Oct 31 2007
Minerals Technologies Inc. announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary Specialty Minerals (Thailand) Co., Inc. will construct a precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) satellite plant at a paper mill owned by Phoenix Pulp & Paper Public Co., Ltd. for the new paper machine it is installing at Nam Phong, Thailand.
The satellite PCC plant, which is expected to be operational by early in the second quarter of 2008, will produce filler-grade PCC for the paper mill and will have a capacity that is equivalent to two units. A unit represents between 25,000 and 35,000 tons of PCC produced annually.
"We are extremely pleased that Phoenix Pulp & Paper has selected Minerals Technologies to construct and operate a satellite PCC plant that will provide our PCC technology for their paper machine at Nam Phong. The addition of this facility is an integral part of our Asia growth strategy for PCC, and brings the total number of satellite PCC facilities to eight in the region," said Joe Muscari, chairman and chief executive officer of Minerals Technologies. "We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship with this excellent paper company and their parent company Siam Cement Group."
Phoenix Pulp & Paper Company is a subsidiary of the Siam Cement Group, one of Thailand's largest industrial conglomerates with more than 100 companies operating in the cement, building products, petrochemical and pulp and paper industries. Phoenix Paper Company indicated that one of the reasons they chose to use PCC is that the PCC manufacturing process uses carbon dioxide from the Phoenix mill, thus providing an environmental improvement at the mill.
PCC is a specialty pigment for filling and coating high-quality paper. By substituting PCC for more expensive wood fiber and for 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 52 satellite plants in operation or under construction around the world.