KUNIMINE INDUSTRIES CO., LTD.

Kunipia / Sumecton dispersion liquids

Gas barrier film using Kunipia(powder)

Creating what the future needs and shaping the world through the power of clay

Ceramic
Stone Product Manufacturing

Area Joban
Industrial ParksJoban Kashima Industrial Park

Products & Services

Materials

Processing

Other Processing

Related Fields

Aerospace
Energy / Environmental Recycling
Medical

Company Overview

Centered around the mining, manufacture, and sale of bentonite, an underground resource (clay mineral), our company’s business spans across various industrial sectors. We operate in the fields of fine chemicals, civil engineering and boring, castings, agribusiness, pet business, waste disposal, and more. Our company runs 3 sales offices, 7 manufacturing centers, and 2 research and development bases in Japan.
We operate mines in three prefectures (Yamagata, Miyagi, and Niigata).(Bentonite is rock that consists mainly of montmorillonite, a clay mineral.)

Primary Products / Services

Primary products of the Iwaki Plant
●Kunipia Series (refined bentonite)
●Sumecton Series (synthesized smectite, organic smectite)

IP & Licenses, etc.

Intellectual Property
(Patent No. 6870183) Aluminum Battery
(Patent No. 6247132) Cosmetic Skin Pack Clay Sheet
(Patent No. 5972866) Protein Crystallization Condition Search Agent and
Protein Crystallization Condition Search Method
(Patent No. 6890826) Smectite Slurry
(Patent No. 6836885) Montmorillonite Slurry, Clay Film, and Production Method for Montmorillonite Slurry
(Patent No. 6795802) Heat-resistant Gas Barrier Film & Production Method
(Patent No. 6535540) Production Method for Lithium Ion-fixed Organically Modified Montmorillonite
Certifications / Licenses
●ISO 9001 (quality management systems) certified, 2007
●ISO 14001 (environmental management systems) certified, 2018
(Iwaki Plant)
●Food Additive Manufacturing (Iwaki Plant)
●Animal Medicine Manufacturing (Iwaki Plant)
●Animal Medicine Retail Sales (Iwaki Plant)
Awards / Commendations
●2011-Received Fukushima Prefecture's 4th Utsukushima Monozukuri manufacturing award
●2016-Received The Clay Science Society of Japan’s technology award
●2017-Selected as a “Regional Future Leading Company”
●2024-Selected as one of the “300 Emerging Small and Medium Enterprises & Microbusinesses”

Company Strengths & Characteristics

●Bentonite (clay mineral) is said to have 1,000 different uses. It is currently utilized for industrial purposes, but it is thought that further potential and characteristics will be uncovered moving ahead, making it a material with great possibility for future usage and development.
●We possess our own mines in Japan, fostering our strength with our own resources.
●The Iwaki Plant possesses three core technologies which create high added value. These are our purification, synthesis, and ion exchange technologies. As a result, it is not only used as an auxiliary material
or secondary raw material in its natural form but has expanded applications in high-performance materials.

Future Prospects & Areas of Interest

Future Prospects & Areas of Interest Our main directions for the future are the following:
①Bentonite still has unknown uses in many fields. We will continue our research to discover and develop such new possibilities and further develop new industrial fields where it can be applied.
②We aim to expand our business fields by matching new needs arising from changes in society and the times with our company's new seeds.
③Deepening R&D into diverse gas barrier properties. (hydrogen barrier properties on which we conducted joint research with JAXA and AIST, oxygen barrier properties for food-related applications, and other water vapor barrier properties)

Creating what the future needs and shaping the world through the power of clay