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Imerys

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Imerys S.A.
Company typeSociété Anonyme
Euronext: NK
CAC Mid 60 Component
ISINFR0000120859 Edit this on Wikidata
IndustryMining
Founded1880 (1880)
Headquarters
Paris
,
France
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Alessandro Dazza (CEO)
  • Patrick Kron (President, Chairman of the Board)
ProductsSpecialty minerals
RevenueIncrease €4.590 billion (2018)[1]
Increase €562 million (2018)[1]
Increase €357 million (2018)[1]
Total assetsIncrease €7.594 billion (2018)[1]
OwnerBelgian Securities BV (53.91%)
Blue Crest Holding SA (4.86%)
Others (41.00%)
SubsidiariesCalderys
Websitewww.imerys.com

Imerys S.A. is a French multinational company which specialises in the production and processing of industrial minerals. It is headquartered in Paris and is a constituent of the CAC Mid 60 index.

Imerys has operations in over 40 countries and over 16,000 employees.[2] It extracts and processes rocks and minerals for of customers in the manufacturing and construction industries.

Groupe Bruxelles Lambert is the largest shareholder of Imerys.

History

The company was founded in 1880 and for many years was known as Imetal.[3] It was founded by the Rothschild family, combining a few of their many subsidiaries in the metals and mining industries.[4]

The group's original activity was mining and transforming nickel. Its original name was Société Penarroya—Le Nickel (SLN). In the 1970s, the Group diversified and expanded its business. A holding company was created under the name of Imetal.

In 1980 Imétal absorbed the Société Mokta El Hadid, which was renamed Compagnie française de Mokta (CFM).[5]

Since 1997, the company has transformed into a producer of speciality minerals, under the impetus first of Patrick Kron, who has since become the chief of Alstom, and then Gérard Buffière.

Business organization and operations

Imerys has undergone numerous restructurings over the last decade with changing leadership.

Leadership

As of February 17, 2020, Alessandro Dazza assumes the role of Imerys’ Chief Executive Officer.[6]

Since June 2019, Patrick Kron has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors at Imerys.

Locations

Imerys’ headquarters are located in Paris. Imerys is based in over 40 countries and has 230 industrial sites[citation needed]. The group operates across the Americas, Europe Middle East Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC).[7]

The company's North American Operations are headquartered in Roswell, Georgia,

Other major offices are located in Kifisia, Athens, Greece, Shanghai, China and Nagpur, India.

Innovations & awards

The Imerys china clay works in Bugle, Cornwall, United Kingdom

Imerys has developed a new diversification and acquisition strategy that puts the onus on innovation,[8] by increasing R&D capacities, for instance producing more lithium-ion batteries (predicting a surge in the electric vehicle market) and storage products for renewable energies.[9] [10]

In 2017, Imerys Minerals received the Natural England Award for Landscape-scale Restoration in the Biodiversity Category, recognition for a large-scale project recreating close to 2,000 acres of lowland heathland in Cornwall.[11] Since 2010, Imerys has been part of Eco-Bos, a joint venture in Cornwall with Orascom Development to develop a series of sustainable communities on the site of former china clay mines, starting with the West Carclaze Garden Village, currently under construction.[12]

In 2019, the group launched over 100 new products.[9]

IMA Europe Awards

In 2012, S&B Industrial Minerals S.A. (now Imerys Greece) was awarded the IMA-Europe 2012 Recognition Award for their project illustrating “how the company has succeeded in reducing overall energy consumption by exploiting Milos island climate conditions for bentonite pre-drying.”[13]

In 2014, Imerys Filtration won the Industrial Minerals Association award on Innovation for its product ImerPlast, a mineral-based solution which they claim enhances the recycling rates for polymers.[13]

The IMA 2014 Recognition Award on Public Awareness, Acceptance and Trust was granted to Imerys Minerals Ltd in the UK for their project “Building Trust with Communities”.[13]

In 2016, Imerys Filtration won the same award for ImerCare P-Scrub™, an environmentally friendly perlite-based alternative to plastic microbeads.[13]

In 2018, Imerys Filtration won the Industrial Minerals Association Innovation award for Imergard WP™, its malaria-fighting perlite-based innovation.[13]

Initiatives for sustainability

In the twenty-first century, Imerys started multiplying initiatives to increase efforts in corporate social responsibility (CSR) both internally and across the world.

In 2018, Imerys launched the Group program SustainAgility at both local and global levels, to drive engagement and contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

UN Global Compact

On 10 April 2020, Imerys reaffirmed its commitment to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.

The SustainAgility program takes into account 9 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and Imerys publishes an annual UN Global Compact Communication on Progress.[14]

Science Based Targets

Imerys has joined the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which “mobilizes companies to set science-based targets and boost their competitive advantage in the transition to the low-carbon economy.”[15] Imerys has made a commitment “to reduce scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 36% per million Euros of revenue by 2030 from a 2018 base year. IMERYS also commits that 71% of its suppliers by spend will have science-based targets by 2023.”[16]

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)

In 2019 Imerys was recognized by the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project) and received a score of B for the group’s efforts on Climate Change.[17] The group affirms this grade is higher than the European average and the mining industry average (both grade C).[18][19]

French Museum of Natural History and Act4Nature

On 28 May 2018 Imerys signed a convention for collaboration, research and expertise with the UMS 2006 Patrimoine Naturel,[20] and other organizations the National Museum of Natural History, France, the French Agency for Biodiversity (now the French Office for Biodiversity) and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS).[21] The partnership of three years is meant to help Imerys structure a global plan for diversity preservation.[22]

The convention centers around “the knowledge and conservation of biodiversity” and relies on four main pillars: site analysis and identification of best practices, sharing expertise, methodology and tools, participating in and supporting innovation, and highlighting research findings, which includes raising awareness and informing personnel.[21]

The UMS Patrimoine Naturel offers its scientific expertise, support, advice and methodological tools to support Imerys in the development of an action plan and commitment project that is aligned with the objectives of the National Biodiversity Strategy (SNB) and Act4Nature.[22] The aim of this program is to develop and deploy methodological tools to characterize and assess biodiversity on Imerys sites in France and abroad, aiming to ensure that biodiversity is taken into account during all phases of a mining project.[22] In October 2020 the program was officially renewed, taking effect in June 2021 for another three years.[23]

In 2018, Imerys also joined Act4Nature international, an initiative launched on 10 July 2018 by the Entreprises pour l’environnement (EpE), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)’s Global Network partner in France.[24] In a public announcement, the group has declared it plans to implement concrete measures to integrate and reinforce efforts to preserve biodiversity in their operations, over the period 2020-2024.[25] [26]

EcoVadis

On 4 September 2020, Global business sustainability assessor EcoVadis awarded Imerys a platinum label, the highest recognition possible “for its continuous improvement efforts in corporate social responsibility”.[27] [28]

Imerys Talc America worker lockout

After Imerys Talc America in Three Forks, Montana unveiled plans to phase out union workers' retiree insurance, seniority, and overtime clauses, and to alter work rules and classifications, Boilermakers Local D-239 union workers did not ratify a new contract.[29] On 2 August 2018, Imerys informed union workers by letter that they would be locked out of the workplace and escorted remaining employees off of the property.[30] [31] The mill's union president, Randy Tocci, stated that the company brought in employees from other sites around Montana to run the mill in Three Forks, crossing picket lines.[29] Over August and September, multiple Montana elected officials and candidates visited the picket lines, such as Democrats Governor Steve Bullock, Senator Jon Tester, and US House candidate Kathleen Williams.[29] On 9 August Montana Governor Steve Bullock stood with the unionized plant employees for more than an hour, offering his support and expressing hope that the parties would return to negotiations.[32]

On 6 October 2018, in response to the lockout, Tester introduced a bill called Prohibiting Incentives for Corporations that Kickout Employees Tax Act, or PICKET Act (S. 3544 ), that would raise tax rates and eliminate tax breaks for corporations while they are engaged in labor lockouts. Deduction of wages and benefits for temporary workers during the lockout would also be prohibited under the Act, and certain tax credits for hiring replacement workers would be prevented.[33][34] This bill has no co-sponsors and has not received a hearing in the Finance Committee during the 119th Congress.[35]

On 31 October 2018, after three months of negotiations, union workers voted to approve a new three-year contract with Imerys, effectively ending the lockout and allowing workers to return to the plant.[36][29][37] Randy Tocci said that “Imerys brought some different people to the table on Oct. 25 which helped move the negotiations forward.”[36] About the contract, Tocci further said that it “protects seniority while also considering skills in applying for jobs and will continue to provide health benefits to retirees who leave the company through 2019. Workers will get a 3 percent increase in base pay, but their pensions will be frozen.”[36]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Imerys, [1], retrieved 13 March 2019
  2. ^ "Imerys annonce le rachat de 60% du groupe turc Haznedar". L'Usine Nouvelle. 11 August 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ Imerys: History Archived 2008-11-15 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Return of the Rothschilds:the great banking dynasty through two turbulent centuries, I.B.Tauris, 1995, Herbert R. Lottman, page 299
  5. ^ "Compagnie des Minerais de Fer Magnétique De Mokta-el-Hadid" (PDF), Entreprises Coloniales (in French), p. 194, 5 July 2015, retrieved 2017-08-14
  6. ^ "IMERYS nomme un nouveau Directeur général : Alessandro Dazza fait son retour". Capital.fr. 18 December, 2019. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "IMERYS nomme un nouveau Directeur général : Alessandro Dazza fait son retour". Capital.fr. 18 December, 2019. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "Imerys successfully builds on innovation and continuity following the IKO acquisition". www.foundry-planet.com. 2020-12-14. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  9. ^ a b Delamarche, Myrtille (23 March 2017). "Imerys, de la mine au labo". L'Usine Nouvelle.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "IMERYS développe sa capacité de production de graphite". Capital.fr (in French). 30 September 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ Eyriey, Nick (2017-11-06). "China clay land restoration award for Imerys | Business Cornwall". Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  12. ^ "About Us | West Carclaze Garden Village". Retrieved 2021-01-06.
  13. ^ a b c d e "Award | IMA awards". www.ima-europe.eu. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  14. ^ "Imerys SA | UN Global Compact". www.unglobalcompact.org. Retrieved 2021-01-05.
  15. ^ "About Us". Science Based Targets. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  16. ^ "Companies taking action". Science Based Targets. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  17. ^ "CDP (Search results Imerys)". www.cdp.net. Retrieved 2020-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ "IMERYS a reçu la note B dans le classement du CDD". Capital.fr. 28 January 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ "Imerys : noté B dans le classement du CDP". Zonebourse. 28 January 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ "Un nouvel engagement en faveur de la Biodiversité entre le Muséum et Imerys". Patrimoine naturel (PatriNat) (in French). 2018-06-04. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  21. ^ a b "Imerys: signe une convention pour la biodiversité". L'Express. 4 June 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ^ a b c "Convention de collaboration de recherche et d'expertise avec Imerys". Patrimoine naturel (PatriNat) (in French). 2018-08-17. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  23. ^ "16 nouveaux engagements d'entreprises pour la biodiversité". afep.com. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ^ "Launch of Act4nature to mobilize business action for biodiversity". World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  25. ^ "Entreprises engagées 2020". :: Act4nature :: (in French). Retrieved 2020-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  26. ^ "Engagements individuels d'Imerys dans act4nature international" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  27. ^ "Platinum rating from EcoVadis recognises ' continued sustainability improvements". resources.ecovadis.com. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  28. ^ "Imerys : distingué en RSE par l'agence EcoVadis". Boursorama. 8 September 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  29. ^ a b c d Furshong, Gabriel (2018-10-29). "'It's Time to Get Pissed Off': In Montana, a Labor Standoff Has National Implications". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  30. ^ Casillas, Larisa (August 4, 2018). "Union workers to picket round-the-clock after talc mill lockout". NBC Montana.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ^ Hamilton, Emma (August 4, 2018). "Talc plant workers protest in Three Forks after bosses lock them out". KBZK.com. Cordillera Communications. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  32. ^ "Montana Governor Visits Locked-Out Union Workers". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  33. ^ "Tester Introduces Bill to Hold French Company Accountable for Locking Out Three Forks Workers". www.tester.senate.govp. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  34. ^ Abby Lynes (2018-10-06). "Tester introduces corporate tax bill in response to Three Forks plant lockout". Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Pioneer News Group. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  35. ^ Tester, Jon (2019-05-20). "S.1548 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Prohibiting Incentives for Corporations that Kickout Employees Tax (PICKET) Act". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
  36. ^ a b c AP (October 31, 2018). "Locked-out union workers reach agreement with talc plant". NBC Montana.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  37. ^ "Lockout ends for Boilermakers Local D239 workers at Imerys Talc". International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. 2018-10-31. Retrieved 2021-01-03.
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