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High value specialty minerals like frac sands and mica are reshaping Oglebay Norton into a more diversified, more profitable business.
The creation of the new Performance Minerals reporting segment combines two businesses that have much in common.
Oglebay Norton Industrial Sands and Specialty Minerals each have strong market positions in the building products market. The bulk of mica output is used in joint compound, stucco and paint, while roofing shingles, stucco, and grout are important end-products for our industrial sands. The two businesses also share a geographic focus, both having substantial operations in the U.S. Southwest. In addition, both Industrial Sands and Specialty Minerals serve sizable market niches where excellent technical service and support are important to our customers.
Oglebay Norton Specialty Minerals produces the widest array of mica products in North America. We supply over 40 different mica products, including several different kinds that are surface-treated with certain chemicals to improve their performance in plastic products. Another kind of mica is processed using a wet-grinding technique that imparts a shimmery look to paints, plastics, wallcoverings and other consumer products. We are one of only three sources in the United States of this type of mica, which often commands prices in excess of $850 per ton.
Meanwhile, at Industrial Sands, high oil and gas prices continue to translate into strong demand for specialized fracturing sands. Industrial Sands produces a large portion of the “frac” sands used as part of the secondary oil and gas recovery process.
Our mining and processing operations have the capacity to meet even higher market demand, and we are constructing a new full-service logistics center at our Bakersfield site to better serve our oil industry customers. We are also investing in our mica operations. In response to customer demand, we are expanding effective capacity and recovery, while we also focus on improving product quality.
Oil service companies work to increase the output of older wells through a process called fracturing. The process entails hydraulically forcing sands with unique physical properties into fissures in the rock strata to enable hydrocarbons to flow to the well head. Oglebay Norton also supplies other types of industrial-grade sands used in a variety of building products and for water filtration, among other applications. Mica, this segment’s other primary mineral, is an ingredient in joint compound, paint, and rubber and plastic compounds.
President, Oglebay Norton
Industrial Sands, Inc.
Ken Pavlich
President, Oglebay Norton
Specialty Minerals, Inc.