Pacific Asbestos Corp

Pacific Asbestos Corporation mined and milled chrysotile asbestos near Copperopolis, in Calaveras County, California, and sold it as Mother Lode fiber in Groups 4 through 7. The name was used first by a 1920s company that built a mill on the property, and again from 1964 by the former Jefferson Lake Asbestos Corporation, which became a subsidiary of H. K. Porter Company in 1968–69. Porter closed the mine in 1974, and a new company, Calaveras Asbestos, bought and reopened it.

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

The first Pacific Asbestos Corporation (1921–1922)

In September 1921 Asbestos, the industry's trade journal, reported that a Pacific Asbestos Corporation had been incorporated in San Francisco with a capitalization of $3,000,000.⁹ The journal said its holdings covered 600 acres in Calaveras County, 46 miles east of Stockton near Copperopolis, and that the money from a preferred-stock offering was to build a mill able to handle 1,000 tons of rock every eight-hour shift.⁹ In November 1921 the journal passed on a report that W. J. Woolsey, formerly of the Asbestos Corporation of Canada at Thetford Mines, had left for California to build the company's mill.¹⁰

In May 1922 the journal quoted the California Mining Bureau: the corporation was the successor of four earlier companies that had tried to work the property one after another since 1904, and it owned 310 acres of patented land with options on 300 more.¹¹ By June 1922 the journal reported that the corporation "has built a mill near Copperopolis," while listing Calaveras County among counties not yet actively producing.⁴ In December 1922 it noted circulars from Pearson & Company of San Francisco, which it said was financing the company.¹² The library's scans say nothing more about this first company after 1922.

Jefferson Lake becomes Pacific Asbestos (1958–1968)

The property's modern history begins with Jefferson Lake Sulphur Company. Our page on the Copperopolis mine gathers what the U.S. Bureau of Mines yearbooks and Asbestos reported: Jefferson Lake began drilling the deposit, then held by American Asbestos Mining Corp., in 1958; bought the property in 1959; and through its subsidiary Jefferson Lake Asbestos Corp. began building a mill in 1961.¹ A 1968 article in Asbestos says Jefferson Lake built a 2,500-ton-per-day mill there in 1962.¹³ The Bureau of Mines yearbook for 1963 named Jefferson Lake Asbestos Corp. the second-largest U.S. producer, after a Vermont mine.¹⁴

In December 1964 Asbestos reported that Jefferson Lake Asbestos Corporation had taken the new name Pacific Asbestos Corporation, "to more closely identify the location of the company's mine and the principal marketing area which it serves."⁵ The Bureau of Mines yearbook for 1964 lists the company as "Pacific Asbestos Corp. (formerly Jefferson Lake Asbestos Corp.)."¹⁵ A Bureau of Mines report summarized in Asbestos said the company resumed full-scale operations late in 1964 at its mine and processing plant near Copperopolis.¹⁶

The company had money trouble in these years. In November 1965 the journal reported that Pacific had recapitalized its first-mortgage debt, so that foreclosure proceedings on its mortgages were being ended; that it was preparing a plan to recapitalize its unsecured debt; and that it had reported a sharp gain in sales and a narrowing of what the journal called its substantial deficit. The December 1965 issue repeated the news.¹⁷¹⁸

Under H. K. Porter (1968–1974)

The Bureau of Mines yearbook for 1968 notes that the mine was acquired by H. K. Porter Co. Inc. during 1968.⁶ According to the 1986 Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases, Porter acquired 76 percent of Pacific's common stock and all of its secured debt in December 1968.³⁶ Asbestos reported in November 1975 that Porter had owned a 92.5% interest.⁸ Asbestos reported in February 1969 that Porter had completed its offer to buy all of Pacific's mortgage and lien debt, and in July 1969 that Pacific had begun operating as a Porter subsidiary.⁷¹⁹ The July 1969 report described an open-pit mine and processing mill producing chrysotile in Grades 4 through 7, used mainly in building products, paint, automotive friction products and sealing compounds, with a capacity of 40,000 tons of fiber a year and customers mainly west of the Mississippi.⁷ It named Philip E. Holmes as vice president and general manager.⁷ The journal repeated the news in December 1969.²⁰

A Bureau of Mines report summarized in Asbestos in April 1970 named Pacific as the largest of four California chrysotile producers, and the only one of them shipping fiber in Groups 4 through 7; the others produced Group 7 fiber only.²¹ In February 1970 the company advertised "Mother Lode" asbestos from Copperopolis, "under new management with new mining and additional milling facilities."² In March 1971 the journal described a company brochure, named P. E. Holmes as president, and said the brand name came from the gold-rush history of the mine's area.³ In a January 1972 greeting signed by its president, the company wrote that it "has emerged as a viable entity in fiber production and marketing."²² A March 1974 Union Carbide market study by G. J. Weihs, in a table of the captive fiber sources of major asbestos-products makers, appears to list Pacific Asbestos Corp. as H. K. Porter Co., Inc.'s mine, with a fiber-producing capacity of 40,000–50,000 short tons a year.²³

Customers and what the documents show

Pacific's fiber appears in the Union Carbide trial exhibits as a competitor's product. In May 1973 Pacific's sales manager, Robert J. Tucker, sent a Mother Lode advertisement to Montello, Inc., which distributed Union Carbide's asbestos to the drilling industry; the letter said Pacific's fibres "experience minimal degradation" when opened further.²⁴²⁵ A 1973 Union Carbide call report on Montello said Pacific's 7Ex2 grade "would probably out-perform Visbestos," Union Carbide's own product.²⁶ Another call report, of November 28, 1973, said "Pacific is known to be sold out."²⁵

Union Carbide's call reports on J. W. Mortell Co., a caulk and sealant maker in Griffin, Georgia, record that Union Carbide took dust samples there in October 1973 while workers added bags of Pacific 7EX3 asbestos and Union Carbide's RG-110 to a mix.²⁷ A November 1973 report gave 12.9 fibers for the personal sample taken while RG-110 and Pacific asbestos were dumped, but its author also wrote that the numbers "may be suspect" because his sampling pumps were later found to be off by 20 to 30 percent.²⁷ In August 1974 the Union Carbide salesman noted that the Pacific EX2 and EX3 this customer used was no longer available; the customer's chemist said it had bought enough to last about two years.²⁷

In a 1986 answer to interrogatories, United States Gypsum said Pacific Asbestos was one of its asbestos suppliers for 1973 through 1976 and shipped only to California.²⁸ Those years run past April 5, 1974, the date on which, according to Asbestos, H. K. Porter permanently closed the plant and mine.²⁸⁸

The closing and Calaveras Asbestos

The sources differ on when the mine closed. Asbestos reported in November 1975 that H. K. Porter, which had owned a 92.5% interest in the former Pacific Asbestos Corporation, had permanently closed the plant and mine on April 5, 1974.⁸ The Bureau of Mines yearbook for 1974, as gathered on our mine page, marks the mine closed at year-end.¹ The 1986 Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases gives only the year, saying Porter discontinued Pacific Asbestos's mining in 1974.³⁷ Our mine page records that a group of American and German investors bought the mine and mill from Porter, that the purchase became final on October 24, 1975, and that the new company, Calaveras Asbestos, was in full operation by the end of 1976.¹ A 1976 Union Carbide call report on Chevron Asphalt Company describes Calaveras Asbestos as formerly Pacific Asbestos.²⁹ The mine page also records that Calaveras Asbestos closed the mine on December 31, 1987.¹ Our library holds no court case or trust record for Pacific Asbestos Corporation itself.

A different Pacific Asbestos

Several unrelated companies used similar names. The one that matters most for this page is Pacific Asbestos Limited, a Canadian company formed in 1968 by the merger of Merit Oil Ltd. and Castle Tin Mines Limited.³⁰ It, not the Copperopolis company, owned the asbestos property at Woodsreef, near Barraba, New South Wales, Australia; in 1969 its directors approved a proposal to sell fiber from that property to Marubeni-Iida of Tokyo.³¹ In 1970 it owned about 59 percent of Woodsreef Mines Limited, and its president said construction of an asbestos plant near Barraba would now begin.³² The story of that mine is on our Woodsreef mine page.³³ The trade journal also names a Pacific Asbestos Supply Co. of Portland, Oregon, and a Pacific Asbestos-Cement Products Corporation of San Bernardino, California; neither is part of this company's story.³⁴³⁵

References

1. Copperopolis property, California (mine page)
2. Asbestos, February 1970, p. 52
3. Asbestos, March 1971, p. 42
4. Asbestos, June 1922, p. 35
5. Asbestos, December 1964, p. 3
6. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1968, p. 2
7. Asbestos, July 1969, p. 34
8. Asbestos, November 1975, p. 40
9. Asbestos, September 1921, p. 60
10. Asbestos, November 1921, p. 57
11. Asbestos, May 1922, p. 55
12. Asbestos, December 1922, p. 52
13. Asbestos, July 1968, p. 12
14. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1963, p. 2
15. Minerals Yearbook: Asbestos Chapters, 1964, p. 2
16. Asbestos, June 1966, p. 23
17. Asbestos, November 1965, p. 22
18. Asbestos, December 1965, p. 2
19. Asbestos, February 1969, p. 51
20. Asbestos, December 1969, p. 8
21. Asbestos, April 1970, p. 37
22. Asbestos, January 1972, p. 14
23. G. J. Weihs, Chrysotile Asbestos Markets and Forecasts for Group 7 (1974), UC-2638, p. 7
24. Robert J. Tucker (Pacific Asbestos Corporation) to Harry Wyatt, Montello, Inc. (1973), UC-3659, p. 1
25. H. B. Rhodes and J. L. Myers Report of Call on Montello, Inc. (November 28, 1973), UC-4149, p. 2
26. H. B. Rhodes Report of Call on Montello, Inc. (1973), UC-310, p. 1
27. J. E. Walsh and E. J. Kleber Call Reports on J. W. Mortell Co. (1973–1978), UC-514, pp. 2–4, 7
28. United States Gypsum's Answers to Plaintiffs' Interrogatories in Dikun v. Armstrong World Industries (1986), p. 11
29. T. P. Norris Customer Call Report on Chevron Asphalt Company (1976), UC-4467, p. 1
30. Asbestos, December 1968, p. 6
31. Asbestos, November 1969, p. 47
32. Asbestos, September 1970, p. 47
33. Woodsreef mine, near Barraba, New South Wales (mine page)
34. Asbestos, December 1941, p. 34
35. Asbestos, April 1953, p. 38
36. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 166.
37. Barbara J. Peters and George A. Peters, Sourcebook on Asbestos Diseases: Medical, Legal, and Engineering Aspects, vol. 2 (New York: Garland Law Publishing, 1986), p. 167.

Asbestos products

1 product our documents name Pacific Asbestos Corp as making or selling. Each product's page says what the documents say about it, including its asbestos content.

• Mother Lode (Pacific Asbestos)

Mines

Asbestos mines the documents name Pacific Asbestos Corp as running or owning.

• Copperopolis property, California

In the Union Carbide documents

Pacific Asbestos Corp is named in 14 Union Carbide documents dated 1973 to 2003 (1 as the source, 14 mentioned), from asbestos lawsuits over Union Carbide's Calidria asbestos. All are published in our collection.

• Robert J. Tucker (Pacific Asbestos Corporation) to Harry Wyatt, Montello, Inc., Enclosing Mother Lode Asbestos Fibre Advertisement (1973) UC-3659 (source, mentioned)
• H. B. Rhodes and J. L. Myers Report of Call on Montello, Inc., Calidria Distributor to the Drilling Industry (1973) UC-4149 (mentioned)
• 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)
• T. P. Norris Call Report on Chevron Asphalt Company Evaluation of HPP and Competing Calaveras Asbestos (1976) Union Carbide 379 (mentioned)
• T. P. Norris Customer Call Report on Chevron Asphalt Company and HPP Asbestos Sales Prospects (1976) UC-4467 (mentioned)
• United States Gypsum Company's Responses to Standard Interrogatories in Karal v. Atlas Turner, Inc., with Exhibits 1-9 (2001) UC-5456 (mentioned)
• Affidavit of Susan W. Gilefsky Attaching U.S. Gypsum and Georgia-Pacific Interrogatory Responses (2003) UC-5449 (mentioned)
• H. B. Rhodes Report of Call on Montello, Inc. (Sand Springs, Oklahoma) on Visbestos Supply, Prices and Drilling Mud Uses (1973) UC-310 (mentioned)
• J. E. Walsh and E. J. Kleber Call Reports on J. W. Mortell Co., Griffin, Georgia: RG-110 Sales, Dust Counts and OSHA Citation (1973-1978) UC-514 (mentioned)

Names in the documents

The spellings documents use for Pacific Asbestos Corp, OCR misreadings included, so a search for any of them finds this page: Pacific Asbestos · Pacific · Pacific Asbestos Corporation · Pacific Asbestos Corporation, Copperopolis, California.

Where this comes from

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