Kemira will acquire the calcium sulphate pigment operations of Cargas Blancas from Yesos Ibericos S.A., a part of the Spanish Ultralita group. The Cargas Blancas production facility is located in Besalu, in northeastern Spain. The annual production capacity of the facility is approximately 100,000 tons. The principal markets of Cargas Blancas are in Spain, France, Italy and Morocco.
“The Cargas Blancas calcium sulphate will complement the range of Kemira’s pigments that are used in paper production,” said Mikael Kvist, business unit manager from Kemira’s pulp and paper chemicals. “Kemira already has calcium sulphate production in Siilinjärvi. The calcium phosphate produced by Cargas Blancas is used as a filler mainly in fine paper production, whereas the Siilinjärvi product is used primarily for coating paper. In addition, Kemira’s production facilities in Pori manufacture titanium dioxide pigments, which are used in certain specialty papers.”