During the 5th Annual Asia in Focus: TZMI Congress 2011 in Hong Kong last month, two key words were bandied around consistently when speaking about mineral sands. The words? “prices” and “uncertainty” = unsurprising given global events over the last few months.
“There’s a little bit of uncertainty this year,” Phil Murphy, managing director of TZMI outlined in his welcome to delegates, setting the score for the next two days.
The night before, conversation at the Congress’ reception swirled around the weakening global market against the backdrop of the impressive Hong Kong skyline.
“I’ve heard some people saying the downturn will affect this industry for the next six to eight months, but I don’t think it will be as long,” one hopeful producer told IM.
Others were less pessimistic, some were more. But the euro...