Unimin (known as Covia since 2018)
Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of global industrial minerals company SCR- of Belgium. Unimin operates 44 mining and mineral processing facilities in the United States, Mexico and Canada. In Mexico, the company operates as Grupo Materias Primas de México and in Canada as Unimin Canada Ltd/Ltee. Executive offices are located in New Canaan, Connecticut with technology, analytical and sales service centers situated throughout North America. Unimin has over 2,400 employees located in 19 states in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
In 2018, Unimin merged with Santrol to become Covia.
History
Founded in 1970, Unimin is one of North America's largest producers of non-metallic industrial minerals. Unimin is the world's leading producer of quartz
proppants (frac sand) and a major producer of resin coated sand proppants for oil and natural gas stimulation and recovery, and the largest producer of low-iron
nepheline syenite for glass, ceramic, paint and plastic applications. The company is also the world's leading producer of high purity
quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...
, a highly specialized product used in the fabrication of integrated circuits, solar photovoltaic cells and high intensity lighting.
Unimin's product portfolio includes industrial sand, high purity quartz,
feldspar
Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...
, nepheline syenite, microcrystalline silica, ball clay,
kaolin
Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral sheet of alumina (). ...
,
calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a common substance found in Rock (geology), rocks as the minerals calcite and aragonite, most notably in chalk and limestone, eggshells, gastropod shells, shellfish skel ...
and calcium quicklime and hydrate. Quicklime and hydrated lime products are produced and sold by their Southern Lime subsidiary. Unimin serves a diversified customer base with technical requirements that range from high temperature
foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
and metallurgical applications, functional performance in paint, plastics and rubber manufacture, chemical reactivity in water filtration and environmental engineering, and high purity in consumer products and food processing.
Unimin has been recognized for its safety and health record with the Sentinels of Safety award by the U.S.
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the
National Mining Association (NMA). The company is also recognized by the Wildlife Habitat Council for outstanding environmental stewardship and employee volunteerism with the Corporate Habitat of the Year award, and Community Partner of the Year and Signatures of Sustainability awards.
Unimin Corporation is certified as a sustainable company by the
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
In 2018, Unimin merged with Santrol to become Covia.
The company had 2633 employees in 2020, but was forced into
chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. It emerged from bankruptcy at the end of 2020.
References
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External links
Covia Corp homepage
Mining companies of the United States