OREANDA-NEWS. June 10, 2014. Minerals Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement with the Zhejiang Zhengda Paper Group Co. Ltd. for a 50,000 metric ton per year satellite precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) plant that will produce coating grade PCC for packaging in Zhejiang Province, China.

The plant should be operational in the 4Q 2015, as the company said in the press release received by Lesprom Network.

"This agreement with the Zhengda Paper Group is important in that it is Minerals Technologies' first on-site satellite plant to produce PCC for the coated packaging market," said Joseph C. Muscari, chairman and CEO.

Minerals Technologies (MTI) will manufacture OPACARB® Coating PCC specifically tailored for the Chinese packaging market at the satellite plant. This will allow Zhengda Paper to reduce the use of other expensive raw materials such as imported clay, latex, optical brighteners and expensive finely ground GCC. The Zhengda paper mill in Fuyang City, Zhejiang Province, China, produces 600,000 metric tons per year of coated, bleached cartonboard for packaging.

Minerals Technologies Inc. is a resource- and technology-based growth company that develops, produces and markets worldwide a broad range of specialty mineral, mineral-based and synthetic mineral products and related systems and services.

Zhengda Paper is owned by the privately held Zhejiang Zhengda Holding Group (Zhengda Holding), which is also the majority shareholder of four other companies in the paper manufacturing industry: Zhejiang Hongsheng Paper co Ltd, Fuyang City Wenbo Paper Industry Co Ltd, Fuyang Fangzheng Paper Industry Co Ltd, and Zhejiang Guangming Paper Industry Co Ltd.