Plastics Additives & Compounding May/June 2004

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NewsINDUSTRY

US companies form antimony oxide joint ventureGreat Lakes ChemicalCorporation and LaurelIndustries, Inc., a part of thechemicals operations ofOccidental PetroleumCorporation (OxyChem), areto combine their antimonybusinesses as part of a jointventure to develop, produce,and market antimony-basedflame retardants, synergistsand catalysts. The companiessay that the move will enablethem to face pressure fromChinese antimony importsmore effectively.Great Lakes and OxyChemsay that they will both hold a50% stake in the newcompany, which will operateunder the name GLCC LaurelLLC. The transaction, whichis expected to be completed bythe end of April, includes theantimony oxide and synergistsmanufacturing assets,intellectual property, andcustomer lists for both Great

Lakes and Laurel. Great Lakeswill act as the managingpartner with responsibility forsales, customer service,technical support, credit andlogistics.The joint venture includes theGreat Lakes Timonox®,TMS®, and Trutint®

antimony oxide flameretardants; Pyrobloc® sodiumantimonate and zinc boratesynergists; and Oncor®,Smokebloc®, and Ongard®

smoke suppressants, as well asthe Fireshield® andThermoguard® antimonyoxide -based products andPetCat® catalyst productsmarketed by Laurel."Great Lakes has had a strongpresence in antimony oxidefor many years, and this newjoint venture demonstratesour ongoing commitment toour customers," says Mark P.Bulriss, chairman, president,and chief executive officer of

Great Lakes. "The U.S.antimony industry continuesto face pressure from Chineseimports, and by combiningforces with Laurel, we willhave the sufficient resourcesand size to remaincompetitive for years tocome."The companies says thatmanufacturing for the jointventure will be consolidatedinto the existing Great Lakesantimony production facilityin Reynosa, Mexico, which isISO 9001:2000 certified. TheLaurel manufacturing facilityin LaPorte, Texas, whichcurrently employs 14OxyChem individuals, isexpected to be closed by theend of 2004 when productionof flame retardants andcatalyst grades of antimonyoxide will be transferred to theGreat Lakes facility. GreatLakes and Laurel will beworking closely with

customers to ensure adequateinventories and time areavailable should qualificationof materials produced inReynosa be necessary. Inaddition, several Laurel salesand management employeeswill become employees ofGreat Lakes. James Lienert, President ofOccidental Chemical adds:"Joining forces with GreatLakes is an important milestonein meeting our customers'ongoing needs. This excitingnew alliance will bring togetherour complementarymanufacturing and sales effortsfor antimony oxide and enableGLCC Laurel to continue tooffer our customers qualityproducts at a competitiveprice."Contact:Great Lakes ChemicalCorporationTel: +44 161 875 3229E-mail: jgilboy@glcc.com

Omya builds new calcium carbonate plantOmya is building a new plantfor the production of naturalcalcium carbonate in Moerdijk,near Rotterdam. TheNetherlands subsidiarycompany Omya Beheer BV saysthat the plant will come onstream in mid 2005 and willhave an initial capacity of500,000 tonnes per year.The new plant will process awhite, high purity marblemined by Omya in Turkey for

use as a filler in plastics, amongother applications. Majorexpansion to loading andunloading terminals in Turkeyand Moerdijk will ensure asmooth-running supply chainto handle as much as 1 milliontonnes of unprocessed marble ayear, says the company.Omya currently operates over20 ground calcium carbonate,precipitated calcium carbonate,talcum and dolomite

production plants in theNetherlands, Belgium,Germany and France. From alogistics viewpoint, Omya saysthat Moerdijk is an ideallocation in its global supplynetwork. With its own sea andinland port facilities, a directrail link and an express highwayrunning close by, Moerdijk hasgrown into one of Omya's keyregional sites. The new groundcalcium carbonate plant will

join existing facilities there,including a tank farm forcalcium carbonate slurry, aprecipitated calcium carbonateplant with annual capacity ofover half a million tonnes ofslurry and a factory thatproduces high-qualitydispersants.Contact:Omya AGTel: +41 62 789 2929Website: www.omya.com