Vermiculite Intermountain & Intermountain Products, are among the many facilities that received vermiculite ore from a mine in Libby, Montana. The ore was processed using a method called exfoliation to produce insulation labeled under the “Zonolite” brand.
The vermiculite ore from the Libby mine was contaminated with a particularly dangerous form of asbestos—amphibole asbestos of the tremolite-actinolite series. As a result, these exfoliation plants and the area surrounding them were contaminated with the asbestos. |