Pasek Minerales was created in 2009 to handle the mining activities of Spanish dunite producer, Pasek Espa–a SA. The company operates two dunite mines in Cabo Ortegal, Galicia, in north-west Spain, which were brought online in the 1970s during a time of significant expansion in Spain’s steel industry.
Steel producers have continued to be important consumers of Pasek’s dunite product, which is promoted as an alternative to magnesite in a number of applications owing to its magnesium silicate composition.
- In the steel industry, the application with the highest volumes of dunite is located inside the blast furnace; here dunite is an MgO-bearing component, which effectively acts as fluxing agent and slag conditioner on the pig iron manufacturing process;
- The electric arc furnace is another important consumer of dunite in the form of tap hole sand, which safely keeps molten steel in the furnace...