Document 8RM1ezeZbnXMk5mQM8rxj9pmK

FILE NAME: RT Vanderbilt (RTV) DATE: 1972 June 2 DOC#: RTV 163 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: J-M Memo RE Standard Industrial Minerals' White Eagle Talc '} `I , -1# ) . ' June 2 P 1912 Mr, G. G. Schuknecht Johns-M anville Products Corporation Lompoc, California 93436 Dear Jerry; Subject; Standard Industrial M inerals' W hite'Eagle Talc With referen ce to our telephone d iscu ssio n of May 30 on the above subject, I have som e notes that I discussed in a fragmentary way with P erry Martinson, while he was h ere. P erry suggested that I com m unicate any notes I have to you with a copy to him . This tetter is to bring you up to date. As-1 totd you over the telephone, Standard Industrial M inerals has been mining and stockpiling White Eagle T alc at Zurich, C alifornia, for our account in 1 ,0 0 0 ton lo ts , We are just now startin g on the second thousand tons which w@ pay for as shipm ent is made to us in Los A ngeles at $34, 50. per ton f .o .b . Zurich. We have a ll been concerned h ere with the problem of trem o lite in talc and we are getting increasing calls for trem o life-free talc. A ccordingly, 1 contacted Don , Brandt at Standard's Reno office about two w eeks ago and suggested that he give som e thought to further quantities.for u s. I also had another purpose, in having, a d isc u ssio n with him; to calL hisjattention to im purities, occu rrin g in the talc other than tr e m o lite . We havexused White E agle T alc in the past and are s till using it for our No. 140 ser ie s cohm etic talcs as w ell as for DESERTALC USP. Dick Lam ar has been tellin g usi that.W hite E agle T alc c a r r ie s im p u rities that dowagr.ade.it as to color and:grit. A ccordingly, Dick sam pled very thoroughly two recerA shipm ents of White E agle'crude talc and made, som e identifications and recom m endations in two reports dated May 5 and May 16, 1972. I am enclosing copies of th e se .r e p o r ts. Oddly enough, w e have been able to pass U-SP te sta becaus the talc is v ery low in acid solubles although it is not a pure steatite talc as such. At any ra te, it ia.the only sou rce of talc, we have that is trem o life -fr e e .A c c o r d .; in gly, in order to do a little planning'for the future I asked Don Brandt to com e down and se e m whan convenient so, that I could show h im the; sam ple Dick referred to and discuss purity of product with him as w ell as to make som e plans for future quantities. ' Don cam e dotyn on May^-24 and brought with him Mike E v a so v ic, who is.in charge of their m ine op eration s. They w ere im p re sse d .'with the reports and'prom ised to', CRMC-HT-TALC-000257 ' . .y**. .1 ` v Mi*:. G G ./Schuknecht'Johns-M anviUc Products Corpo radon June 2 , 19?Z page 2. ' .im p rove.th eir sorting so that on dature sfcockpU.es they could liminait som e of the questionable products.-. I asked them what quantity they m ight require to give u.s -'exclusive rights to the output of-the m in e, but they did not want to com m it them selv es for the reason that they told m e they had discu ssed the matter with other people b esid es u s. H ow ever, he die! indicate that they.would give serio u s con sid eration to protecting us on an annual contract for-a m inim um of-100 ton per month anci'a m axim um of 500 tone per month. Beyond that they want to be free to /V' s e ll elsew h ere if we could not take m ore than the m axim um . At Ilia p r is a n t -time the m ine is clo sed down and w ill not bo 'reopened until they : . get further ord ers. They state that they w ill have to spend about $10,000 to im prove the m ine1and to provide for a second way out. For th is reason they have.. to.be assu red of enough tonnage to justify the expenditure.. Standard Industrial M inerals has the White Eagle m ine under lease for the life of the m ine from its owners, United Sierra D ivision of Cyprus-M ins. S ierra only gets a sm a ll royalty for the tale and has tried hard to break the le a se but lias lost out in court, battles-in their efforts to secu re cancellation of. the laas. Standard has put & tentative p rice on the le a se to u s , i f it is' tra n sfera b le, of $1 m illio n ,'' which seem s to m s to be very high.. However, they have heard, of the tremoli* restriction s and feel in a pretty strong position. Don confirm ed that N iggem yer -of C alcite Corporation has no in ter e st in nor con tract with them .'covering the White E agle T a lc, He tells- m e that N iggem yer 'has just recently traded his stock in the Calcite Corporation for stock of Diversified' Earth -S cien ces. He w ill continue `to' m anage C alcite -C orporation, a c c o r d in g ly -the story w hear, for a period of three y ea rs. When he bought the m ill at Daws, from Standard, he did not buy any o f the m in es. A ccording to Don, he does have'an opfcloi to purchase clay and pyrophyUife from their other m in es, N iggem yer may be trying to horn in on the talc deal if he- can sm e ll s a le , .f-aseumo' that you are fam ilia r with the location of the -White Eagle- m in e, .I.not, ..' you can find it by taking the Saline V alley Road out'of B ig P in e, p a ssin g up the fir s t junction and rem aining to th e'right into Saline V a lley , a total o f '59 m ile s ....... from Big P in e, Th road is a. d ir t road, so m etim es m aintained by the County, but is passable to m ost equipment. This is a pretty long letter, Jerry, but P erry thought that it would be in terestin g to you. b ecause you will; be functioning in an, operating way so' far as this is concerned. Wo have enjoyed our m eetings with P e r r y this w eek and hope that.our a ffiliation w ill be o great mutual benefit. .'W shall a lso be happy to work with' you in any way we can. Yours very truly, DESERT MINERALS, In c .' EJEUaworthijec ^ E n clo su res : C 0 * Mr. P , . Martinson Mr, .Earl B. Smith - President CRMC-HT-TALC-000258