*Relationship of Pluess-Staufer and OMYA -- From the Rutland Herald, October 9, 2000:
(After nine years as president of OMYA California, James Reddy took over in June as executive vice president of Pluess-Staufer Industries Inc. and president of OMYA Inc., based in Proctor. Reddy, who has more than 25 years of experience in the mining industry, now runs company operations in North America. John Mitchell, who had been running OMYA Inc. here, will retire in a year or two. He stays on as treasurer of Pluess-Staufer and an executive vice president of OMYA. Reddy recently sat down for an interview with Herald Assistant Managing Editor Stephen Baumann and business columnist William Hahn.)

Question: Your company's structure can be confusing, OMYA, OMYA West and OMYA Arizona and whatnot. Give us a rundown of how the company is structured and how Vermont figures into it.

Reddy: The parent company is OMYA AG, and the headquarters is in Switzerland. We're in approximately 40 countries around the world.

Generally, in most countries, the way the company is organized a country would be organized as a company. So we have a company in France, a company in Korea. For a reason I never bothered to ask, but I'm just assuming they came to America said 'jeez this is a big place,' we tended to organize it slightly different over here, and it's almost that each state and each operation is a separate company because the distances are so far apart. But there's a parent company and a couple of operating divisional headquarters. The parent is in Switzerland; one operating company divisional headquarters is in Proctor, Vt., and that's for the Americas. Recently we split off the Pacific Rim and their headquarters is in Australia. We have two companies here essentially. There's a company called Pluess-Staufer Industries. Right now, I'm executive vice president of Pluess-Staufer Industries. We are the parent company of OMYA California, OMYA Inc. (That's here in Vermont), OMYA Arizona and OMYA Illinois. Pluess-Staufer is technically the non-operating parent. We have OMYA in Switzerland, OMYA in Vermont and then a bunch of companies under that, and we have another company in Australia, and companies reporting to that. Rutland, Vt., is one of the three key locations.

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Rutland Herald
Letter to the Editor

Sunday, December 15, 2002

OMYA mining experience elsewhere

Until about a year ago, I lived in Lucerne Valley, Calif., above which, on the north slope of the San Bernardino Mountains, OMYA has extensive mine workings.

Thus, Lucerne Valley can serve as an example to Vermonters as to what to expect if OMYA mines at Dutch Hill.

A visit to Lucerne Valley would enable decision-makers to get the actual feel of the haul trucks as they rumble down the mountainside and to hear the grinding of their gears; to listen to the blasting and determine if it really is done only two times a week, mid-morning and mid-afternoon; and to see the ravaging effects mining has wrought on the mountain.

As in Danby, Lucerne Valley is connected to the outside world by a two-lane highway on which driving east into town at the 55 mph speed limit, it is not unusual to get a real jolt when a glance in the rearview mirror shows the giant grill of a tailgating haul truck.

Several years ago, OMYA requested a permit to extend mining westward to what is called White Knob. As part of the deliberative process, reportedly OMYA agreed to do certain things at the extension, among them to remove top soil, store it (replace it when mining ceases), and to do hydro-seeding. I have heard from people who have visited the mine that none of these has been done.

I do know that there is real anger about the enormous amount of waste limestone being thrown down the mountain front. A spokesperson for OMYA, in response to queries at a public meeting, assured those present that the mine workings would not be visible from the valley floor. The statement “You won't even know we are there” is etched indelibly in their minds, and now they laugh ruefully as they look up at the big ugly hole with all the waste limestone below it.

After the new extension of mining, the only possible so-called salutary ripple effect on economic growth that I know of is a busy diesel truck repair shop. But if all the haul-truck drivers live in Lucerne Valley, the number of new jobs was considerable because there are a lot of haul trucks. I do know that none of the upper echelon administrative staff of OMYA or of the other two mining companies in Lucerne Valley live there.

HELEN BEIKMAN
Columbus, Ind.