Industrial Minerals

Middle East & North Africa

• Applied Minerals signs MoU for major halloysite sales deal 19 June 2013

  Can replace ATH and MDH in flame retardants; iron oxide products on the way Read More

• IM Phosphate News in Brief: 13 – 19 June 19 June 2013

  MBAC to deliver SSP by July; Celamin triples Tunisian JORC Resource Read More

• IM Potash News In Brief: 13 – 19 June 19 June 2013

  Uralkali sees room for price rises; Ghana company to raise money for expansion Read More

• IM Rare Earths News in Brief 8 – 14 June 14 June 2013

  China consumed 70% of rare earths in 2012; Pele Mountain doubles resource estimate Read More

• Lynas to implement minimum price schedule for rare earths 14 June 2013

  Higher long term prices needed to encourage end-market growth Read More

• IM Lithium Round-up 4 – 11 June 2013 11 June 2013

  Galaxy Resources managing director Iggy Tan resigns; FMC confirm Wyoming interest Read More

• Cristal final TiO2 producer to announce price hikes 10 June 2013

  All hikes 10-30% lower than Q1 increases; largest increase for Latin America Read More

• US sees slight uptick in oil and gas exploration 07 June 2013

  Canadian exploration slide slows; strong African performance continues Read More

• Low iron ore demand pressures BDI 06 June 2013

  Baltic Dry Index slump on weak steel consumption but coal could be a bright spot Read More

• More TiO2 pigment price increases as Huntsman and ISK step up 06 June 2013

  New prices lower than those announced earlier in the year Read More

• Top mining companies cut spending as profits halve 06 June 2013

  Capital spending expected to drop by 21% as “industry in crisis” Read More

• Price Briefing 31 May – 6 June 06 June 2013

  TiO2 market sees price rises; amorphous graphite and fertliser mineral values slip Read More

• Minerals Technologies looks to extend refractory service role 04 June 2013

  CEO tells IM opportunities are to be found away from traditional business models Read More

• People and places: June 2013 IM June 2013

  Karen Swager, The Mosaic Co.; Christopher Douville, Ricardo Gotelip, ANSAC; Thomas Oury, DuPont; John Kanellitsas, Lithium Americas; Read More

• TiO2 World Summit: End users to continue with substitution efforts IM June 2013

  This May, in an egregiously wet Barcelona, Spain, the Smithers Rapra Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) World Summit was held and the central message was that TiO2 pigment producers must rebuild the bridges that they burnt so badly during 2011 and 2012. Read More

• Kronos sees 7% slide in TiO2 prices IM June 2013

  The major developments in the titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment industry during May revolved around US-based Kronos Worldwide Inc. Read More

• Presidential candidate to encourage mining IM June 2013

  Crouched in a hut in northern Madagascar, an old man angrily explains that the theft of the vanilla pods from his farm is rendering his family penniless and asks how his family can escape this poverty. Read More

• Private equity offers miners temporary funding alternative IM June 2013

  The assessment that the rift between mining and the financial sector is alive and well won’t come as a surprise to anybody in either industry. Read More

• Tronox and DuPont raise TiO2 prices 31 May 2013

  Follows on from Kronos price rises, but jury is out as to whether these will stick Read More

• IM Price Briefing 23-30 May 2013 30 May 2013

  Steel markets to recover, Antimony trioxide flat Read More

• IM Phosphate News in Brief: 22-29 May 29 May 2013

  Arianne confirms positive phosphate testing; Stonegate Idaho development on track Read More

• IM Potash News in Brief: 22-29 May 29 May 2013

  Uralkali will not sign Chinese potash contracts; Sirius sign sales agreements Read More

• IM Lithium News in Brief 21-28 May 28 May 2013

  Ultra Lithium begins work in Serbia; Bacanora and Rare Earths Minerals together Read More

• American Vanadium becomes US flow battery distributor 27 May 2013

  Company to eventually integrate own V2O5 supply for energy storage products Read More

• Price Briefing 17 – 23 May 23 May 2013

  Rare earths, fluorspar and graphite slide; frac sand logistics dwarf mineral value Read More

• IM Lithium News in Brief 15 - 22 May 22 May 2013

  GS Yuasa sees recovery after 787s take flight; Northfield looks to Canada Lithium Read More

• Allana potash project granted environmental approval 22 May 2013

  Confident mining license for African project will follow in a matter of months Read More

• New frac sand distribution centre opened by US Silica 22 May 2013

  Texas-based transloading facility to benefit from unit train advantage Read More

• World steel production drops for April after strong March 22 May 2013

  Decreases for major producers across the board excluding China’s 6.8% jump Read More

• Rockwood receives bids for TiO2 pigment arm 21 May 2013

  Several private equity firms reportedly meeting with Rockwood management Read More

• IM Phosphate News in Brief: 15-21 May 21 May 2013

  Ma’aden ammonia delay cost company $31m; JPMC former chairman to be fined Read More

• IM Potash News in Brief: 15-21 May 21 May 2013

  Potash Minerals defines maiden resource; Red Moon receives drilling approval Read More

• Northern Frac Proppants begins sand shipments from Alma, WI 20 May 2013

  Minnesota Legislature sets environmental parameters for frac sand mining Read More

• Steel refractories ripe for recovery, says industry 20 May 2013

  Manufacturers use Q1 statements to posit growth forecasts as slump lifts Read More

• New V2O5-graphene battery chemistry improves li-ion battery 17 May 2013

  Mediocre steel industry growth could benefit V2O5 non-met applications Read More

• Company Profile: CMI Group IM May 2013

  Cockerill Maintenance and Ingenierie (CMI) Groupe is a technology and service company, which specialises in the industrial and steel sectors as well as energy and defence. Read More

• Price Briefing: Titanium dioxide hikes unlikely to stick IM May 2013

  Recent titanium dioxide (TiO2) price hikes by major producers are unlikely to be accepted by pigment endusers, analysts told IM. Read More

• Cracks on the surface? IM May 2013

  The ceramics industry may have suffered on the back of bearish demand and flagging construction, but the sector’s major players are eyeing BRIC markets, while making expansions and acquisitions in far flung corners of the world, as Siobhan Lismore, Editor, discovers Read More

• Production of high-purity magnesia IM May 2013

  The spray roaster process (pictured) was originally developed by J. Aman in 1958 for the decomposition (pyrohydrolysis) of MgCl2 brines. Consequently, it is also well known as the Aman Process. However, its most common application is the regeneration of spent hydrochloric pickle liquors in the steel industry. Read More

• Cogs turn in CCM market IM May 2013

  The caustic calcined magnesia (CCM) market is not as large as the dead burned magnesia market, but there have been some interesting movements and some new spaces are emerging. Siobhan Lismore, Editor, looks into this market. Read More

• Projects in the pipeline: Vanadium pentoxide - going with the flow IM May 2013

  Vanadium has, for years, been little more than a curiosity on the horizon, but this looks set to change. Traditionally, vanadium has been used as a strengthening agent for steel and titanium alloys but new end uses are emerging. Read More

• Supply Situation Report: Economic recovery boosts soda ash demand IM May 2013

  Unlike some industrial minerals, which are unique to certain areas of the Earth, soda ash, or sodium carbonate, is mined and produced all over the world. Indeed, at least 95 natural sodium carbonate deposits have been identified globally - yet not all of these have been quantified. Read More

• People and places: May 2013 IM May 2013

  Eric Noyrez, CEO of Lynas Corp. speaks to Siobhan Lismore about supply, demand and the company's LAMP in Malaysia Read More

• People and places March 2013 IM April 2013 issue

  Will Belbin, Rox Resources; Akin Bayazit, Akdeniz Mineral Kaynaklari; Canada Lithium; Nelda Connors, Vesuvius; Gordon Cowe,Sirius Minerals Read More

• Whitewash for TiO2 pigment producers March 2013 issue

  Huntsman sees profits drop while Kronos scales back production and Tronox's shipments jump in Q4 Read More

• Rio Tinto places RBM rutile, zircon, processing on care and maintenance March 2013 issue

  Rio Tinto posts $3bn loss in 2012 as the company's chloride slag is brought offline; Sam Walsh pledges “unrelenting focus” Read More

• Rising global oilfield mineral demand assured February 2013 issue

  Positive prospects for increased global demand for industrial minerals in the oilfield sector were welcomed by delegates at IM’s inaugural Oilfield Minerals Outlook: Middle East, which took place in Dubai in January. Read More

• People and Places: January 2013 January Issue 2013

  To continue to lead Rio Tinto Minerals as an innovative and commercially successful business in the industrial minerals sector. I have worked in industrial minerals internationally for more than 14 years, and it is an interesting and challenging industry, yet rewarding in so many ways. Read More

• Miners: talk to the shipbrokers first January Issue 2013

  Trust the experts - good advice when planning the logistics of moving minerals at a time when transportation can be as as much as 70% of the delivered price Read More

• Rare earths to become rarer in electric vehicles January Issue 2013

  The demand for electric vehicles (EVs) is still growing, which is encouraging news for producers of rare earths, used in the construction of their motors. Read More