Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd

Carey-Canadian Mines was the Quebec asbestos-mining subsidiary of the Philip Carey Manufacturing Company, incorporated in 1955 to work a chrysotile deposit near East Broughton and sell the fiber to manufacturers in North America and overseas. It passed with Panacon Corporation to Jim Walter Corporation's Celotex business in 1972 and was known by 1980 as Carey Canada Inc. The mine closed in 1986, Carey Canada and Celotex filed for bankruptcy in 1990, and the Celotex trust pays claims for exposure to Carey Canada fiber.

Draft. The history on this page was written from the documents in our library and has not yet been reviewed by a person.

History

Philip Carey mined asbestos at East Broughton before Carey-Canadian existed. In Neal v. Carey Canadian Mines, the court described an older Philip Carey subsidiary, Quebec Asbestos Corporation, that mined chrysotile there until 1955.² The opinion says Philip Carey opened that mine in 1918. Carey-Canadian's own interrogatory answer, quoted in the same opinion, says Quebec Asbestos Corporation was incorporated in 1924.² The court recorded Carey-Canadian's answer that it was "a successor to the Quebec Asbestos Corporation, Ltd."²

The U.S. Bureau of Mines reported for 1955 that Quebec Asbestos Corporation had found a large new deposit a few miles from its old workings and had begun building a new mill. The Bureau said the mill would be run as Carey Canadian Mines, a subsidiary of Philip Carey.¹⁰ In August 1958 Asbestos credited the find to company geologists E. A. Boadway and Dr. R. J. Merrill.¹¹ The trade journal reported in April 1958 that the new mine would replace the old Quebec Asbestos mine and mill, at a capital cost of $8 million and a capacity of 2,000 to 2,500 tons a day.¹

The sources disagree on when mining began. A 1959 review of the Quebec industry in Asbestos says Carey-Canadian "entered into production July 1st" of 1958.¹² The court in Neal recorded that it began mining in September 1958.² The same 1959 review says Quebec Asbestos Corporation closed its doors at the end of June 1958, while the Neal opinion says it mined chrysotile until 1955.^2,12

In 1963 Boadway, then the company's president, named Merrill general manager.¹³ By 1969 Asbestos listed Merrill as president and general manager.¹⁴ That year the trade journal described the mine as two pits worked by a single tractor shovel.¹⁵ The company's advertisements gave sales addresses at Lockland, Cincinnati, and at East Broughton.¹⁶ It named a Japanese sales agent in 1959 and a distributor for Michigan and northwestern Ohio in 1961.^3,4

By 1971 the company's advertisements gave its address as "Carey-Canadian Asbestos, Division of Panacon Corp."¹⁷ Jim Walter Corporation's annual report for the year ended August 31, 1972, as summarized in Asbestos, said it had bought Panacon, "including Philip Carey and Carey-Canadian Mines Ltd.," and merged it into its Celotex Division that June.⁵ The same report called Carey-Canadian the third largest asbestos producer in North America and said it sold in more than 30 countries.⁵ The Federal Trade Commission challenged the purchase. In 1978 it ordered Jim Walter to sell both Philip Carey and Carey-Canadian, and Jim Walter appealed.^6,18 The library has no record of how that appeal ended.

In January 1980 Asbestos reported that Jim Walter had combined Carey-Canadian Mines and Jim Walter Building Products under the new name Carey Canada Inc.⁷ The report said the mine produced some 200,000 tons of fiber a year and sent half of it to the United States.⁷ The Bureau of Mines' Minerals Yearbook for 1986 reported that Carey Canada, "a subsidiary of the Jim Walter Corp.," had permanently closed the mine, and that economic conditions had made it unprofitable.⁸ Our mine page tells the mine's story year by year.¹⁹

Asbestos products

Carey-Canadian sold raw chrysotile fiber, mostly in short grades.²⁰ In 1960 Asbestos reported that it had brought out two float grades, 7RF-9 and 7TF-8, for use as reinforcing fillers in plastics.²¹ Its 1960 advertisements compared its 7M-90 grade with a competitor's, and the library holds a 7M-90 label.^16,22 The Pavebestos record describes that product as grade 7M fiber for pavement.²³ Jim Walter's 1972 annual report, as summarized in Asbestos, said that over half of Carey-Canadian's output went into floor tiles and flooring felts.⁵

What the documents show

The documents name several buyers. Union Carbide's history of its Bakelite molding compounds lists Carey Canadian Mines among the more frequent suppliers of the Canadian short fiber it used.²⁴ In 1984–85 Robert L. Bockstahler testified that from about 1956 to 1969 Eagle-Picher's fiber came primarily from Carey Canadian Mines.²⁵ Asked whether the sellers ever gave Eagle-Picher any warnings, he answered that they did not until after Eagle-Picher stopped making the product.²⁵ In Neal, a former Philip Carey sales manager testified that seventy-five percent of the old Quebec Asbestos mine's fiber went to Philip Carey's own plants.²

Other documents touch on dust and warnings. Jim Walter's 1972 annual report said new federal dust limits would require leakproof packaging, and that Carey-Canadian would start a capital program in 1973 to meet them.⁵ In December 1978 Asbestos wrote that, because of its dust-control program, Carey-Canadian was "confident it will meet the latest environmental mandates."²⁰ In its 1984 interrogatory answers, Celotex said Carey Canada began using warning or cautionary labels in 1971.²⁶

In Neal v. Carey Canadian Mines (1982), workers from Philip Carey's plant at Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, sued Celotex and five fiber suppliers, Carey-Canadian among them.² The jury found that each worker had been exposed to fiber that Carey-Canadian supplied to the plant. The court held that the jury could treat Carey-Canadian as the successor to Quebec Asbestos Corporation, and it refused to overturn the verdict.² In June 1981 Asbestos reported an award by a federal jury hearing suits by employees of an asbestos plant at Plymouth Meeting, made against Celotex, Johns-Manville, North American Asbestos Corporation, Carey-Canadian Mines and Asbestos Corporation.²⁷

Bankruptcy and trust

According to our Celotex trust page, Celotex and its affiliate Carey Canada both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990.⁹ The Celotex Asbestos Settlement Trust was set up in 1997. It pays claims for exposure to Celotex or Carey Canada products, including raw fiber from the Quebec mine.⁹

References

1. Asbestos magazine, April 1958, p. 6
2. Neal v. Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd. (E.D. Pa. 1982)
3. Asbestos magazine, December 1959, p. 8
4. Asbestos magazine, November 1961, p. 52
5. Asbestos magazine, April 1973, p. 38
6. Asbestos magazine, April 1978, p. 10
7. Asbestos magazine, January 1980, p. 34
8. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos chapter, 1986, p. 6
9. Celotex asbestos trust
10. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos chapter, 1955, p. 12
11. Asbestos magazine, August 1958, p. 18
12. Asbestos magazine, July 1959, p. 22
13. Asbestos magazine, September 1963, p. 25
14. Asbestos magazine, October 1969, p. 45
15. Asbestos magazine, September 1969, p. 4
16. Asbestos magazine, March 1960, p. 25
17. Asbestos magazine, October 1971, p. 2
18. Asbestos magazine, March 1979, p. 38
19. Carey Canadian Mines, East Broughton, Quebec (mine page)
20. Asbestos magazine, December 1978, p. 30
21. Asbestos magazine, December 1960, p. 16
22. Label: 7M-90 (Carey-Canadian Mines Ltd)
23. Pavebestos (Carey Canadian Mines)
24. Union Carbide trial exhibit UC-162, 'History of BAKELITE', p. 5
25. Union Carbide trial exhibit UC-4913, Robert L. Bockstahler deposition excerpts, p. 11
26. Celotex's Answers to Plaintiff's Master Interrogatories in Laird v. Celotex (1984), p. 11
27. Asbestos magazine, June 1981, p. 12

Asbestos products

4 products our documents name Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

• 7 Rf-9 (Carey Canadian Mines)
• Carey 7 RF (Carey Canadian Mines)
• Chrysotile asbestos fiber (Carey Canadian Mines)
• Pavebestos (Carey Canadian Mines)

Mines

Asbestos mines the documents name Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd as running or owning.

• Carey Canadian Mines, East Broughton, Quebec
• Terra Nova Explorations property, near the Village of St. Omer, Quebec

Court cases

1 court decision in our case-law library name Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd as a defendant.

• Neal v. Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd. (1982)

In our library

1 document in our library name Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd, by collection.

Other library documents (1)

• Label: 7M-90 (Carey-Canadian Mines Ltd) (publisher)

In the Union Carbide documents

Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd is named in 11 Union Carbide documents dated 1974 to 1981 (11 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. All are published in our collection.

• G. J. Weihs, Chrysotile Asbestos Markets and Forecasts for Group 7 (1974) UC-2638 (mentioned)
• G. J. Weihs, Chrysotile Asbestos, Group 7 (Shorts): Market Analysis and Forecasts (1974) Union Carbide 278 (mentioned)
• G. J. Weihs, Chrysotile Asbestos (Group 7, Shorts) Market Analysis, Union Carbide Marketing Services Department (1974) UC-209 (mentioned)
• G. J. Weihs, Chrysotile Asbestos, Group 7 (Shorts): Market Analysis, with Morgan Guaranty Transmittal Letter to W. C. Thurber (1974) UC-1509 (mentioned)
• G. J. Weihs, Chrysotile Asbestos (Group 7, Shorts) Market Analysis for Union Carbide Marketing Services (1974) UC-4630 (mentioned)
• G. J. Weihs, Chrysotile Asbestos Markets and Forecasts for Group 7, with W. C. Thurber Cover Note and Related Memos (1974) UC-944 (mentioned)
• Union Carbide Calidria Sales Call Reports, Price Report and Memo on GAF Corporation, with Press Articles on GAF's Sell-Off (1975-1981) UC-595 (mentioned)
• John L. Myers to G. R. Adams Transmitting Competitive Price Reports and Draft Price-Concession Letters to Kentile and GAF (1980) UC-3653 (mentioned)
• Asbestos Information Association/North America, Proceedings of the Sixth Industry-Government Conference, Alexandria, Virginia (1981) UC-4896 (mentioned)
• Union Carbide, 'History of BAKELITE' (Asbestos-Filled Phenolic Molding Compounds, Bound Brook) with Attached Bradley Letter, Data Sheets, Memos and Handbook Pages (1957-1974) UC-162 (mentioned)
• Robert L. Bockstahler Deposition Excerpts on Eagle-Picher Asbestos Insulation Products and Fiber Suppliers (1984-1985) UC-4913 (mentioned)

Names in the documents

The spellings documents use for Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd, OCR misreadings included, so a search for any of them finds this page: Carey Canadian Mines · Carey Canadian Mines, Ltd · Carey-Canadian Mines Ltd.

Where this comes from

This page brings together every document in our library that names Carey-Canadian Mines, Ltd, across collections. Titles and affiliations are taken from the documents themselves, and units and subsidiaries are grouped under the company they belong to.