Vanderbilt Minerals Corporation was started in the 1930’s in Norwalk, Connecticut. It is currently headquartered in Murray, Kentucky. The Company has a number of active mining sites in the southwest, primarily in Nevada and California, and a milling operation in Beatty, Nevada. Vanderbilt Minerals employs 20 individuals at the Beatty and Murray facilities.

The Process
Vanderbilt Minerals mines and processes smectite ores from several minesites in the southwest. The ore is pulverized in the Company’s mill in Nevada and shipped to Murray, Kentucky for beneficiation in a proprietary water separation process. The finished product, a purified magnesium aluminum silicate ((Mg,Al)₂Si₄O₁₀(OH)₂), is dried and packaged to meet FDA standards for pharmaceutical and personal care products.

Products and Markets
The purified products are sold under the trade names VEEGUM^® and VAN GEL^®. VEEGUM products are used in pharmaceutical and personal care products such as antacids, toothpaste, hand and body lotions, soaps, shampoos and makeup. VAN GEL products are used in agricultural flowables, household and industrial cleaning compounds, and thickening and suspending stabilization agents for a variety of industrial applications.

Commitment to Safety and the Environment
Vanderbilt Minerals Corporation recently completed one year without a lost time accident. The Company has active programs for water control, reclamation and beautification of its mining operations.

At Murray, a donation program is designed to encourage employee involvement in community activities and volunteer groups. During the first six months of the program, twenty percent of the workforce requested that the Company make donations to organizations ranging from youth and poverty programs to county-wide emergency response capability.

Plant management personnel are active members of the local emergency planning committee.

Efforts are also being made to educate the young people of the community about all aspects of the chemical and mineral industries, including management participation in a school-industry partnership board.