G.m. Associates
Food in Johannesburg

GM Associates - Developing and manufacturing speciality chemicals required by the mining, metallurgical and food industries, including Modified Polysaccharide Polymers and Guar Gum.

All GEMPOLYM products supplied have to perform to vigorous quality control standards, and, as such, all carry a performance guarantee. Research and development to improve performance and develop better products are continuously done in our laboratory, combined with on-site testing. New products are continuously being appraised before being marketed. G.M Associates has more than 55 years of experience in the production, use and marketing of Guar, CMC and starch based products to these industries. The chemical modification of these materials is done in our factory in Robertville, Johannesburg. Associates specialises in custom made polysaccharide polymers for various food, mining and other industrial applications such as; textile, building, paper, ceramics adhesives, etc. These products are all developed in our laboratories by highly experienced and qualified metallurgical engineers who are also responsible for servicing the mines and making sure that the products developed continue to perform satisfactorily. Associates also has a trading division to source any reagents and chemicals on a world wide basis. Our clients consist mainly of the major mining groups in Southern Africa. The company also supplies Guar based gels and gelling agents to the explosives and food industries. Associates is owned and managed by Greg Neilson and Brian Watson. The legume is an important source of nutrition to animals and humans, it regenerates soil nitrogen and the endosperm of guar seed is an important hydrocolloid widely used across a broad spectrum of industries. It grows best in sandy soils and areas of West, Northwest india and parts of Pakistan are the ideal areas for it’s farming. Jodhpur City in the North Western state of Rajasthan in India is the most ideal and important processing centre of Guar Gum and contributes approximately 40% of the worlds’ Guar Gum supply. The Guar is a naturally rain fed crop and the total size of Guar crop varies from year to year depending on the monsoon rainfall. In India, the tender green Guar is also used as a vegetable and cattle feed. A severe locust bean gum shortage, just after the second world war, adversely affected the paper and textile industries. The technology of Guar Gum extraction was commercialized in 1953 in the USA and after approximately a decade in India. After harvesting, when the pods become dry through sunlight, they are beaten off and during this process, the seeds come out of the pods. The molecular structure reveals that GEMPOLYM is a straight chain galactomannan with galactose on every other mannose unit. Further studies indicate that GEMPOLYM is a rigid rod like polymer because of the beta linkage between the monomer units. The CIS position is important since adjacent hydroxyl groups reinforce each other in hydrogen bonding reactions. GEMPOLYM has excellent cold water solubility because of the high galactose: mannose ratio. The special properties of GEMPOLYM make it most suitable for various industrial applications.