Eureka!

Around 1935, whetstone miners, who supplied local saw mills with novaculite stones, stumbled upon a “powdery” version of this novaculite. A group of pioneers envisioned markets for the use of the powdery form of novaculite and marketed this version as Novacite®.

In 1947, Malvern Minerals Company was established and began marketing Novacite® as media for abrasive blasting. Novacite® media found a niche within “high-end” abrasive blasting of machine and aerospace components.

New Markets

During the post war boom of the 50s, new markets for Novacite® opened in polymer chemistry. Novacite® grew in demand as Coating, Adhesive, Sealant & Elastomer (CASE) manufacturers began to explore the inherent properties of the numerous mineral fillers in the market. Novacite® stood out due to the minerals: hardness, platy shape, low oil absorption and high loading capability. Novacite® carved a niche within the industry as a performance mineral within applications that required superior barrier properties.

Advanced Technology

In the 60s-70s, Malvern Minerals Company launched the first line of surface modified, silane treated minerals starting with modified Novacite®. This led to numerous patents in the application of silane technology onto a multitude of industrial inorganic fillers. This discovery led to an explosion in the use of silane treated fillers. Today, most mineral suppliers offer their product in a treated form.

Modernize

Since 2003, Malvern Minerals Company has undergone a significant renovation. Beginning with new ownership, the company has changed key personnel in management and plant maintenance. Profits have been reinvested back into the upgrade of equipment and more streamlined processes for the production of Novacite®. Buffer inventories for all grades of Novacite® have been maintained for years ensuring that lead times never spike regardless of the quantity to ship. Further, we have secured ore sites that will ensure consistent feedstock for generations of applications.

Toll services have been aligned to compliment and/or extend our reach into the polymer arena. Specifically, the company’s rich history and decades of processing experience, have enabled us to broaden the range of inorganic fillers that can be surface modified through silane chemistry. We consider ourselves experts in most minerals used as functional fillers within polymers.

Poise & Positioning

Today, Malvern Minerals Company has made significant advances in marketing. We have invested in partnerships with academic institutions along with active participation with our distributor sales force. Moreover, we have invested in 3rd party coatings formulation and testing of our product lines within a specific target set of ideal applications. As coatings formulators strive to reduce costs while improving performance, Malvern Minerals Company and our core products, Novakup® and Novacite®, are poised for strong growth led by state of the art technology.