Minerals Technologies Inc. to Construct a New Merchant PCC Production Facility in Germany
Site Will Manufacture Coating-Grade PCC
NEW YORK, May 24--Minerals Technologies Inc. (NYSE: MTX) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary Specialty Minerals Inc. will invest $27 million for the construction of a new merchant facility in Germany for the production of coating grade precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC). This facility will produce sophisticated PCC coating products for use in high-quality publication and graphic art papers.
The PCC merchant plant will be located in Walsum, Germany, which is in the vicinity of Duisburg, near Dusseldorf. Walsum is central to one of the world's largest concentrations of manufacturing for these types of high-quality papers. The plant will have access to highway, rail and water distribution networks to ensure timely and cost-effective delivery of the coating PCC products to surrounding customers.
"The construction of this merchant plant for production of PCC coating products is an integral part of our strategy to expand internationally and to penetrate the worldwide coated paper market," said Paul R. Saueracker, president and chief executive officer of Minerals Technologies Inc. "This facility will provide high-quality coating-grade PCC products to meet the manufacturing needs of the dozens of papermakers within a 200 mile radius."
The initial capacity of the plant will be four units, with a unit being equal to between 25,000 and 35,000 tons of PCC a year.
The new facility is to be built on the site of a power plant run by one of the biggest private hard-coal power producers in Germany, STEAG AG (5.89 megawatts). The carbon dioxide needed for the PCC manufacturing will be delivered directly by the STEAG power plant.
"This merchant PCC plant will give Minerals Technologies a solid, central manufacturing base in continental Europe to provide continued growth in our paper coating activities," said John A. Sorel, vice president and managing director, Paper PCC. "We expect the plant to begin operation in the third quarter of 2002."
PCC is a specialty pigment for filling and coating high-quality paper. By substituting PCC for more expensive wood fiber, and other, more expensive pigments, the paper industry is able to produce higher quality paper at lower cost. Minerals Technologies originated the satellite concept for making and delivering PCC on site at paper mills. This concept has been a major factor in revolutionizing papermaking from an acid to an alkaline-based technology. Minerals Technologies constructed its first PCC satellite plant in 1986. Today, the company has 58 satellite plants in operation or under construction around the world.
Minerals Technologies Inc. is a resource- and technology-based organization that produces performance enhancing minerals, mineral based and synthetic mineral products for the paper, steel, polymer and other manufacturing industries on a worldwide basis. The company reported sales of $670.9 million in 2000.