Profile: Amcol International Corp (ACO)

AMCOL International Corporation, incorporated in 1924, is focused the development and application of minerals and technology products and services to various industrial and consumer markets. The Company operates in five segments: minerals and materials, environmental, oilfield services, transportation and corporate. Its minerals and materials segment mines, processes and distributes minerals and products for use in various industrial and consumer markets. Its environmental segment manufactures and distributes products and related services for use as moisture and vapor barriers in commercial construction, landfills and a variety of other industrial and commercial applications. Its oilfield services segment provides both onshore and offshore water treatment filtration, well testing, pipeline separation, nitrogen, coil tubing and other services to the oil and natural gas industry. Its transportation segment includes both a long-haul trucking business and a freight brokerage business.

The Company’s corporate segment includes the elimination of intersegment revenues, as well as certain expenses associated with research and development, management, employee benefits and information technology activities for its Company. In January 2011, it acquired the remaining noncontrolling interest in Volclay South Africa (Proprietary) Limited. In February 2011, the Company sold 26% of its interest in Batlhako Mining Limited (Batlhako).

Minerals and Materials Segment

The Company’s minerals and materials segment business is conducted, through wholly owned subsidiaries and investments in affiliates and joint ventures worldwide. Its principal products are marketed under various trade names, including VOLCLAY, PANTHER CREEK, PREMIUM GEL, ADDITROL, and Hevi-Sand. Its principal mineral is bentonite. Its products are sold in the foundry and casting industry. In the ferrous casting market, the Company specializes in blending bentonite of various grades by themselves or with mineral binders containing sodium bentonite, calcium bentonite, seacoal and other ingredients. It also has a line of formulated additives that introduce silicon and carbon in the melt phase of the casting process. In the steel alloy casting market, the Company sells a chromite product with a particle size distribution specific to a customer’s needs. Company markets its chromite product under the trade name Hevi-Sand. Its specialty materials products are sold in markets with applications where its material acts as a performance additive.

The Company supplies high-grade, agglomerated bentonite and other mineral additives used in laundry care products. It manufactures adsorbent polymers and purified grades of bentonite ingredients for sale to manufacturers of personal skin care products. The adsorbent polymers are used to deliver actives in skin-care products. Microsponge and Poly-Pore are the principal trade names, under which these products are sold. Bentonite is used to improve processing and waste control in manufacturing a range of printable paper surfaces. The Company produces and markets sodium bentonite-based scoopable (clumping) cat litters, as well as specialty pet products to grocery and drug stores, mass merchandisers, wholesale clubs and pet specialty stores throughout the United States. It supplies minerals in industrial applications, where they are used as a component of the end product to the consumer.

The Company’s markets and applications include drilling fluid additives, other industrial and ferro alloys. The Company’s sodium bentonite and leonardite, a form of oxidized lignite, which the Company mines and processes in North Dakota, are components of drilling fluids used in oil and gas well drilling. Its brand for this application is the PREMIUM GEL. The Company produces bentonite and bentonite blends for the construction industry, which are used as a plasticizing agent in cement, plaster and bricks, and as an emulsifier in asphalt. It also supplies grades of bentonite used for pellitizing other materials. A by-product of its chromite processing operations for foundry products includes a chromite ore, which has physical properties for use in producing ferro chrome. Manufacturers of stainless steel are the primary users of ferro chrome.

Environmental Segment

The environmental business is principally conducted, through wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures worldwide. Many of these companies utilize its CETCO brand name. The Company sells a range of lining and other products to landfill, mining, and other construction markets for a range of applications. It helps customers protect ground water and soil through the sale of geosynthetic clay liner products containing bentonite. It markets these products under the BENTOMAT and CLAYMAX trade names principally for lining and capping landfills, mine waste disposal sites, water and wastewater lagoons, secondary containments in tank farms, and other contaminated sites. It also provides associated geosynthetic materials for these applications, including geotextiles and drainage geocomposites. In remediation technologies, It provides engineered solutions for challenging environmental site-remediation projects, usually with the goal of redeveloping contaminated industrial sites. Products offered include Liquid Boot, a liquid applied vapor barrier system; REACTIVE CORE-MAT, an in-situ sediment capping material; ORGANOCLAY, which absorbs organic containments, and QUIK-SOLID, a absorbent media.

The Company supplies many roofing and waterproofing materials to the non-residential construction industry. This group’s products include VOLTEX, a waterproofing composite comprised of two polypropylene geotextiles filled with sodium bentonite; ULTRASEAL, an advanced membrane using a active polymer core, and COREFLEX, featuring heat-welded seams for protection of critical infrastructure. In addition to these membrane materials, it also provides roofing products and a variety of sealants and other accessories required to create a functional waterproofing system.

The Company’s contracting services group provides geo-environmental solutions for a variety of construction projects but is focused on installation of its own products in construction sites. Its drilling products are used in environmental and geotechnical drilling applications, horizontal directional drilling, mineral exploration and foundation construction. The products are used to install monitoring wells, facilitate horizontal and water well drilling, and seal abandoned exploration drill holes. VOLCLAY GROUT, HYDRAUL-EZ, BENTOGROUT and VOLCLAY TABLETS are among the trade names for products used in these applications. It also offer a range of drilling products used in the excavation of foundations for buildings, bridges and dams. These products include SHORE PAC and PREMIUM GEL.