Document R8aGy4bovbpxNya92j4gq78v

FILE NAME: Talc (TALC) DATE: 1972 June 2 DOC#: TALC433 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Memo RE Standard Industrial Minerals' White Eagle Talc 1 - ! `i , i# ) June 2, 1972 M r, G. G, Schuknecht Johns -M anville Products Corporation Lom poc, C alifornia 93436 Dear Jerry; . . Subject: Standard Indus tria l M in erals' W hite'E agle Talc With re fe re n 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 fragm entary-w ay with P e rry M artinson while he was h e re . P e rry suggested th at I com m unicate any notes I have to you with a copy to him . This te tte r is to bring you up to d ate, ' * . ' As-1 told you o v er the .telephone, S tandard In d u stria l M inerals has been m ining and stockpiling White Eagle T alc a t Z u rich , C alifornia, fo r o u r account in 1 ,0 0 0 ton lots. We a re ju st now sta rtin g on the second thousand tons which we pay for a s sh ip m e n t is m ade to us in Los A ngeles a t $34, 50. p e r ton L o , b . . Z u ric h . We have a ll been c o n ce rn e d h e re with the p ro b le m of tremo'Hte in ta lc an d we a r e getting in creasin g calls-fo r trem olifca-free talc. A ccordingly, I contacted Don , B randt a t S tan d ard 's Reno office about two w eeks ago and suggested that h^ give som e thought to fu rth er q uantities,for u s. I also had another purpose in h av in g a d iscu ssio n w ith him : to calL h isiatten tio n to im purities o c cu rrin g in the taho th e r than trem ohfce. We haveiuseeS W hite E agle T alc inT he p a st and a r e s till using it for our No. 140 se rie s cohm etic talcs as w ell as fo r DESERTALC USP D ick L a m a r h a s been te llin g usi;t h a t W hite E ag le T a lc c a r r i e s im p u r itie s th a t ^ ' downgrade-.it as to d o lo r and: g rit. A ccordingly, Dick; sam p led v ery thoroughly -wo re c e n t sh ip m e n ts o f W hite E agle; c ru d e ta lc and made, so m e id e n tific a tio n s and recom m endations in two re p o rts dated Mhy 5 and May 1 6 ,1 9 7 2 . I a m enclosing copies of th e se .re p o rfc s. O ddly enough, we h av e b een ab le to p a ss U-SP te s ta b le a u s the talc is v e ry low in acid solubles although it is not a p u re steatite ta lc .s'-such. A t any r a te , it is^-the only s o u rc e o f ta lc we have th a t is tr e m o lite - f r e .:. AcPordw ingly, in o rd e r to do a u ttle planning for the future I asked Don B randt to com e dovm and see me whan convenient so that I could show him the; sam ple Dick re fe rre d to and d iscu ss purity of product with him as w ell as to m ake som e plans ior future quantities. , . ,. ;. v . . Don cam dovm on M a24 and brought w ith h im Mike Eva so v ie, who is in charge of their m ine o p eratio n s. They w ere .im pressed.'w ith'the re p o rts and'prom ised'to: ' CRMC-HT-TALC-000257  ,i ` v . . M r. G, G. /Schukaecht Johns-M anvi e P ro d u c ts C o rp o ra tio n , J u n e 2 I9?E . . page 2- . : ' .im p r o v e .th e ir so rtin g so th a t on Mature sfcockpU.es they could liminait so m e of th e q u e stio n ab le products.-. I a sk e d th e m w hat q u an tity th ey 'm ig h t -require to give u.s e x clu siv e rig h ts to th e output of- the mine but they -did n o t w ant to c o m m it th e m - selves for the reason tha they told m s they had discussed the m atter with other people besides u s , However ho did indicate th at they, would give serio u s con ' sid ratio n to protecting us on an annual co n tra ct for-a m inim um of-100 ton p er m onth a n d 'a m axim um of 500 tone p e r m onth. Beyond th at they want to be fre e to f) ' s e l l e lse w h e re if we could not tak e m o re th an th e m ax im u m . . . , A t .the -prissent: tim e th e m ine is c lo se d down and w ill not be re o p e n ed u n til th ey . get fu rth e r o rd e rs . They state that they w ill have to spend about $ i0 ,0 0 0 to im p ro v e the m in s 'a n d to p ro v id e fo r a seco n d w ay o u t. F o r th is re a s o n they have.. to .b e a s s u r e d of enough tonnage to ju s tify t h e .expenditure. . Standard Industrial M inerals has the'W hite Eagle m ine under lease for the life of the m ine from its O wners, United Sierra. D ivision of C yprus-M ins. S ie rra only gets a sm all royalty fo r the ta le and has trie d h a rd to break the lease but lias lost ' out in court, b attles-in th e ir efforts* to sec u re cancellation of. the laas. Standard has put & tentative p rice on the lease to u s , if it is tra n sfe rab le, of $1 m illio n ,'' which seem s to .me to be v e ry high.. H ow ever, they have h e a rd of the tre m o iite re stric tio n s and feel in a p retty stro n g position. . Don c o n firm e d th a t N iggem y er -of C a lc ite C o rp o ra tio n h a s no in te r e s t in n o r c o n tra c t with th em .'covering the White E agle T alc, He tells- m e that N iggem yer has . ju st recen tly tra d e d Ms stock in th e .C alcite C orporation fo r stock of D iversified' E a r th -S cie n c es. He w ill con tin u e `to' m a n ag e C a lc ite -C o rp o ratio n , a c c o rd in g lto the . s to ry we' h e a r , for a p e rio d of th re e y e a r s . When'he bought the m ill a t Daws .fro m S tandard, he did not buy any of the m in es. A ccording to Don, he does have an optloi to p u rch ase clay and pyrophyllite from, th e ir other m in es, N iggem yer may be trying , to h o rn in on the ta lc d e a l if he- can s m e ll s a le , -I sastim s' th a t you a r e f a m ilia r w ith the lo c a tio n of th e -White E a g le -m in e , If. n o t, ...' you can fin d it by taking the S alin e V alley Road o u t'o f B ig P in e , p a s s in g up the ' f i r s t ju n ctio n and re m a in in g to th e 'rig h t into S alin e V a lley , a to ta l o\59 m ile s ....... fro m Big P in e , Th ro a d is a. d i r t ro a d , s o m e tim e s m a in ta in e d by the C ounty, but . is passable to m ost equipm ent. This is a p retty long le tte r, J e rry , but P e rry thought th a t it w ould be in te re s tin g to you. b e c a u se you w ill;b e functioning in an, o p e ra tin g w ay so' fa r as th is is c o n ce rn e d . Wo have enjoyed o u r m eetin g s w ith - . P e r r y th is w eek and hope th a t.o u r a ffilia tio n w ill be o f g r e a t m u tu al benefit* .'W shall also be happy to w ork w ith you in any way w e'can. . ... . . ' Yours very truly, ` DESERT MINERALS, In c .' EJEU aw orthijec ^ Enclosures . : - cc5 M r. P. . M artinson M r. E arl B. Smith P re sid e n t ' ' '. . ' ' CRMC-HT-TALC-000258