September 16 (SeeNews) - Kaolin, a wholly-owned Bulgarian subsidiary of German family-owned conglomerate Quarzwerke Gruppe, has opened a new kaolin processing line at its plant in northeastern Bulgaria, following investment of 9 million euro ($9 million), local media reported.
The new production facility at Kaolin's plant in Vetovo, near the city of Ruse, introduces new resource-saving technologies for raw material processing, news portal RuseMedia reported on Wednesday.
The investment is part of a series of improvements made by the company in recent years, including a solar park which is being installed nearby and a dual training centre for local students, RuseMedia quoted Robert Lindemann-Berk, chairman of Kaolin's supervisory board, as saying.
The construction of a second processing line of this kind at the Vetovo plant is planned to start in 2023, according to the report.
The company has set an example by investing in energy diversification, replacing natural gas with alternative fuels so as to ensure continuity of production, the regional news outlet quoted Bulgarian caretaker energy minister Rossen Hristov as saying at the opening ceremony.
Kaolin is a mineral extracting and processing company, which offers a number of products, including kaolin, feldspar, limestone, chamotte, silica sand and others.
In 2020, it announced an investment of 60 million levs in the construction of a new plant for products from industrial minerals in the town of Dulovo, in Bulgaria's northeast.
($ = 1.00113 euro)