Document qkgJ3J6mo4jR5yZMd1aNKobrG

FILE NAME: RT Vanderbilt (RTV) DATE: 1975 Mar 20 DOC#: RTV014 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Johns-Manville Memo Calling RTV's Labeling of Talc Asbestos "Deliberately Perfidious" - Page 2 H ip o r. x J o h n s -iT lo n v iH e * 1: ' f ! ^ " f* r-"'. ** - -->*.^*'" 5 iv- ` kti 8 b <i 'J C j-y !.\.j W i To: P . A . M a rtinson - 2W D dto: March 20 , 197 5 From : R. S. Lamar - 2W C opies: J , M. Fletcher - 2S 4 -!. R. Keefe - 2W J . M. Sbarrati; - 2S Subject: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE J-M POSITION WITH TALC Three years since J -* I's entry into the acquisition of Desert Minerals for an appraisal of our position. broken down into eight sections as the. talc business with Company is time enough This assessment is follows: 1. - The Effects of Labeling: Cur position here has been the only .acceptable action J-M could take. According to; th,e;definitions that are a..part of the law, our Californfa-rtal.c products'all contain asbestos in the form of ffreirtbllte. No play on words will change' this fact. the uniquely high brightness and relatively lev; acid soluble content of G-2 and G-2 talc ores, we could hold onto most of the critical markets, in spite of^labeling. I now seriousl" doubt our ability'tO'douthis. The ''talc-asbestos" problem is q u ' Afferent from the1''asbestos-asbestos" probl In many .applications -for. asbestos, there arc no acceptable substitutes. With our, asbestos-containing talc, there are numerous possibilitios for.substitution: (a) Non-asbestos/containing-talcs .from both Pfizer and Cyprus; from Montana sources and (b) Other' extender; pi-gments such as kaolin and calcium carbonate (in paints, for example, and in paper filling uses). We see this type of substitution being made and long-established markets for Dese-rtalc products . evaporating in the process. CRMC-ELS-004680 A, Martinson Page Two The R. T, Vanderbilt Position: Their pqadrtril)n~'u^th respect' to labeling they: cannot be this J must" be" deliberately perfidious; misinformed. Slim(Thompson, their technical'director, has a Ph.D. in mineralogy. At the moment, Vanderbilt is m.isleadingytheir oustoraers and confusing ours with their decision nVt-tcr'iabel, Ultimately, the truth will out, and they will be forced to label. Pfizer's position is the same with their California talcs. With all asbestos-containing talcs labeled, far greater value and emphasis in the market will be applied to asbestos-free talcs. I seriously question the capacity of these asbestos-free talcs to satisfy the total market. Also, in some applications, the asbestos-free talcs are jusl not a suitable sub stitute quality-wise. For example, in ceramic wall tile' (a major., market for tremolitic talc) there are few, if any, asbestos-free talcs that show the same forming and firing properties. Penhorwood fires to a brown color due to high, iron content. G-l Fires white due to very lowr iron content. . Me^eivtheTess,:].it -is,fa' fact, that the Montana talc s>iness ;of both Cyprus Industrial Miifdtai's;VandrPfi'Zer- is booming, while `we are in the doidruihs. Quality: Historically, talc mining ha aa a high- gradiing^-operation with selective- mining aequired to maintain acceptable quality fcr various uses. This type of--selective mining was dene successfully for over 25 years at the Grantham Mine. Proper quality and uniformity of ore were seldom, if ever, problems and sizeable markets were built on this foundation of quality. The unique high brightness of Cyclo-Fil (955 G.E.) was, in the pa;st, properly maintained and a good and profitable market developed for this .product in paper filling. Vv'ith the brightness, of current quality Cyclo-Fil dipping, as low as 895, there is no way we are going to maintain this business. Clays and other fillers at half the price of Cyclo-Fil can and are being used. CRMC-ELS A. Martinson Page Three Other quality considerations relating to high acid soluble content and improper grind have caused an c i ^ S i o r i of our paper i n d u s t r y business u n t i l v i r t u a l l y nothing remains. Markets: At one time (less than three years ago) FiYeFBl'e markets for Desertalc product* existed in paper, paint, plastics, and ceramics. Both DT-51 and DT-57 were the most widely usud fillers' in 401- talcfilled polypropylene. We lost this business prior to labeling because of tremoiite content. Many of our paint and paper accounts have been lest for the same reason and labeling has accelerated this loss. Labeling, plus the loss of proper quality, has been disastercus. Ceramic sales of DT-51 have been difficult to maintain. High acid soluble and water soluble contents of G-l ore have resulted in casting slip gelation and rheological problems. The high acid soluble content of current quality G-3 and G-2 ore has increased the alum demand of bulb Cyvlu-Suiu aaiu Gvcio-rii in paper applications to :the point .-where,;,.even iib.we had proper brightness, a paper mill could not afford to use our'products. I can foresee no markets that can be b" "t or rebuilt under present conditions. Hew Technology: . Froth flotation will .:c the trer o1ito contcnt of G-2 ore to less then 1$, but will not remove all of the tremolitc. In such a wet process , acid leaching will increase brightness several points. HIMS could probably also be used to remove even paramagnetic material to improve brightness still further, Newly developed sand or attritor milling procedures can grind down to a maximum particle sice of under 2 microns, but l believe that all of these new techniques are a was., e of time as long as wo have to label. Also, the relatively high mining costs at Warm Springs, plus the absence -of adequate wafer for these wet processing methods make? the development of other sources more attractive. CRMC-ELS-004682 A, Martinson Page Pour Penhorwood: Based on detailed testing, we feel certain that Penhorwood talc can be developed as a major source for pitch control and should 1:e directly competitive with Mistron Vapor (Cyprus Industrial Minerals Montana talc). Other markets may be developed for Penhorwood in plastics filling, elastomer reinforcement, and paint, Although in. this latter the relatively low brightness of Penhorwood is going to be difficult to overcome. If higher brightness grades could be developed from the same mining area, additional markets would become available. . In paint uses, wet color unifermity is a major considera tion and must be maintained with Penhorwood talc or any other extender pigment. Analyses of Penhorwood core samples suggest that this may become a major problem. 'Other Worldwide Talc Sources: With the worldwide HecTTne fri.the"TTuTustrial use of tremolitic or asbestoscontaining talcs,, sources for asbestos-free- talc-will surely hecome more valuable, Mai or. sources for this type,-of.orej-exist: in France-, Italy,-.Spain-, India, Red/China,- and other parts of t h e .world. Generally, all- of these deposit's are selectively mined. Only Finntalc and Johnson and John so: flotation to separate talc products 1 quality. We will do the same at Pe?t industry must move in this direction amendable to high-grading are deplete-.;- e using f >'o:b cent: od, and the .eposits ' Talc producing areas in California, Nevada, and Montana have been thoroughly--if not systematically ana profes sionally explored. It is unlikely that new largescale talc-mining properties could be developed. However, this possibility should be explored--but only for asbestos-free materials. There would appear to be an opportunity for good gee logical work. CRMC-ELS-004683 Conclusions and Recommendations a. Labeling, plus a general decline in quality, has caused a disasterous loss in J-M talc business. Some of this business migh- be regained in spite of labeling, providing we could re-establish _ prior high quality standards in both our mining and milling of these products, Hc'-'ever, the effects of labeling will'always place us in a serious competitive position. The economic viability of such an operation is also highly questionable. b. . Until Penhorwood is in operation, wc should try to hold onto as much of our existing talc business as possible. Suci a holding action will be difficult, expensive, and disheartening, but should be done, Penhorwood will not replace all existing'markets for Grantham talc because of darker color and other differences. . c. Beyond the development of Penhonvood, J-ll should attempt to develop, on a worldwide scale , ether asbestos - free sources for talc mineral. These will most surely become more valuable with time. ' It would be unfortunate, indeed, if we were .to let our poor performance with Grantham "ale interfere . with J-M development of other wor ;de talc sources under more desirable con- s. CRMC-ELS-004684