JAY – A company that makes calcium carbonate filler and coating products for the paper-making industry plans to upgrade existing equipment and expand its plant area.

The Jay Planning Board voted to approve the amendment to Specialty Minerals Inc.’s town-issued air emission permit Tuesday, Shiloh Ring, the Jay environmental code enforcement officer, said Wednesday.

The company leases land from Verso Paper next to its paper mill in Jay.

Specialty Minerals Inc. plans to produce a different grade of precipitated calcium carbonate. Besides upgrading existing equipment and adding new tanks and processing equipment, the company plans to build a 40- by 60-foot addition to its building.

“We need some more space to make … a new product,” said Bob Dorr, Specialty Minerals spokesman.

The new product is expected to improve gloss and smoothness of Verso Paper’s coated paper.

There won’t be any change in the work force, Dorr said.

The plant capacity will remain the same after the modifications and the changes will not add new air emission sources or cause permitted emissions to change or increase, according to the Planning Board’s order.

No new chemicals will be used nor will the chemical characteristics of the raw materials and final products change after the modifications.

“Current systems in place at the Jay facility are sufficient to control all environmental aspects, such as water use, effluent, spill containment and solid waste,” the order states.

The Specialty Minerals Inc. plant manufactures precipitated calcium carbonate by using commercial-grade lime, carbon dioxide from Verso Paper’s lime kiln flue gases, and water as raw materials.