FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
FRIDAY, MAY 30, 1997                               (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
              LAROCHE INDUSTRIES INC. PLEADS GUILTY
                TO PRICE FIXING, PAYS $1.5 MILLION

        More than $37 Million in Criminal Fines Imposed in
             Commercial Explosives Price Fixing Probe

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- LaRoche Industries Inc. of Atlanta,
Georgia, a major producer of ammonium nitrate, pleaded guilty
today and will pay $1.5 million in criminal fines for conspiring
to fix prices in the sale of ammonium nitrate, the Justice
Department announced.

     Today's plea is the result of the Justice Department's
ongoing criminal antitrust investigation of collusion in the
commercial explosives and ammonium nitrate industry.  To date,
the investigation has resulted in a total of 14 guilty pleas by
12 corporations and two individuals, and the assessment of 
$37.5 million in criminal fines.

     U.S. District Court Judge Donald Lee of Pittsburgh imposed a
fine of $1.5 million on LaRoche today.  According to the charges,
during May 1992, LaRoche and co-conspirators discussed and
exchanged information about their future pricing plans and about
future pricing plans of other competitors.

     "The Justice Department will be unrelenting in its
investigation and punishment of those who choose to undermine
competition by fixing prices," said Joel I. Klein, Acting
Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division.

     Total sales of ammonium nitrate exceed $1 billion annually
in the United States.  Ammonium nitrate is a raw material that is
combined with other chemicals to produce explosives, such as ANFO
(ammonium nitrate combined with fuel oil), that are used in the
mining, construction, and oil and gas exploration industries.

     In 1992, the Antitrust Division began an investigation which
netted guilty pleas from three major explosives producers that
also manufactured ammonium nitrate -- ICI Explosives USA, which
was fined $10 million; DYNO NOBEL, which was fined $15 million;
and ETI Explosives, which was fined $950,000.  In addition,
Austin Powder Co., an explosives manufacturer, was fined $7
million.

     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of an
antitrust violation under 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.
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