Global exports of Mongolian-sourced fluorspar “will replace” Chinese fluorspar over the next few years as China continues to ramp up domestic consumption, according to fluorspar trader and processor Tianjin Steyuan Mineral Co. Ltd.
Over the last decade China, the world’s biggest fluorspar producer, has transitioned from an exporter to – increasingly – a net importer of a number of industrial minerals, primarily those consumed in ceramics, refractories and steelmaking.
The country’s astonishing growth in the steel and aluminium markets has, in particular, driven its consumption of both acid and metallurgical grades of fluorspar – the former used to produce hydrofluoric acid, and the latter used as a steel flux mineral.
The growth of its domestic commodities, and a desire to participate in value-added markets, has seen China’s combined acidspar and...