MATERIALS | MINERAL FILLERS
Right and below:
Harvesting of oolitic aragonite takes place in shallow waters in the Great Bahamas Bank
to amount to between 50bn and 100bn tonnes, and the estimated annual renewal rate is 14m to 120m tonnes each year. Carbon dating indicates that much of the mineral found in the area is recently formed, with the newest having been created in the past three to five years. Calcean obtains oolitic aragonite from an
affiliate, Sandy Cay Development, which owns a long term lease on an area of almost 1,300km2
. The
company ‘harvests’ the aragonite sand from shallow waters around 4m deep, where very little marine life is said to exist. The process involves mechanically scooping up the top 60cm of the sand from the sea floor. It then mills the mineral, producing grades in several sizes and with several coatings selected for the final application. Calcean says it will sell this refined oolitic
aragonite to compounders and others for their own formulations and utilisation. “It took us six years to figure out how to properly handle and mill a mineral that is hydrophilic, highly electron charged, harder than calcite and has a crystalline morphol- ogy, yet is calcium carbonate,” says Myers. Alyson Myers, Calcean’s R&D Director, points out a number of important aspects in the crystallinity of
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