OFTRINGEN, Switzerland, June 10, 2010 (Business Wire) -Omya India Private Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Omya, a leading global producer of industrial minerals, entered into an agreement with Tamil Nadu Newsprint & Paper Limited (TNPL) to build and operate a Precipitated Calcium Carbonate (PCC) facility at TNPL's Kagithapuram paper mill in the state of Tamil Nadu in southeast India.

"In view of the huge volume of PCC required, it was considered prudent to have a satellite PCC plant within the mill premises, as being done by major paper industries around the world"

"We are very proud of this agreement with TNPL, the first of its kind on the Indian subcontinent", says Axel Wappler, Omya General Manager Sales & Marketing.

The new PCC plant will have an annual capacity of 60,000 dry metric tons of filler grade PCC per year and is expected to come on stream in the 2nd quarter of 2011.

The fillers will offer reduced production costs as well as improved paper properties.

"In view of the huge volume of PCC required, it was considered prudent to have a satellite PCC plant within the mill premises, as being done by major paper industries around the world", says TNPL's Dy Managing Director T.K. Ramachandran.

TNPL is the largest bagasse based eco-friendly paper mill in the world. www.tnpl.com

About Omya

Omya is a leading global producer of industrial minerals, mainly fillers and pigments derived from calcium carbonate and dolomite, and a worldwide distributor of chemical products. The company‘s major markets are the paper, plastics, paint/ coatings/adhesives industries as well as construction, environment, agriculture, food and pharma. Founded in 1884 in Switzerland, Omya now has a global presence extending to more than 100 locations in over 50 countries and 6000 employees. www.omya.com