Resumen de IM 2012 Round-ups: Kaolin
The trend of consolidation of the major kaolin producing companies in recent years continued into 2012 with Imerys' acquisition of Goonvean and KaMin's purchase of CADAM SA from Vale.
The last independent UK kaolin producer disappeared in November, as Imerys announced the acquisition of Goonvean's kaolin activities in Cornwall.
Production of kaolin from south-west England is now around 1m tpa, just one third of totals seen in 1988. The dramatic decrease in kaolin production is due to a combination of factors, one of which has been the replacement of kaolin as a filler with precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and ground calcium carbonate (GCC).
