English China Clays plc or ECC was a mining company involved in the extraction of china clay, based in St Austell

St Austell

St Austell is a civil parish and a major town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated on the south coast approximately ten miles south of Bodmin and 30 miles west of the border with Devon at Saltash...

, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index

FTSE 100 Index

The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....

 but in 1999 was acquired by Imetal

Imerys

Imerys is a French multinational company. It is a constituent of the CAC Mid 60 index.-History:The Company was founded in 1880 and for many years was known as Imetal....

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History

The company was formed in 1919 by the merger of West of England China Clay Co., Martyn Brothers and North Cornwall China Clays, who joined together to form English China Clays (the three companies accounted for around half the output at the time). This merger was followed in 1932 by the merger of ECC with two of its main rivals, John Lovering and H. D. Pochin. This formed the new company English China Clays, Lovering, Pochin, & Co. (ECLP): in 1956 the Lovering and Pochin families were bought out and the company became known as ECC International Ltd.

Demise of the business

In 1999 ECC International was acquired by the French company Imetal which subsequently changed its name to Imerys

Imerys

Imerys is a French multinational company. It is a constituent of the CAC Mid 60 index.-History:The Company was founded in 1880 and for many years was known as Imetal....

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