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INTERNATIONAL

Monsanto will build a second plant to produce rubber chemicals near its Antwerp, Belgium, works. The company hasn't disclosed investment and capacity figures. Much of the production will be devoted to vulcanization accelerators, although the plant will also supply intermediates such as mercaptoben-zothiazol and tertiary butylamine. Construction will start later this year with startup slated for the end of 1970. Monsanto presently supplies the European synthetic rubber industry with several products made in the U.K. and Belgium.

Russia boasts more than 2 0 % of world phosphate deposits or about 60 billion metric tons, ac­cording to West Germany's Institut fuer Ost-Marktforschung, Hamburg. These deposits are sufficient to meet domestic demand and to enable Russia to export phosphate rock as well. Central Russia has 30% of the deposits, northwestern Russia 35%, and Kazakhstan 30%. Biggest con­sumer of phosphate fertilizers is the European part of Russia, including the Ural—about 73%. Central Asia and Kazakhstan take about 13%, and Siberia and the Far East about 12%. About 75% of all phosphate rock mined in Russia comes from Khibiny, where some of the rock contains a concentration of 39.4% Ρ2ΟΓ>.

Japan's Teijin, Ltd., moves deeper into raw materials supply wi th a $5.5 mill ion aromatics plant due on stream near Osaka by early 1972. A 90,000 to 100,000 metric-ton-a-year p-xylene unit will supply Teijin's polyester fiber-making opera­tions. (Company plans now call for making 100 tons a day of poly­ester in Japan and the same amount at overseas plants by 1972. ) The plant will also include capacity for some 40,000 tons a year each of o-xylene and ethylbenzene. These products initially will be sold but Teijin is considering expansion into products such as phthalic anhydride, styrene monomer, and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin to absorb all of its aromatics production. Mixed xylenes feedstock for the Osaka plant will come from General Petroleum Refining Co.

Hankook Aluminum Co. has opened Korea's first aluminum refinery. The $20 mill ion plant built in the Ulsan industrial complex on Korea's southeast coast can produce 15,000 metric tons per year of aluminum ingot.

The known area of uranium deposits in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, has been widened by exploratory drilling by subsidiaries of Gulf Oil. The zone of mineral­ization now extends some 1400 feet along a line running southwest to northeast of the initial discovery hole. Chemically assayed and evaluated samples from 12 core holes have uranium oxide concentrations ranging from 0.18 to 0.65%.

Imperial Chemical Industries has opted out of synthetic rubber production in the U.K. after 12 years. The British company has sold its know-how and Butakon trade­mark to Doverstrand, Ltd. Owned by Re vertex Holdings, Ltd., and U.S. Standard Brands Chemical Industries, Inc., Doverstrand produces styrene, butadiene, nitrile, and other specialty rubbers. ICI will run down its sole plant, while Doverstrand builds a similar 10,000 metric-ton-per-year unit at Stallingborough, U.K., which will double its present capacity by 1971. Total U.K. synthetic rubber and latex capacity is 339,500 metric tons annually. Production ran at 234,000 metric tons and consumption at 229,-000 metric tons last year.

JULY 14, 1959 C&EN 35