US: Eagle Materials will call its Light Materials business the American Gypsum Company when it is spun-off in the summer of 2020. It has appointed Dave Powers, former Eagle Materials chief executive officer (CEO), will become the chairman of American Gypsum. Craig Kesler, current chief financial officer (CFO) of Eagle Materials, will become the president and CEO of American Gypsum.

The Light Materials business will continue as a producer of gypsum wallboard and recycled paperboard. It includes an integrated paperboard mill that supplies wallboard plants with facing paper as well as raw material reserves.

Canada: Cabot Gypsum is investing just under US$5m on upgrade to its Port Tupper gypsum wallboard plant in Nova Scotia. Company president Marcel Girouard said demand for rented residential properties was driving the expansion, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The project is expected to create up to 40 new jobs.

The wallboard producer has benefited from the building materials distribution network operated by its parent company, Acadian Drywall. It acquired the Port Tupper plant in 2011 following its closure in 2008.

Algeria: France’s Alphaplatre has delivered an AP400 vertical kiln for a gypsum project in Algeria. The kiln has a plaster capacity of 400t/day. Alphaplatre's work on the project includes supplying equipment for gypsum preparation, calcination, grinding and bagging.

US: France-based Saint-Gobain has announced a 120MW wind power supply deal with Blooming Grove Wind Farm, the largest renewable energy contract in the gypsum wallboard producer’s history. The 12-year contract, which secures 120MW of the available 250MW of power for Saint-Gobain from the wind farm in Illinois, will reduce the company’s US carbon footprint by 21%, it says. “This makes North America a significant contributor in our global network towards helping meet Saint-Gobain’s sustainability goal of net-zero CO_² emissions by 2050,” said Saint-Gobain North America president and CEO Mark Rayfield.