COLUMBIANA Refractories plant to be sold; 170 jobs hang in the balance

The company will try to reorganize and seek a buyer by year's end.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
COLUMBIANA -- National Refractories and Minerals Corp. has issued a plant closing notice for its Columbiana plant but hopes to sell the plant to a company that will keep it operating.
NRM Corp. sent a notice to Mayor Lowell Schloneger that workers may lose their jobs in January, which meets federal law for providing 60 days' notice before closing a plant.
"It's sad," Schloneger said.
The letter says NRM, which is based in Oakland, Calif., filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2001 but hopes to sell its plants.
It says the company hopes a buyer would retain all employees but there are no guarantees. The Columbiana plant employs about 170 hourly and salaried workers, it says.
Urb Pelletier, company vice president of human resources, could not be reached to comment.
A NRMC progress report from Charles Conrad Smith, chairman and CEO, on the company's Web site says the sales process should be concluded by Dec. 31, but the letter to the mayor says the sale will be closed in January.
About the company
NRMC specializes in making brick, specialty casting mixes, dry and wet mortars, and refractory plastics and seals.
In addition to the Columbiana site on Esterly Drive, the company has plants in Chicago, Livermore, Calif., Mexico, Mo., and Cumming, Ga., its Web site says.
The Columbiana plant began production in September 1956. Originally built to manufacture only basic refractory brick and specialties, the plant added tar and resin-bonded brick production along with tar-impregnating facilities in 1967.