Dr Abdullah Attas, SGS
Growth opportunities for silica sand and quartz are attracting increasing attention, and this is nowhere better exemplified than in, of all places, Saudi Arabia.
The sand abundant country has made no secret of its strategy in diversifying into natural resources other than oil and gas, ie. mining. And its drive to also establish high-tech downstream manufacturing industries chimes neatly with market demand for high quality grades of silica in hi-tech applications such as in electronics and the photovoltaic (PV) sectors.
To this end, the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS) organised Silica Arabia 2012, a highly successful conference which took place 12-14 March 2012 in Jeddah, bringing together around 100 leading lights of the world of silica and high purity quartz supply, processing, and consumption.Silica & quartz resourcesSaudi Arabia has abundant silica resources which were outlined by Dr Abdullah Al-Attas, Assistant President for Technical Affairs in his paper “Silica...