Western Cuban province develops orthopedic plaster production project

MATANZAS, Cuba, Sep 13 (ACN) A project to resume the production of orthopedic plaster in Matanzas, with prospects of obtaining 500 tons per year to replace imports, will be launched in this Cuban region in favor of medical care.

The initiative is one of the most promising ones to be undertaken soon under the Territorial Program of Productive Chains in this western territory, and will involve the construction of a processing plant to obtain the mineral from a deposit in the west of the Yumuri River valley.

Joaquin Garcia Dihigo, head of the Program, told the Cuban News Agency that after extracting the first samples from the mine, a study of the physical-chemical characteristics of the local gypsum, of which there are abundant reserves, was carried out.

Cuba does not produce orthopedic gypsum at present and must import it; the price of each ton is around 500 dollars in the international market; in the past, Matanzas used to produce all the gypsum necessary for the province, that is why we intend to resume that activity, Garcia Dihigo remarked.

With financing of 27,000 dollars and approximately 1 million Cuban pesos, the plant will be built in the gypsum deposit in this city, which will have modern equipment, including filters to avoid environmental contamination.