| | Opta Minerals processes, sells and distributes abrasives and other industrial minerals to the foundry, steel and marine/bridge cleaning industries, sources specialty sands and garnets for the water filtration industry, and recycles inorganic materials under special permits from government authorities at both its Waterdown, Ontario and Norfolk, Virginia sites.
All ships and offshore drilling rigs operating in salt-water environments require blast cleaning and repainting every three to five years, and when operating in higher saline waters, such as the Middle East, may have to be serviced even more often. It normally takes over two years of continual work to clean and paint a large vessel such as an aircraft carrier, using up to $1 million in abrasives.
Opta Minerals encompasses much of the east coast (refer to location map), with production facilities in Brantford, ON; Waterdown, ON; Lachine, QC; Laval, QC; St-Bruno-de-Guigues, QC; St-Germain-de-Grantham, QC; Norfolk, VA; New Orleans, LA; Los Angeles, CA; Hardeeville, SC; Attica, NY; Baltimore, MD; Keeseville, NY; Walkerton, IN; Milan, MI; Richfield, OH. allowing for economic supply and timely delivery of the Group's products to key east coast port locations. The Group's patented and/or sole source abrasives are free of silica, which is growing in acceptance as the preferred abrasive, as a clean, efficient and recyclable alternative. The Group also supplies coal and copper slag abrasives and garnet abrasives sourced from China and India for high-end applications.
In addition, the Group's coated and specialty sands operations supply filtration sands, in conjunction with garnets, for the water filtration industry, the majority of bunker sands for golf courses in Eastern Canada, cement sands for retail blends and certain other industrial applications.
The Group continues focused on new product innovation. A number of new abrasives were developed in 2002 based on recycled cutlet and nickel slag and were introduced to the market in 2003. | |
