Ashapura Volclay ties with foreign companies

Ashapura Volclay (AVL), part of Ashapura Group, country's largest industrial minerals manufacturer, has tied up with partners in Belgium, Nigeria and Azerbaijan for projects worth Rs 200 crore.

The company, which is a joint venture between Ashapura Minechem and Volclay International, investment arm of the US-based AMCOL International Corporation, has tied up with a Nigerian oil major to process barites in the country.

Nigeria has several barites mines and has a booming oil industry. Barites are used in drilling muds that complement the company's existing bentonite business.

"We have also teamed up with AMCOL in Belgium to set up a clay processing unit. We already have an office in the country," said Tanuj Roy, chief executive officer.

The Belgium unit will have facilites for importing, grinding and packaging facilites for processing bleaching clay and shipping them to various European countries.

An important market for AVL, half of the company's produce is planned to be marketed in Europe.

Moreover, the continent is one of the major consuming markets for industrial minerals and the company's new unit will overcome the disadvantage of long distance and high cost of freight.

The company has also tied up with an Azerbaijan company to set up a bentonite processing facility in the central Asian country. A similar plant will come up in Brazil.

"All these projects will be completed within a year and should reflect in the FY08 balance sheet. The total investment of Rs 200 crore will be raised in a mix of debt and equity," said Roy.

The company had last month announced the doubling of capacity at its bleaching clay and clay catalysts plant at Bhuj, Gujarat to 60,000 tonne per annum. After the expansion, the plant is claimed to be the worlds second largest single-location facility for high-grade specialty bleaching clay.

At present, the company markets about 20 per cent of its production in Europe. "But we plan to increase this to about 50 per cent," said Roy.