Talc today

Valmalenco keeps on being a protagonist on the international market with its productive talc mine located at Brüsada – Ponticelli. The two mineralizations, both of Bagnada and Brüsada, are totally different for their look, their genesis and their embedding rock.

Being not so pure as the white talc of Bagnada, steatite, which comes from more recent exploitations, has different industrial applications; it is used in the rubber, paper, paint industry, in ceramics, in agriculture, in the food-processing industry, in cosmetics and in pharmacy as well.

·         Plastic materials: being so lamellated, talc is a reinforcing agent in polymeric applications; it is mainly used in the car industry (dashboards, bumpers, internal finish) utensils and packeging;

·         Paper industry: talc is used as dispersant of organic impurities contained in cellulose (resin) and as agent to de-ink recycled paper. As for art paper, talc can improve its smoothness and can make it more suitable to be printed.

·         Paint industry:  talc gives uniformity of drying, improves the flat effect of paint and the resistance to crack and corrosion.

·         Ceramics: as fluidifying agent for glazes, talc, with its low content of iron, can lower their melting point and improve their properties of vitrification. Lowering the temperature of process and firing can help to cut costs considerably.

·         Agriculture: talc can improve the control of humidity of feeds and firtilizers and can guarantee an adequate smoothness in the working phases and in the extraction  from silos.

·         Cosmetics and pharmacy: inert and safe, talc is used to support active principles in pills and pharmaceutical preparations. As ingredient in cosmetics, talc is an opacifying agent in foundation creams and make –up, coagulator in liquid preparations but also body powder.

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