First and foremost, this was a record quarter for our company with earnings per share of $1.29.
Paper mill operating rates in Normerica have reached nearly 95%.
Our refractory segment also had an impressive quarter marked by steel utilization rates, which are now above 80%.
A combination of these positive trends and business development actions in our segments yielded sales of $456 million, with growth in every segment and geography.
We drove these higher sales into operating income of $64 million, up 53% compared to 2020, and margins expanded to above 14% as we expected.
Through the first half of the year, cash from operations and free cash flow were both up 25% over last year.
In addition, we've continued with our returns to shareholders through our $75 million buyback program and anticipate fully completing the program under the authorized time frame.
On the front, we are ramping up production at our new satellites in Asia, which came online at the end of 2020 and represent 200,000 tons of new capacity on an annualized basis.
We have another approximately 130,000 tons of capacity coming online now through the middle of next year, including our 40,000 ton expansion for a packaging application in Europe, where we will begin realizing the volume benefit in the third quarter.
We are finalizing the construction of our 40,000 ton satellite in India, which will start-up late next quarter, and we have also begun construction on a new 50,000 ton satellite in China, which should be operational in the first half of 2022.
For background on Normerica, the company was founded in 1992, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and is a leading supplier of branded and private label Pet Care products in North America.
Normerica has about 320 employees, and in 2020, generated revenue of approximately $140 million.
The purchase price for the transaction was $185 million on pre-synergy EBITDA of approximately $20 million.
On a post-synergy basis, we expect the transaction to be about 7.5 times EBITDA, similar to the Sivomatic transaction and earnings accretion to begin in the fourth quarter of this year.
We expect to fully integrate the business, employees, systems and processes over the next few quarters, and accretion will ramp up to 5% to 7% on a full year basis in 2022.
And with the addition of Normerica and Sivomatic, our Pet Care business has grown from $78 million to $350 million, and our household and personal care business is now the largest product line at MTI.
Sales in the second quarter were 28% higher than the prior year and 1% higher sequentially as demand remained strong across the majority of our end markets, and we started to see higher levels of activity in our project-oriented businesses.
Operating income, excluding special items, was $64.1 million, 53% higher than the prior year and 9% higher sequentially.
Operating margin improved from 13% in the first quarter to 14.1% in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, we continue to control overhead expenses with SG&A as a percentage of sales at 11.3% versus 11.7% in the first quarter and 13.1% in the prior year.
Earnings per share, excluding special items, was $1.29, a record quarter for the company and represented 52% growth above the prior year and 10% above the first quarter.
Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 18.9%, excluding special items, and we expect our effective tax rate to be approximately 20% going forward.
Second quarter sales for Performance Materials were $238.4 million, 24% higher than the prior year and 3% higher sequentially.
Metalcasting sales grew 52% versus the prior year as foundry demand remained strong in North America and China.
Household, Personal Care and Specialty Products, our most resilient product line last year, grew 17% versus a relatively strong prior year quarter.
Environmental product sales grew 6% versus the prior year and were 53% higher sequentially, driven by improving demand for environmental lining systems, water and soil remediation and wastewater treatment.
Building Materials sales grew 17% versus the prior year and were up 12% sequentially on higher levels of project activity.
Operating income for the segment grew 55% from the prior year to $34.7 million and was 16% higher sequentially.
Operating margin was 14.6% of sales versus 11.7% in the prior year and 12.9% in the first quarter as higher volumes and our strong operating performance drove incremental margin improvement.
As Doug stated earlier, we expect modest earnings per share accretion to begin in the fourth quarter this year as we move through the integration period, ramping up to full run rate accretion over the next 12 months.
Specialty Minerals sales were $142.7 million in the second quarter, 30% higher than the prior year and 3% lower sequentially.
Paper PCC sales grew 31% versus the prior year on recovering paper demand and the continued ramp-up of three new satellites.
Specialty PCC sales grew 24% versus the prior year and higher demand from automotive, construction and consumer end markets.
Overall, PCC sales were 5% lower sequentially, primarily due to temporary paper mill outages in India related to COVID-19 and the typical seasonal paper mill outages we experienced in North America.
Process Mineral sales were 31% versus the prior year and 2% sequentially on continued strength in residential construction and consumer end markets.
Operating income for this segment grew 31% to $20 million and represented 14% of sales.
Refractory segment sales were $74.5 million in the second quarter, 33% higher than the prior year and 1% higher sequentially, as steel utilization rates continue to strengthen in the second quarter.
Segment operating income was $11.7 million, 98% higher than the prior year and 3% lower sequentially, and operating margin was strong at 15.7% of sales.
Steel utilization rates have improved to 84% in North America and 77% in Europe, up from 78% and 72%, respectively, in the first quarter.
We've now signed a total of seven new contracts worth $80 million over the next five years, which will provide $16 million of incremental annual revenue ramping up through 2022.
Second quarter cash from operations was $67 million versus $64 million in the prior year, bringing year-to-date cash from operations to $118 million versus $94 million last year.
This was a 25% increase.
We deployed $22 million of capital during the quarter on sustaining our operations, mine development and other high return opportunities.
We continue to expect capital expenditures in the range of $80 million to $85 million for the full year, split evenly between sustaining and growth capital.
Year-to-date, we have used free cash flow to repurchase $37 million of shares.
And in total, we have repurchased $54 million under our current $75 million share repurchase program.
As of the end of the second quarter, total liquidity was over $700 million, and our net leverage ratio was 1.6 times EBITDA.
For the acquisition of Normerica, we used $85 million of cash on hand and $100 million of our revolving credit facility.
This will initially bring our net leverage ratio to approximately 2 times EBITDA on a pro forma basis, and we expect to pay down the incremental borrowing over the next 12 months.
We expect strong cash flow generation to continue in the second half of the year, and we see free cash flow in the range of $150 million for the full year.
You'll see in the report that we've already exceeded our reduction goals in four of six targets -- or six targets related to emissions, energy and water and are on pace to achieve the other 2.

Summary:
First and foremost, this was a record quarter for our company with earnings per share of $1.29.
A combination of these positive trends and business development actions in our segments yielded sales of $456 million, with growth in every segment and geography.
Earnings per share, excluding special items, was $1.29, a record quarter for the company and represented 52% growth above the prior year and 10% above the first quarter.