A Canadian company, Bell Asbestos Mines Ltd. was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Turner & Newall Company until 1980, when it was nationalized by the Provincial Government of Quebec, Canada. Asbestos mining no longer takes place there.

History of Bell Asbestos Mines/Turner & Newall

Turner & Newall has its beginnings as Turner Brothers, founded in 1871 as a manufacturer of cotton cloth-based packaging. A few years later, it became the first U.K. company to weave asbestos cloth with the use of power-driven machinery. In 1879, the company changed its name to Turner Brothers Asbestos Company.

In the 1910s, they opened an asbestos cement plant and in 1920, merged with the Washington Chemical Company, Newalls Insulation Company, and J.W. Roberts to become Turner & Newall. The company acquired Bells' United Asbestos Companies in the 1930s.

Continuing to diversify, the company began producing automotive products in the late 1940s and bought Porters Cement Industries Ltd, a major producer of chrysotile asbestos products, in 1953.

Acquired by Federal Mogul in 1998, Turner & Newall and all its subsidiaries declared bankruptcy in 2001, faced with a huge number of asbestos claims.

Bell Asbestos Mines and Asbestos

It goes without saying that anyone who toiled in the Bell Asbestos Mines faced the risk of developing asbestos-related diseases. Though mining has ceased there and at many other mines in Thetford, Quebec, miners are still being diagnosed with serious pulmonary diseases such as the cancer mesothelioma, due to its long latency period. In addition, those who have been exposed to products that contain asbestos mined from Bell Asbestos Mines Ltd. also face the potential of developing asbestos-related diseases.

The mines have been the target of innumerable asbestos-related lawsuits forged by individuals who were exposed to Bell Mines asbestos in one way or another. Claims have been handled in different manners according to when the injury occurred and who owned the company at the time. Turner & Newall currently has an asbestos trust fund that was established during their reorganization to address any unsettled claims. Funds for that trust were released in 2006.

If you have developed an asbestos-related disease as a result of working for Bell Asbestos Mines and would like more information, please fill out the form on this page to receive a complimentary packet in the mail.

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