, following the approval of itssurvival plan and ratification by theUS Bankruptcy Court for the SouthernDistrict of New York. (See also ‘Focuson Pigments’, Sep 2010, 6-7). Theplan essentially entailed securing theagreement of the company’s creditorsand stakeholders (including the USGovernment’s EnvironmentalProtection Agency) to share in the riskof winning or losing its lawsuit againstKerr-McGee and Anadarko. Tronoxasserts that Kerr-McGee defraudedTronox’s creditors when hiving off thechemicals business to create Tronoxin 2005/06 by saddling it with massivelegacy liabilities for cleaning up sites

formerly associated with timbertreatment, uranium mining and oreprocessing, etc.

The major operating assets ofTronox are its wholly-owned TiO2pigment plants – the 225,000 tonnes/yplant at Hamilton, MS and the 90,000tonnes/y plant at Botlek (Netherlands)– plus its 50% stake in the Tiwest jointventure in Western Australia. Tiwest,in which Exxaro (of South Africa) isthe joint venture partner, operates: a150,000 tonnes/y TiO2 pigment plantat Kwinana; a 230,000 tonnes/ysynrutile plant at Chandala; and alarge ilmenite/rutile/zircon mine atCooljarloo. As a result of the closureof its Savannah plant in the US andthe deconsolidation of its Uerdingenplant in Germany (now operated asan effectively autonomous businessby Crenox), Tronox has slipped fromthird to fifth place in the world leagueof TiO2 pigment producers.Nonetheless, it remains a majorsupplier of chloride-route TiO2pigment grades, with a total salespotential of 465,000 tonnes/y.

Mr Dennis Wanlass (CEO ofTronox) said: “Our emergence frombankruptcy and our new capitalstructure is a significant accomplish-ment and this makes Tronox a muchstronger company for the benefit ofour stakeholders, including ourcustomers, vendors, employees, jointventure partner and shareholders. Wehave successfully restructured ourbalance sheet while maintaining ourbusiness relationships and we aresignificantly improving our operatingperformance.”

In September 2008, Tronox wasdelisted from the New York StockExchange because its average globalmarket capitalisation over aconsecutive 30-day trading periodremained below $25 M, the minimumthreshold for listing. On 5 May 2009,the company filed a statement of non-reliance on previously issued financialstatements with the Securities &Exchange Commission (SEC). Sincethen, Tronox has not publishedaudited financial statements becauseit has not yet completed its review ofcontingency reserves and otherrelated liabilities. That remains theposition at the present time.

Press Release from: Tronox Inc, One LeadershipSquare, Suite 300, 211 N Robinson Avenue, OklahomaCity, OK 73102 7109, USA. Website: http://tronox.com(14 Feb 2011)

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