Xiangzhen Mining extends baryte interests from Nei Monggol to Guizhou

FOCUS a fifth production line at its Yeosu carbon black plant, midway along the southern coast of South Korea. The new line will be capable of producing up to 36,000 tonnes/y of tread-grade carbon blacks, bringing total capacity here to 188,000 tonnes/y. The project is expected to be completed by May 2013. Dr Dietmar Balschukat (General Manager, Asia/Pacific) said: “This fifth unit at Yeosu will also produce carbon blacks geared for export, especially to the Japanese and Chinese markets. It will also facilitate operational flexibility, so as to supply additional volumes of our speciality Purex and highperformance grades. At Yeosu and at its sister plant in Seoul-Bupyeong, we pride ourselves on maintaining a white-glove level of housekeeping.” Press Release from: Orion Engineered Carbons GmbH, Rodenbacher Chaussee 4, 63457 Hanau-Wolfgang, Germany, tel: +49 6181 5901, website: http://www.orioncarbons.com (17 Jan 2012)

Poland: Lifocolor – plastics masterbatch Lifocolor Farbplast, the Polish subsidiary within the Lifocolor group, is spending Zloty 8 M (equivalent to about €2 M) on a project to extend its masterbatch plant, located on an industrial estate in the southeastern suburbs of Bygdoszcz. The project, scheduled for completion in September 2012, entails trebling the warehouse floor area to 3000 sq m and adding a new production unit, capable of producing up to 1000 tonnes/y of plastics masterbatches in batch sizes ranging from 5 kilos to 5000 kilos. Lifocolor has been producing masterbatches at the Bygdoszcz since the mid-1990s and it currently employs 20 people here. The plant is certified to ISO 90012008 standards. Most of the colour settings for thermoplastic polymer masterbatches are developed at the on-site colour laboratory. Besides the Bygdoszcz plant, Lifocolor produces masterbatch at plants in Lichtenfels (100 km north of Nuremberg, Germany), Bellignat (100 km northeast of Lyons, France) and Brno (Czech Republic). Lifocolor is also a member of the International Colour Alliance, which provides it with marketing representation outside Europe via: Chroma Corp (US); Cromex (Brazil); Ngai Hing Hong

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(Hong Kong & China); PT InterWarna Poseda (Indonesia); and World Pigment Corp (Thailand). Press Release from: Lifocolor Farben GmbH & Co KG, Reundorferstr 18, 96215 Lichtenfels, Germany, website: http://www.lifocolor.de (9 Mar 2012)

Spain: Gestora Catalana de Residuos – plastics masterbatch Gestora Catalana de Residuos (GCdR) has started-up a 55,000 tonnes/y plant for making plastics masterbatch at La Bisbal del Penedes (about 45 km northeast of Tarragona). This is the company’s second plant. The first, located at Barbera del Valles (20 km north of Barcelona) was established in 2001. GCdR supplies masterbatches under the brandname Granic, which typically contain 75-85% ultrafine calcium carbonate, with polyolefins or polystyrene as the resin component, for applications in blow-moulding, injection-moulding, films, pipes, sheets and “eco-bags” (plastic carrier bags). Original Source: Plastics and Rubber Weekly, 3 Feb 2012, 8 (Website: http://www.prw.com/) © Crain Communications Inc 2012

COMPANIES Hubron appoints Nordmann Rassmann to sell black masterbatch Hubron International Ltd (headquartered at Failsworth, near Manchester) is one of Europe’s leading producers of black masterbatch, with a capacity of around 35,000 tonnes/y. The company is part of the O’Brien group (based in Liverpool), which recently added to its interests in the plastics industry with the purchase of Whitaker Technical Plastics. During 2011, Hubron appointed Nordmann Rassman as its distributor of standard and customised black masterbatches for the German market. Original Source: Chemical Fibers International, Dec 2011, 61 (4), 196 (Website: http://textination.de/) © Textination GmbH 2011

Schulman buys British Vita’s French masterbatch business A Schulman Inc has agreed to pay €48 M to buy the entire business and assets of Elian SAS, one of the

leading French suppliers of colour masterbatches. Elian was a whollyowned subsidiary of British Vita plc and it operates a plant at Oyonnax (100 km northeast of Lyons), with 100 employees. Schulman believes it can make annual savings worth $2.5 M by the end of 2013 as a result of synergies with its existing European operations, located in Belgium, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the UK. Original Source: Chimie Pharma Hebdo, 6 Feb 2012, (580), 8 (Website: http://www.industrie.com/chimie/) (in French) © ETAI Information 2012

Xiangzhen Mining extends baryte interests from Nei Monggol to Guizhou Xiangzhen Mining Ltd (part of the China ShenZhou group) has acquired a 60% shareholding in Wuchuan Dongsheng Mining Co Ltd (of Zunyi, Guizhou province). The latter company has three fluorite and baryte mining operations in the Wuling Mountains region of Guizhou province. Xiangzhen’s activities had previously been mainly confined to Nei Monggol province. China ShenZhou is now the largest fluorite and baryte mining company in the country. PR Newswire, 9 & 17 Jan & 10 Feb 2012, (Website: http://www.prnewswire.com)

LEGISLATION EU bans chrome yellow & moly orange, with end-2014 sunset As reported in a previous issue (‘Focus on Pigments’, Jan 2012, 6-7), under the European Union’s legislation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), there are now 73 chemicals on the list of hazardous chemicals known as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC). Companies involved in supplying an SVHC are obliged to demonstrate to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) how the substance can be safely used and they must communicate the risk management measures to users. If the risks cannot be managed, then the EU authorities can legislate for a total prohibition on the future usage of the chemical within the European Union. Chemicals listed for total prohibition are then listed in Annex

APRIL 2012