Specialty Minerals Inc. (SMI) is one of the world's foremost manufacturers of performance-enhancing industrial minerals and chemicals for the paper, polymer, building products, paints and coatings, glass, ceramic, polymers, food and pharmaceuticals industries.

As the world's largest supplier of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) to the paper industry, our PCC products are used in a wide range of unique paper applications from filling and coating to extending expensive wood fiber and replacing opacifying pigments.

SMI's technological expertise lies at the forefront of  inorganic chemistry, crystallography and structural analysis, and fine particle technology. 

The vast majority of SMI research is directed toward the modification of calcium carbonate crystals through the synthesis process of precipitation. SMI's particular expertise is in formulating a variety of precipitated calcium carbonate crystal structures that provide different performance characteristics (brightness, opacity and bulk) to a sheet of paper.

SMI can produce six different commercial crystal shapes of PCC and more than three dozen PCC products for filling and coating paper and other industrial applications. We hold dozens of patents on many of these crystal structures, which in some cases, are smaller than a single bacterium and have surface areas up to 100 square meters per gram. We are unique in having such a complete product portfolio.

Our Specialty PCCs, which are used in non-paper applications, add rheology to sealants and polymers, add impact strength to plastics, act as the active ingredient in antacid tablets and are used for calcium fortification of many foods.

Our Processed Minerals group mines, processes and markets natural calcium carbonate (limestone), dolomite and talc from four mineral sites across North America. These vast deposits contain some of the highest quality mineral resources in the world and are used extensively in myriad applications.