Gypsum industry news

US: USG has taken ownership of about 180 acres in northwest Citrus County, Florida, to warehouse synthetic gypsum from the nearby Progress Energy power plant. Company spokesman Mark Joseph said that USG plans to store the gypsum until it is transported to company plants in North America.

USG received a trustee's deed on 14 September 2011 from the City National Bank of Florida, which owns about 400 acres near Power Line Road. According to the deed USG is the sole beneficiary of the trust.

Joseph said that the company's plans do not go further than storage of the material in warehouses at present. He added that the company has no plans at this time to manufacture drywall at the Citrus County site. "We took possession of the land to make it a storage facility," he said.

Joseph finished by saying that economic conditions require nothing more now than someplace to store and ship the material. However, he wouldn't rule out expansion, "We don't know what the future will bring... The Florida market is not the best right now for housing."

Canada: Cabot Gypsum has relaunched gypsum production at a previously closed facility in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. The company has taken over the plant previously owned by Federal Gypsum, which shut down and went bankrupt in 2008.

Sales manager Reg MacLeod said that Cabot Gypsum acquired the plant's assets earlier in 2011 and is leasing the facility from the government of Nova Scotia. MacLeod says the firm expects significant job growth in about a year after the company becomes better established. He wouldn't say how many workers are currently employed at the plant. The factory is currently providing its product throughout the region, with materials being delivered primarily to building supply dealers.

According to the Global Gypsum Directory 2008-2009, the former Federal Gypsum plant on the same site had a capacity of 25.55MM²/ yr before it closed in 2008.

Vietnam/Indonesia: Lafarge Boral Gypsum Asia, soon to be wholly-owned by Boral, has awarded a new contract to Claudius Peters Projects GmbH Germany for two gypsum calcining lines with a capacity of up to 30t/h to expand its gypsum wallboard production in Asia.

In Vietnam a fully-integrated line will be installed at the site of Lafarge Boral Vietnam Gypsum Co. Ltd near Ho Chi Minh City, extending the capacity of the current wallboard production line. The second line will be installed in Indonesia and will be part of an extension programme of the Cilegon installation of PT Petrojaya Boral Plasterboard.

Both of the lines consist of a Claudius Peters Mill EM59-585 along with the auxiliary equipment and controls of a complete raw material handling, gypsum calcining and cooling system.

US: Beta LaserMike, a leading global provider of precision measurement and control solutions, will be giving a technical paper presentation at the upcoming 11th Global Gypsum Conference & Exhibition, which is being held on 17-18 October 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The paper is entitled 'New non-contact, laser-based gauge for measuring length and speed of gypsum board' and will be given by Stuart Manser, Western District Manager for Beta LaserMike. His presentation will provide a technical overview of non-contact laser measurement and describe the advantages of these over contact-type methods for gypsum board production applications. In addition, Beta LaserMike will be demonstrating the advantages of its LaserSpeed non-contact encoder over contact-type measurement methods for gypsum board processing on exhibition stand 27.

The LaserSpeed system uses advanced, laser-based technology to precisely measure the length and speed of gypsum board during production without making contact with the product. The laser encoder projects a unique pattern on the surface of the product. As the product moves, light is scattered back to LaserSpeed. This information is translated into product speed and pulses are produced to determine the product length. Length and speed measurements are captured with better than +0.05% accuracy and 0.02% repeatability.

India: Saint-Gobain Gyproc India is planning to strengthen its gypsum business in India with an investment of up to USD100m over the next three years. The company plans to focus more on emerging markets, including India, for future growth.

"Saint-Gobain's gypsum division has said it will focus more on the emerging markets for its future growth and India is one of them. In the next three years, we may invest USD82 –100m to strengthen our operations here", said Saint-Gobain Gyproc India Managing Director V Subramanian. He added that the company will primarily focus on enhancing its existing production capacities besides setting up new facilities in the country.

"We have already invested about USD61m since 2006 and the future investment will be more as the country provides huge opportunity to grow," Subramanian stated. When asked about revenue Subramanian said, "In 2010 we clocked USD82–100m turnover. We are aiming to double this in the next three years."