
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 17, 1995                   TAG: 9505170068
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STONE PLANT IS SOLD

James River Limestone Co. Inc. of Buchanan said Tuesday that it has sold the assets of its Benwood Limestone Co. Inc. subsidiary in Wheeling, W.Va.

The company's president, Jerry McArthur, said the plant was sold for $3.5 million in cash to Suzorite Mineral Products Inc. of Spruce Pine, N.C. Terms provide for the buyer to keep all 19 employees at Wheeling and continue service to coal mines in the area. Benwood will remain a production and distribution center for consumer products of the James River Limestone Co.

Clifford Wells, chairman of James River Limestone, said in November that he intends to sell the company in the next few years, but McArthur said the sale of Benwood is independent of that plan. Wells is retired from active management of the company.

Wells and McArthur said proceeds from the sale will enable the parent company, which has six Virginia plants, to expand its line of consumer products, further diversify its manufacturing facilities and maintain quality products for the agricultural industry.

McArthur said plowing the money back into the company will stimulate further growth in the long term. James River Limestone employs 160 people at two sites in Buchanan.

The company has an employee stock ownership plan that is 41 percent employee-owned. It was founded in 1968.

Suzorite Mineral Products Inc. is a subsidiary of Zemex Corp. of Toronto, whose stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock closed Tuesday at $10 per share, unchanged from Monday's close. Suzorite will expand the product line to include talc, magoxide and other minerals, which may be imported and shipped by barge to the Benwood facilities on the Ohio River.

Benwood Limestone Co. began in the early 1970s, primarily to serve the Consolidated Coal Co. and area mines with mine safety dust. Wells said the plant has provided good service and products to the coal industry, but demand for high-sulfur coal has fallen. The company has been searching for other products to process.

Bob Wildpret, president of Benwood Limestone who will become a vice president of Suzorite Mineral Products, said that various products other than mine safety dust have been processed on site. These include talc and magoxide from China, special clays and even lava rock from New Mexico.

Suzorite Mineral Products said the Benwood facility will have greater capability to expand this market based on Zemex's history in the mining industry, technology, sources of raw materials and financial strength.

by CNB