WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002

Commission file number 1-3295

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:
None

     Minerals Technologies Inc. (the "Company") is a resource- and technology-based company that develops, produces and markets worldwide a broad range of specialty mineral, mineral-based and synthetic mineral products and related systems and services. The Company has two operating segments: Specialty Minerals and Refractories. The Specialty Minerals segment produces and sells the synthetic mineral product precipitated calcium carbonate ("PCC") and the processed mineral product quicklime ("lime"), and mines, processes and sells the natural mineral products limestone and talc. This segment's products are used principally in the paper, building materials, paint and coatings, glass, ceramic, polymer, food and pharmaceutical industries. The Refractories segment produces and markets monolithic and shaped refractory materials and specialty products and services used primarily by the steel, cement and glass industries.

     The Company emphasizes research and development. The level of the Company's research and development spending, as well as its capability of developing and introducing technologically advanced new products, have enabled the Company to anticipate and satisfy changing customer requirements, creating market opportunities through new product development and product application innovations.

     The Company's PCC product line net sales were $423.0 million, $396.1 million, and $399.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2002, 2001 and 2000, respectively. The Company's sales of PCC have been and are expected to continue to be made primarily to the printing and writing papers segment of the paper industry. The Company also produces PCC for sale to companies in the polymer, food and pharmaceutical and paints and coatings industries. Sales to International Paper Company represented approximately 11.5%, 13% and 13% of consolidated net sales in 2002, 2001 and 2000, respectively. See Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

     In the paper industry, the Company's PCC is used:

• as a filler in the production of coated and uncoated wood-free printing and writing papers;
• as a filler for groundwood (wood-containing) paper such as newsprint, magazine and catalog papers; and
• as a coating pigment for both wood-free and groundwood papers.

     The majority of the Company's sales are of PCC sold to paper makers at "satellite" PCC plants. A satellite PCC plant is a PCC manufacturing facility located within the paper mill itself, thereby eliminating costs of transporting PCC from remote production sites to the paper mill. The Company believes the competitive advantages offered by the improved economics and superior optical characteristics of the paper produced with PCC manufactured by the Company's satellite PCC plants resulted in the rapid growth in the number of the Company's satellite PCC plants since the first such plant was built in 1986. For information with respect to the locations of the Company's PCC plants at December 31, 2002, see Item 2, "Properties," below.

     The Company currently manufactures several customized PCC product forms using proprietary processes at its PCC plants. Each product form is designed to provide optimum paper properties including brightness, opacity, bulk, strength and improved printability. The Company's research and development and technical service staffs focus on expanding sales at its existing satellite PCC plants as well as developing new technologies for new applications. These technologies include, among others, acid-tolerant PCC, which allowed PCC to be introduced to the large wood-containing segment of the printing and writing papers market, and OPACARB^® PCC, a family of products for coating paper.

     The Company owns, staffs, operates and maintains all of its satellite PCC plants, and owns or licenses the related technology. The Company and its paper mill customers enter into long-term agreements, generally ten years in length, pursuant to which the Company supplies substantially all of the customer's precipitated calcium carbonate filler requirements. The Company is generally permitted to sell PCC produced at a satellite plant in excess of the host paper mill's requirements to third parties.

The Company also sells a range of PCC products to paper manufacturers from production sites not associated with paper mills at Adams, Massachusetts; Lifford, England; Lappeenranta, Finland; and Hermalle, Belgium.

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     PCC Products --Paper --Key Markets

     Uncoated Printing and Writing Papers--North America. Beginning in the mid-1980's, as a result of a concentrated research and development effort, the Company's satellite PCC plants facilitated the conversion of a substantial percentage of North American uncoated wood-free printing and writing paper producers to lower-cost alkaline papermaking technology. The Company estimates that during 2002, more than 90% of North American wood-free paper was produced employing alkaline technology. Presently, the Company owns and operates 33 satellite PCC plants located at paper mills that produce wood-free printing and writing papers in North America. The Company anticipates that the aggregate volume of PCC used by these paper mills will increase.

     Uncoated Printing and Writing Papers--Outside North America. The Company estimates the amount of uncoated wood-free printing and writing papers produced outside of North America at facilities that can be served by satellite and merchant PCC plants is approximately twice as large (measured in tons of paper produced) as the North American uncoated wood-free paper market currently served by the Company. The Company believes that the superior brightness, opacity and bulking characteristics offered by its PCC products allow it to compete with suppliers of ground limestone and other filler products outside of North America. Presently, the Company owns and operates 20 commercial satellite PCC plants located at paper mills that produce wood-free printing and writing papers outside of North America.

     Uncoated Groundwood Paper. The uncoated groundwood paper market, including newsprint, represents nearly half of worldwide paper production. Paper mills producing wood-containing paper still generally employ acid papermaking technology. The conversion to alkaline technology by these mills has been hampered by the tendency of wood-containing papers to darken in an alkaline environment. In an attempt to introduce PCC to the wood-containing segments of the paper industry, the Company has developed and patented a process for the manufacture of an acid-tolerant form of PCC (AT^® PCC) that facilitates production of high-brightness, high-quality groundwood paper in an acid environment. Furthermore, as groundwood or wood-containing paper mills use larger quantities of recycled fiber, there is a trend toward the use of neutral papermaking technology in this segment for which the Company presently supplies traditional PCC morphologies. The Company now supplies PCC to approximately 40 paper machines at about 20 groundwood paper mills around the world.

     Coated Paper. The Company is also placing increased emphasis on the use of PCC to coat paper, and expects that its research and development in coating technology will open up a large market for PCC that will build slowly as paper companies include PCC in their proprietary coating formulations. PCC increases gloss, opacity, brightness and printability of the sheet while decreasing paper's cost per ton. The coated paper market is large, and the Company believes this market will continue to grow at a higher average growth rate than the uncoated paper market and therefore provides a substantial market opportunity for the Company. PCC coating products are produced at eleven of the Company's PCC plants worldwide.

     The Company's full range of slurry and dry PCC products is also sold on a merchant basis for non-paper applications. The Company sells surface-treated and untreated grades of PCC to the polymer industry for use in rigid polyvinyl chloride products (pipe and profiles), thermoset polyesters (automotive body parts), sealants (automotive and construction applications), adhesives, printing inks, and the paint and coatings industry. The Company's PCC is also used by the food and pharmaceutical industries as a source of bio-available calcium in tablets and foodstuffs, as a buffering agent in tablets, and as a mild abrasive in toothpaste. The Company produces PCC for nonpaper applications on a merchant basis from production sites at Adams, Massachusetts; Brookhaven, Mississippi; and Lifford, England.

     The Company mines or purchases and processes natural mineral products, primarily limestone and talc. The Company also manufactures lime, a limestone-based product.  The Company's net sales of processed mineral products were $97.1 million, $87.2 million, and $87.1 million for the years ended December 31, 2002, 2001 and 2000, respectively. See Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

     Lime is produced at the Company's Adams, Massachusetts facility, used as a raw material for the manufacture of PCC at that site and some satellite PCC plants, and sold commercially to various chemical and other industries.

     The Company mines, beneficiates and processes talc at its Barretts site, located near Dillon, Montana. The talc is sold worldwide in finely ground form for paint and coatings, ceramic and polymer applications. Because of the exceptional chemical purity of the Barretts ore, a majority of the automotive catalytic converter ceramic substrates manufactured in the United States, Japan and Western Europe utilize the Company's Barretts talc.

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      The Company also has mineral processing plants in the Midwest United States which process high quality mineral ores into performance minerals for the plastics, paint, adhesives and sealants, rubber and cosmetic industries. This capability was obtained through the acquisition of the business and assets of Polar Minerals Inc. in the third quarter of 2002.

    The Company's natural mineral products are supported by the Company's limestone reserves located in the western and eastern parts of the United States, and talc reserves located in Montana. The Company estimates these reserves, at current usage levels, to be in excess of 30 years at both its limestone production facilities and its talc production facility.

     Refractory Products

     The Company offers a broad range of monolithic and pre-cast refractory products, systems and services. The Company's refractory net sales were $232.6 million, $201.1 million, and $184.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2002, 2001 and 2000, respectively. See Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."

     Product sales are usually combined with Company-supplied proprietary application equipment and on-site technical service support. The Company's proprietary application equipment is used to apply refractory materials to the walls of steel-making furnaces and other high temperature vessels to maintain and extend their lives. Robotic-type shooters, including the Company's proprietary SEQUAD^® sprayer and its MINSCAN™ system, allow for remote-controlled application in steel-making furnaces, as well as in steel ladles and blast furnaces. Since the steel-making industry is characterized by intense price competition, which results in a continuing emphasis on increased productivity, the SEQUAD^® sprayer, the MINSCAN™ system, and the related technologically advanced maintenance materials developed in the Company's research laboratories have been well accepted by the Company's customers. These products allow steel makers to improve their performance through, among other things, the application of monolithic refractories to furnace linings while the furnace is at operating temperature, thereby eliminating the need for furnace cool-down periods and steel-production interruption. The result is a lower overall refractory cost per ton of steel produced to steel makers.

     The Company's experienced technical service staff and advanced application equipment provide greater assurance that the desired productivity objectives of customers are achieved. The Company's technicians are also able to conduct laser measurement of refractory wear, usually in conjunction with robotic application tools, to improve maintenance performance at many locations. The Company believes that these services, together with its refractory product offerings, provide it with a strategic marketing advantage.

     In the past five years a significant amount of the Company's refractory product sales have come from new products. Some of the new products the Company has introduced in the past few years include:

• the MAG-O-STAR^® and MAG-O-STAR^® ALM spray coatings, an advanced refractory material for application to the slag line at the top of hot steel ladles increasing availability, balancing wear and extending lining life;
• the MINSCAN™ application system, a fully automated application system for applying refractory materials to electric arc furnaces;
• LACAM^® and Vision Tech laser-based refractory measurement systems; and
• SCANTROL™, a fully integrated application system combining the LACAM^® and MINSCAN™ technologies.

     The Company has also developed a new line of OPTISHOT^™ refractory products that can completely replace brick in iron and steel ladles. In addition to new products, delivery systems and services, the Company has focused on controlling costs and expenses.

     The Company has also expanded its refractories business through selective acquisitions over the past two years. In 2000, the Company acquired Ferrotron Elektronik GmbH, a manufacturer of advanced laser scanning devices, sensors and other instruments designed for the steel industry. In 2001, the Company acquired the refractories business of Martin Marietta Magnesia Specialties Inc. and purchased Rijnstaal B.V., a Netherlands-based producer of cored metal wires used mainly in the steel and foundry industries. These acquisitions have increased the breadth of the product lines in the Refractories segment.

     The Company sells its refractory products in the following three product groups:

     Steel Furnace Refractories. The Company sells gunnable monolithic refractory products to users of basic oxygen furnaces and electric furnaces for application on furnace walls to prolong the life of furnace linings.

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     Specialty Products for Iron and Steel. The Company sells monolithic refractory materials and pre-cast refractory shapes for iron and steel ladles, vacuum degassers, continuous casting tundishes, blast furnaces and reheating furnaces. The Company is one of the few monolithic refractory companies offering a full line of materials to satisfy all continuous casting refractory applications. This full line consists of gunnable materials, as well as refractory shapes and permanent linings.

     The Company produces a number of other technologically enhanced products for the steel industry. These include calcium metal, metallurgical wires and a number of metal treatment specialties. The Company manufactures calcium metal at its Canaan, Connecticut facility and purchases calcium in international markets. Calcium metal is used in the manufacture of the Company's PFERROCAL^® solid-core calcium wire, as well as in the manufacture of batteries and magnets. The Company sells metallurgical wires and associated injection equipment for use in the production of high quality steels. The Company's metallurgical wires are injected into molten steel to reduce imperfections. The steel produced is used for high-pressure pipeline and other premium-grade steel applications.

     Industrial Products. This product line encompasses refractory shapes and linings sold to non-steel refractories consuming industries including glass, cement, aluminum and petrochemicals and other non-steel industries, as well as PYROID^® pyrolitic graphite sold primarily to the aerospace and electronics industries.

     Key Markets

     The principal market for the Company's refractory products is the steel industry. Management believes that certain trends in the steel industry will continue to provide growth opportunities for the Company. These trends include rapid growth in select geographic regions (e.g., China), the development of improved manufacturing processes such as thin-slab casting, the trend in North America to shift production from integrated mills to mini mills (electric arc furnace) and the ever-increasing need for improved productivity and longer lasting refractories. The Company believes that the trend toward electric steel-making mini-mills and away from integrated steel mills has facilitated the acceptance of its new refractory products and technologies. The Company also produces a broad line of refractory products and certain metallurgical products that are required by mini-mills.

     The Company relies principally on its worldwide direct sales force to market its products. The direct sales force is augmented by technical service teams that are familiar with the industries to which the Company markets its products, and by several regional distributors. The Company's sales force works closely with the Company's technical service staff to solve technical and other issues faced by the Company's customers. The Company's technical service staff assists paper producers in ongoing evaluations of the use of PCC for paper coating and filling applications. In the refractory segment, the Company's technical service personnel advise with respect to the use of refractory materials and, in many cases, apply the refractory materials to the customers' furnaces and other vessels pursuant to service agreements. Continued use of skilled technical service teams is an important component of the Company's business strategy.

     The Company works closely with its customers to ensure that the customers' requirements are satisfied and often trains and supports customer personnel in the use of the Company's products. The Company conducts domestic marketing and sales from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and from regional sales offices in the eastern and western United States. The Company's international marketing effort is directed from Brussels, Belgium; Tokyo, Japan; Sao Paulo, Brazil; and Singapore. The Company believes its refractory manufacturing facilities are strategically located to satisfy the stringent delivery requirements of the steel industry. The Company also believes that its worldwide network of sales personnel and manufacturing sites facilitates the international expansion of its satellite PCC operations.

     The Company's ability to achieve anticipated results depends in part on having an adequate supply of raw materials for its manufacturing operations, particularly lime and carbon dioxide for the PCC product line, magnesia for Refractory operations and talc ore for the Processed Minerals product line, and on having adequate access to the ore reserves at its mining operations. Unanticipated changes in the costs or availability of such raw materials, or in the Company's ability to have access to its ore reserves, could adversely affect the Company's results of operations.

     The Company uses lime in the production of PCC and is a significant purchaser of lime worldwide. Generally, lime is purchased under long-term supply contracts from unaffiliated suppliers located in close geographic proximity to the Company's PCC plants. If there were to be an interruption in the supply of lime from any particular lime supplier to the Company, the Company believes that alternative sources of lime would be available at effectively the same cost to the Company.

     The principal raw materials used in the Company's monolithic refractory products are refractory-grade magnesia and various forms of aluminosilicates. The Company also purchases calcium metal, calcium silicide, graphite, calcium carbide and various alloys for use in the production of metallurgical wires and uses lime and aluminum in the production of calcium metal. The

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Company purchases a significant portion of its magnesite requirements from sources in the People's Republic of China. In addition, the Company purchases a portion of its talc ore for the Processed Minerals product line from the People's Republic of China. The Company believes that in the event of supply interruptions of its refractory raw material requirements it could obtain adequate supplies from alternate sources at reasonable costs.

     The Company is continually engaged in efforts to develop new products and technologies and refine existing products and technologies in order to remain competitive and, in certain circumstances, to position itself as a market leader.

     With respect to its PCC products, the Company competes for sales to the paper industry with other fillers, such as ground limestone and clay, based in large part upon technological know-how, patents and processes that allow the Company to deliver PCC that it believes imparts superior brightness, opacity and other properties to paper on an economical basis.  

The Company is the leading manufacturer and supplier of PCC to the North American paper industry. It competes with certain companies both in North America and abroad that sell PCC or offer alternative products, principally ground calcium carbonate, for use in paper filling and coating applications. Competition with respect to the Company's PCC sales is based upon performance characteristics of the product (such as brightness and opacity), price, the availability of technical support and availability of raw materials.

     With respect to the Company's refractory products, competitive conditions vary by geographic region. Competition is based upon the performance characteristics of the product (including strength, quality, consistency and ease of application), price, and the availability of technical support. The Company competes with different companies in different geographic areas and in separate aspects of its product line.

     The Company competes in sales of its limestone and talc based primarily upon product quality, price, and geographic location.

     Many of the Company's product lines are technology-based. The Company's expertise in inorganic chemistry, crystallography and structural analysis, fine particle technology and other aspects of materials science apply to and support all of its product lines.

     The Company's business strategy for continued growth in sales and profitability depends to a large extent on the continued success of its research and development activities. Among the significant achievements of the Company's research and development effort have been the satellite PCC plant concept, AT^® PCC, advanced OPACARB^® PCC crystal morphologies for paper coating, the SEQUAD^® sprayer, MAG-O-STAR^® spray coating, MINSCAN™ and SCANTROL™ application systems and OPTISHOT™ shotcrete refractory. The Company's research and development efforts have also resulted in the invention of SYNSIL^® products, a family of synthetic silicate products for the glass industry.

     For the years ended December 31, 2002, 2001 and 2000, the Company expended approximately $22.7 million, $23.5 million, and $26.3 million, respectively, on research and development. The Company believes, based upon its review of publicly available information regarding the reported research and development spending of certain of its competitors, that its investment in research and development as a percentage of net sales exceeds comparable industry norms. The Company's research and development spending for 2002 approximated 3.0% of net sales.

     The Company maintains its primary research facilities in Bethlehem and Easton, Pennsylvania. It also has smaller research and development facilities in Finland, Ireland and Japan. Approximately 160 employees worldwide are engaged in research and development. In addition, the Company has access to several of the world's most advanced paper making and paper coating pilot facilities.

     The Company owns or has the right to use approximately 425 patents and approximately 650 trademarks related to its business. The Company believes that its rights under its existing patents, patent applications and trademarks are of value to its operations, but no one patent, application or trademark is material to the conduct of the Company's business as a whole.

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     The Company maintains liability and property insurance and insurance for business interruption in the event of damage to its production facilities and certain other insurance covering risks associated with its business. The Company believes such insurance is adequate for the operation of its business. There is no assurance that in the future the Company will be able to maintain the coverage currently in place or that the premiums therefor will not increase substantially.

     At December 31, 2002, the Company employed approximately 2,400 persons, of whom approximately 800 were employed by the Company outside of the United States.

     The Company's operations are subject to federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to the environment and health and safety. Certain of the Company's operations involve and have involved the use and release of substances that are classified as toxic or hazardous within the meaning of these laws and regulations. Environmental operating permits are, or may be, required for certain of the Company's operations and such permits are subject to modification, renewal and revocation. The Company regularly monitors and reviews its operations, procedures and policies for compliance with these laws and regulations. The Company believes its operations are in substantial compliance with these laws and regulations and that there are no violations that would have a material effect on the Company. Despite these compliance efforts, some risk of environmental and other damage is inherent in the Company's operations, as it is with other companies engaged in similar businesses, and there can be no assurance that material violations will not occur in the future. The cost of compliance with these laws and regulations is not expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company. However, future events, such as changes in or modifications of interpretations of existing laws and regulations or enforcement policies or further investigation or evaluation of the potential health hazards of certain products may give rise to additional compliance and other costs that could have a material adverse effect on the Company. The Company has a right of indemnification for certain potential environmental, health and safety liabilities under agreements entered into between the Company and Pfizer Inc ("Pfizer") or Quigley Company, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer, in connection with the initial public offering of the Company in 1992. See "Certain Relationships and Related Transactions" in Item 13.

     The Company maintains an internet website located at http://www.mineralstech.com. It makes its reports on Forms 10-K,  

10-Q and 8-K, and amendments to those reports, as well as its Proxy Statement and filings under Section 16 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, available free of charge through the Investor Relations page of its website, as soon as reasonably practicable after they are filed with the SEC. Investors may access these reports through the Company's website by navigating to "Investor Relations" and then to "SEC Filings."

     The disclosure and analysis set forth in this report contains certain forward-looking statements, particularly statements relating to future actions, future performance or results of current and anticipated products, sales efforts, expenditures, and financial results. From time to time, the Company also provides forward-looking statements in other publicly-released materials, both written and oral. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations and forecasts of future events such as new products, revenues and financial performance, and are not limited to describing historical or current facts. They can be identified by the use of words such as "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "will" and other words and phrases of similar meaning.

     Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on assumptions, estimates and limited information available at the time they are made. A broad variety of risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, as well as the inaccuracy of assumptions and estimates, can affect the realization of the expectations or forecasts in these statements. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Actual future results may vary materially.

     The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Investors should refer to the Company's subsequent filings under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for further disclosures.

     As permitted by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Company is providing the following cautionary statements which identify factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from historical and expected results. It is not possible to foresee or identify all such factors. Investors should not consider this list an exhaustive statement of all risks, uncertainties and potentially inaccurate assumptions.

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• Historical Growth Rate
  Continuance of the historical growth rate of the Company depends upon a number of uncertain events, including the outcome of the Company's strategies of increasing its penetration into geographic markets such as Asia and Europe; increasing its penetration into product markets such as the market for paper coating pigments and the market for groundwood paper pigments; increasing sales to existing PCC customers by increasing the amount of PCC used per ton of paper produced; and developing, introducing and selling new products. Difficulties, delays or failures of any of these strategies could cause the future growth rate of the Company to differ materially from its historical growth rate.

• Contract Renewals
  The Company's sales of PCC are predominantly pursuant to long-term agreements, generally ten years in length, with paper mills at which the Company operates satellite PCC plants. The terms of many of these agreements have been extended, often in connection with an expansion of the satellite plant. Failure of a number of the Company's customers to renew existing agreements on terms as favorable to the Company as those currently in effect could cause the future growth rate of the Company to differ materially from its historical growth rate, could have a substantial adverse effect on the Company's results of operations, and could also result in impairment of the assets associated with the PCC plant.

The Company's largest customer, International Paper Company, has informed the Company that it intended to begin negotiations with alternative suppliers at one satellite location at which the contract has expired and would negotiate with other suppliers at other satellite locations as the contracts for those locations expire over the next several years, with the last contract expiring in 2010. That decision by IP increases the risk that some or all of these contracts will not be renewed. Because these contracts have various remaining terms, the full impact of these expirations on the Company would not be felt for several years. The Company is actively pursuing its own negotiations with IP, and hopes to reach agreement to extend some or all of these contracts past their current expiration dates. The outcome of these negotiations, however, cannot be predicted. The loss of a substantial amount of the Company's sales to IP would have a material effect on the Company's results of operations and projected growth rate.

• Consolidation in Paper Industry
  Several consolidations in the paper industry have taken place in recent years. These consolidations could result in partial or total closure of some paper mills at which the Company operates PCC satellites. Such closures would reduce the Company's sales of PCC, except to the extent that they resulted in shifting paper production and associated purchases of PCC to another location served by the Company. There can be no assurance, however, that this will occur. In addition, such consolidations concentrate purchasing power in the hands of a smaller number of papermakers, enabling them to increase pressure on suppliers, such as the Company. This increased pressure could have an adverse effect on the Company's results of operations in the future.

• Litigation; Environmental Exposures
  The Company's operations are subject to international, federal, state and local governmental, tax and other laws and regulations, and potentially to claims for various legal, environmental and tax matters. The Company is currently a party to various litigation matters. While the Company carries liability insurance which it believes to be appropriate to its businesses, and has provided reserves for such matters which it believes to be adequate, an unanticipated liability arising out of such a litigation matter or a tax or environmental proceeding could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition or results of operations.

• New Products
  The Company is engaged in a continuous effort to develop new products and processes in all of its product lines. Difficulties, delays or failures in the development, testing, production, marketing or sale of such new products could cause actual results of operations to differ materially from expected results.

• Competition; Protection of Intellectual Property
  Particularly in its PCC and Refractory product lines, the Company's ability to compete is based in part upon proprietary knowledge, both patented and unpatented. The Company's ability to achieve anticipated results depends in part on its ability to defend its intellectual property against inappropriate disclosure as well as against infringement. In addition, development by the Company's competitors of new products or technologies that are more effective or less expensive than those the Company offers could have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial condition or results of operations.

• Risks of Doing Business Abroad
  As the Company expands its operations overseas, it faces the increased risks of doing business abroad, including inflation, fluctuation in interest rates and currency exchange rates, changes in applicable laws and regulatory requirements, export and import restrictions, tariffs, nationalization, expropriation, limits on repatriation of funds, civil unrest, terrorism, unstable governments and legal systems, and other factors. Adverse developments in any of these areas could cause actual results to differ materially from historical and expected results.

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• Availability of Raw Materials
  The Company's ability to achieve anticipated results depends in part on having an adequate supply of raw materials for its manufacturing operations, particularly lime and carbon dioxide for the PCC product line, magnesia for Refractory operations and talc ore for the Processed Minerals product line, and on having adequate access to the ore reserves at its mining operations. Unanticipated changes in the costs or availability of such raw materials, or in the Company's ability to have access to its ore reserves, could adversely affect the Company's results of operations.

• Cyclical Nature of Customers' Businesses
  The bulk of the Company's sales are to customers in two industries, paper manufacturing and steel manufacturing, which have historically been cyclical. The Company's exposure to variations in its customers' businesses has been reduced in recent years by the growth in the number of plants it operates; by the diversification of its portfolio of products and services; and by its geographic expansion. Also, the Company has structured some of its long-term satellite PCC contracts to provide a degree of protection against declines in the quantity of product purchased, since the price per ton of PCC generally rises as the number of tons purchased declines. In addition, many of the Company's product lines lower its customers' costs of production or increase their productivity, which should encourage them to use its products. However, a sustained economic downturn in one or more of the industries or geographic regions that the Company serves, or in the worldwide economy, could cause actual results of operations to differ materially from historical and expected results.

     Set forth below is the location of, and the main customer served by, each of the Company's satellite PCC plants at December 31, 2002. Generally, the land on which each satellite PCC plant is located is leased at a nominal amount by the Company from the host paper mill pursuant to a lease, the term of which runs concurrently with the term of the PCC production and sale agreement between the Company and the host paper mill.