FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1995                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


DALLAS EXPLOSIVES COMPANY AGREES TO PAY A RECORD $10 MILLION FINE
FOR CONSPIRING TO FIX PRICES OF EXPLOSIVES SOLD IN THREE STATES

                                 
     WASHINGTON, D.C.-- A Dallas explosives company, one of the
world's largest manufacturers of commercial explosives, today has
agreed to plead guilty and pay a record $10 million criminal
antitrust fine for conspiring to fix the prices of commercial
explosives sold in western Kentucky, southern Indiana, and
southern Illinois, the Department of Justice announced.  The $10
million fine is the largest fine from a single defendant in a
criminal antitrust case.  
     In a one-count case filed today in U.S. District Court in
Dallas, the Justice Department's Antitrust Division charged ICI
Explosives USA Inc. with participating in a price fixing
conspiracy that began in the Fall of 1988 and continued through
mid 1992.  
     ICI Explosives USA Inc. and its co-conspirators carried out
the conspiracy by discussing and agreeing to increase prices for
certain commercial explosives and agreeing upon bids or quotes to
certain customers.  These commercial explosives, such as high
explosives and blasting agents, are used in the coal and metal
mining, quarry and construction industries.  ICI's agreement to
pay a $10 million fine is subject to court approval.
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said, "Let this $10 million fine be a
warning to companies who engage in criminal price fixing schemes. 
If you take part in this type of illegal activity, we will hit
you where it hurts most, your pocketbooks."
     In a second case, the Antitrust Division filed a one-count
felony charge yesterday, also in U.S. District Court in Dallas,
against ICI's senior vice president of sales, Withers Waller
Caldwell Jr.  Caldwell has agreed to plead guilty and pay a
criminal fine of $50,000 for his part in a bid rigging conspiracy
involving the sale of commercial explosives to lead mines in
Missouri and zinc mines in Tennessee arising from the same
investigation.  
     Caldwell was charged with conspiring with Dyno Industries
(USA) Inc. to submit intentionally high, noncompetitive bids to
The Doe Run Company, which operates a lead mine in Missouri, and
to ASARCO Inc., which operates lead mines in Missouri and zinc
mines in Tennessee.  Caldwell's fine is subject to court
approval.
     ICI Explosives USA Inc. cooperated with the government
during the Antitrust Division's investigation and it will
continue to cooperate in the Division's ongoing investigation,
the Department said.
     Bingaman added that both charges resulted from an ongoing
investigation being conducted by the Division's Litigation I
Section with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act is a fine of $10 million, twice the
pecuniary gain the corporation derived from the crime, or twice
the pecuniary loss suffered by the victims of the crime,
whichever is greater.
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a Sherman
Act violation is three years imprisonment and a fine not to
exceed the greatest of $350,000, twice the pecuniary gain the
individual derived from the crime, or twice the pecuniary loss
suffered by the victims of the crime.
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95-451