Oglebay Norton Co. has created Oglebay Norton Specialty Minerals, a wholly owned subsidiary. The new entity will include the newly acquired Franklin Industries’ mica business and will be the vehicle through which the company intends to expand its specialty mineral offerings.

The new entity and expansion efforts will be led by Kenneth P. Pavlich, who has been elected president of the new subsidiary and vice president of Oglebay Norton Co. “I am very excited about the creation of this new division,” says Pavlich. “It provides Oglebay with the technical, marketing and sales platform from which we can execute our aggressive specialty minerals growth strategy.”

The assets of the recently acquired Franklin Industries business consist of mining reserves in North Carolina and New Mexico, production facilities, equipment and other assets used in the mining, processing and distribution of mica.