Canada: The directors of the NuGyp Corporation are inviting sealed bids for the purchase of the patents and the intellectual property of the NuGyp process. The NuGyp process is a technique for reducing the water demand of beta plaster. Patents have been granted in 27 countries to date and further applications are pending to cover all major markets in the world. The deadline for the bidding process is 1 August 2016.

The process has been operated at up to 72t/hr in a plant running two plasterboard lines. Another installation is set to come on-stream soon. Two multi-plant companies are also interested in the technology. The technology is developed and ready for commercial use by a company that can provide full calcination technology to the industry.

NuGyp was formed in 2008 by Bob Bruce, Gary Murray and Charlie Blow to develop and commercialise new technologies related to the production of low water demand hemihydrate plaster for use in the gypsum industry. The NuGyp process has patents granted or pending in over 70 countries worldwide and covers all major gypsum producing territories.

US: Continental Building Products' net sales have rise by 21% year-on-year to US$111m in the first quarter for 2016 from US$92m in the same period in 2015. Its wallboard sales volumes have grown by 32% to 57Mm² from 44Mm².

"Our wallboard volumes in the first quarter increased substantially from prior year due to strong underlying demand, favourable weather speeding up completion of projects, and pre-buy activity in advance of the April 1 price increase," said Jay Bachmann, Continental's chief executive officer.

US: Gypsum Management and Supply (GMS) has acquired Wall & Ceiling Supply Company, a Seattle-based distributor of wallboard and construction products for residential and commercial applications. The company will continue to operate under the name Wall & Ceiling and the management team will remain intact.

Cuba: Rose Petroleum has targeted Euro1m towards developing opportunities to process and manufacture gypsum and associated building materials. The natural resources company said in a statement that it was in direct discussions with a government-owned gypsum company and the relevant ministries regarding a potential transaction. No terms or specific timing of any transaction have been agreed.

"The Cuba project is a very exciting development for Rose which we believe could deliver significant value in the short term, in isolation of the oil price environment," said Matthew Idiens, chief executive officer. "It is worth noting that, at present, there is no domestic supply or production of gypsum panels or wallboard for the construction of internal walls and providing domestic sources is naturally very important for Cuba and its development."

The opportunity was introduced to Rose Petroleum by Earth Source Investment, who had made initial contacts with the Cuban government, in return for shares in Rose Petroleum and non-executive board seats should the deal compete successfully.