Australia: Gypsum Supplies has started loading from its newest pit at Lake Cowcowing, Western Australia.

Gypsum Supplies operates at Lake Hillman in Dalwallinu, Western Australia, where the family-run business has been supplying gypsum since 1978 to the industrial and agricultural markets.

"We are continuing to operate out of Kalannie as normal," said registered manager Daniel Nixon. "This pit is of very similar quality and analysis to the Kalannie pit." Naturally-occurring lake gypsum has a medium particle size and unlike synthetic gypsum, is not subject to rapid leaching from the soil profile and reportedly has superior spreading characteristics.

Gypsum is used in the agricultural industry for several reasons. It is used as a low-cost non-acidifying form of sulphur. Kalannie gypsum has 17.8% sulphur. Due to the high returns from growing canola in recent years, demand for gypsum as a low-cost form of sulphur has been strong.

Canada/US: HIG Capital, a global private equity investment firm, has announced that its portfolio company Harrison Gypsum has acquired JA Jack & Sons, a miner and processor of limestone products. JA Jack owns and operates a quarry on Texada Island in British Columbia, Canada and ships limestone to a processing facility in Seattle, Washington, USA.

"We are excited about the strategic expansion of our operations into the Pacific Northwest," said Paul Harrington, CEO of Harrison Gypsum. "JA Jack not only allows us to grow outside our core markets of Oklahoma and Texas, but also significantly broadens our customer footprint and product portfolio within our expertise of mineral processing. JA Jack has had a long and successful history under the Jack family dating back to the 1940s and we will be sure to serve as great stewards of the business going forward."

Canada: Pan American Fertilizer Corp has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to acquire Demetra Minerals, a Vancouver-based, privately-held junior fertiliser company developing agricultural gypsum products for the Cono Sur markets of Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil.

In the proposed transaction, a new seven-member board of directors will be composed of three nominees from each of Pan American and Demetra plus a mutually agreed 7th independent director. Gregg Jensen of Demetra would be appointed as president and CEO, Sebastian Cattaneo as COO and Jeremy Wright as CFO. Robert Rennie would remain as the chairman. Pan American and Demetra would consolidate all assets and debts.

France: Saint-Gobain aims to improve underlying operating profit in 2015 and save a further Euro400m. Saint-Gobain saw its 2014 operating profit rise by 1.6% to Euro2.8bn. On a like-for-like basis, the increase came to 7%.

"The group should benefit from good momentum in the US as well as in Asia and emerging countries in 2015," said Saint-Gobain in a statement. "In Western Europe, recovery will be held back by France."

Saint-Gobain derives about 66% of its sales from Europe and 25% from its home market in France. Total sales reached Euro41.1bn in 2014, down by 1.7%. Savings in 2014 reached Euro450m, as predicted in October 2014 when Saint-Gobain said that it aimed to do better than the Euro350m cost savings it had previously targeted for 2015. Saint-Gobain's net income, excluding depreciations and one-off charges, came to Euro1.1bn in 2014.