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 Nepheline syenite is a holocrystalline plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varieties are al ...

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 atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

, 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 Feldspars are 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 ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldsp ...

, nepheline syenite, microcrystalline silica, ball clay,

kaolin Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

, calcium carbonate 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 The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) () is a large agency of the United States Department of Labor which administers the provisions of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) to enforce compliance with mandatory safet ...

(MSHA) and the

National Mining Association The National Mining Association (NMA) is a United States trade organization that lists itself as the voice of the mining industry in Washington, D.C. NMA was formed in 1995, and has more than 300 corporate members. History The National Mining Ass ...

(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 The Global Reporting Initiative (known as GRI) is an international independent standards organization that helps businesses, governments and other organizations understand and communicate their impacts on issues such as climate change, human righ ...

(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, whe ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. 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