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Specialty Minerals Inc. (SMI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Minerals Technologies Inc., is an international producer of high-performance minerals: talc, precipitated calcium carbonate, ground calcium carbonate, lime, dolomite and barytes. The wide variety of applications for our products includes paper, plastics, adhesives, sealants, paint, ink, pharmaceuticals, food fortification, nutritional supplements, specialty ceramics, inks, building products, agriculture, and many others. We've been active in the mining and manufacture of minerals for more than 150 years-our Adams, Massachusetts, U.S., operation began mining limestone in 1853. SMI is the world's largest manufacturer of precipitated calcium carbonates (PCCs), with an output of over 4 million tons of PCC a year. The world's first commercial PCC manufacturing began in the United Kingdom in 1898, at a plant that SMI acquired in 1998. SMI PCC manufacturing in the U.S. began in 1936 and nano PCCs have been produced for more than 25 years. SMI's over 55 PCC plants are located in 18 countries. New products and technology development have been the keys to our success, with SMI sales growing to $668 million in 2005, of which $521 million were PCC and $147 million were processed minerals. SMI Research and Technology Centers are located in Bethlehem and Easton, Pennsylvania, Kaarina, Finland and a new Asian Research Center has opened in Suzhou, China. These facilities are equipped with many types of advanced instruments. To support the industries we serve, our applications labs are staffed with industry experts. Among the fully equipped applications labs are those for paper filling and coating, plastic extrusion, injection molding and film blowing, sealants, and health-care tableting and food development.