Gypsum industry news
CertainTeed publishes industry-first health and environmental product declarations for gypsum products 18 November 2015
US: CertainTeed has announced that it is the first company in the gypsum manufacturing industry to offer Health Product Declarations (HPDs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for wallboard products.
The newly-published HPDs and EPDs provide scientifically-robust and transparent information about environmental performance and third-party verification to confirm the true sustainability of a product. The declarations also allow products to contribute towards points in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building projects.
42 HPDs have been published to cover all CertainTeed gypsum wallboard product categories, including standard and specialty wallboard; Type X fire resistant and M2Tech moisture and mould-resistant wallboard products; GlasRoc exterior sheathing; AirRenew Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) wallboard; SilentFX noise-reducing wallboard and Easi-Lite lightweight gypsum wallboards. Six EPDs, grouped by manufacturing plant location, are also now available for Easi-Lite and 5/8-inch Type X fire-resistant gypsum wallboard.
Oman to become major gypsum producer by 2018 18 November 2015
Oman: Growing demand for gypsum, mainly from cement and wallboard manufacturers, should see exports from Oman reach 10Mt/yr by 2018, nearly double the present level, making it the fourth largest gypsum producing country, according to industry experts. Gypsum production is expected to hit 12Mt/yr by 2020.
Gypsum exports from Salalah Port rose from 4.15Mt in 2014 to 4.8Mt in the first 10 months of 2015. Exports are expected to reach 5.5Mt for the entire of 2015. Oman is the 10th-largest gypsum producing country in the world and is expected to become the sixth-largest in 2016, according to Zawawi Minerals' CEO Ramachandran. The US Geological Survey has estimated gypsum resources of around 950Mt in the southern part of the country. The gypsum demand growth is mainly from Asian countries like India, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh. There was a supply crunch from Thailand, where mineral mining had become heavily-regulated.
Zawawi Minerals partnered with United States Gypsum Corporation in 2012 and with Australia's Boral to launch the largest gypsum mining facility in the country. The US$16m, 3Mt/yr facility exports gypsum rock to India, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, South and East Africa, the UAE and Bangladesh. Zawawi Minerals also set up the Middle East's first Sheetrock brand gypsum wallboard plant in the Salalah Free Zone for US$37m. It has a production capacity of 10Mm2.
"Oman has emerged as the single most important source for high grade natural gypsum for cement and gypsum wallboard manufacturers across Asia and South and East Africa. With higher production and little significant change in domestic consumption, Oman may continue to export the majority of its gypsum," said Ramachandran.