Industrial Minerals

Features

• CERAMICS CHINA 2013: Technology goes first

  Guangzhou based show confronts a downshift in global economy Read More

• The rough with the smooth

  Abrasives have had a hard time in the last few years as demand has waned on the back of an uncertain economy, but all sectors are set to enjoy growth as manufacturing returns to the black. Siobhan Lismore, Editor, takes a look at an industry on the up Read More

• Price Briefing: Mineral prices begin to show signs of positivity

  The opening months of 2013 brought positive sentiment about industrial minerals prices, with many industry stakeholders hopeful that the economic gloom of 2012 had been left firmly in the past. Read More

• Supply Situation Report: Asia kaolin market dominated by China

  Asia is now the leading regional kaolin producer in the world accounting for 28% of output in 2011 compared to 23% in 2007. Read More

• Projects in the Pipeline: Calcined bauxite – are there enough projects in the pipeline?

  Recent press reports have quoted a leading consumer as describing high-grade bauxite as “a rare commodity in China”. Alison Saxby, Roskill Information Services, explores whether supply can cope with future demand Read More

• Economic recovery beckons for fused alumina market

  As with many sectors, fused alumina, both white- and brown-fused, is beginning to show signs of recovery for uses in refectories and in abrasives. Ted Dickson* looks at the current state of play and where the market may go if the global economy begins to pick up. Read More

• Industrial Minerals Prices March 2013

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Supply Developments

• Lithium Supply and Markets 2013: projects and projections

  Battery grade lithium carbonate consumption is expected to grow by 134% to 2017 from 2012, while battery grade lithium hydroxide is expected to grow eight-fold. Read More

• Ceramic proppant demand attracts bauxite and kaolin players

  First Bauxite eyes proppant market in a strong ceramic proppant market Read More

• Global drive for new energy boosts fracking activity

  As many countries around the world strive towards meeting ever-encroaching carbon reduction targets in a bid to create a cleaner, greener, energy infrastructure, the interest in unconventional oil and gas exploration has continued to mount. This has, in turn, boosted the demand for minerals used in the so-called fracking process. Read More

• Japan’s Nippon seeks rare earths in Jamaica’s red bauxite mud

  Rare earths could offer Jamaica economic diversity, but environmentalists are calling for public consultation Read More

• Imerys 2012 profits up 2.3% thanks to emerging markets

  World leading industrial minerals conglomerate Imerys SA announced a 2.3% increase in profits to €310m ($415m*) for the full year 2012, while operating income grew marginally (0.6%) to €490m, in February. Read More

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

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

• Rhône Capital makes mandatory tender offer for S&B minority shareholders

  A mandatory tender offer was launched for the minority shareholders of Greek minerals and materials group S&B Industrial Minerals in late January by former Almatis owner Rhone Capital LP’s Fund IV. Read More

• Commodity bull in a China shop

  China’s economy is ramping back up, which indicates demand for industrial minerals will also increase in 2013. But dangers still lie ahead as the world’s largest industrial minerals consumer attempts to re-engineer its economy and maintain growth without overheating. Read More

• Chinese New Year leaves markets in flux

  The anticipated upturn in graphite and fluorspar prices has been delayed due to the inactivity of Chinese industry in the lead up to February’s Spring Festival New Years’ celebrations. Read More

Comment

• Mixed outlook for 2013

  Are happier times ahead? Not everyone is certain. An industry report released by leading consultants Ernst & Young in February showed that 2012 saw the lowest number of deals in the mining sector since 2008, and recorded the first annual drop in funds raised since the financial crisis Read More

Market Monitor

• China construction to pick up in 2013

  Construction has always been a key market for a variety of industrial minerals producers in areas such as pigments, insulation, and plastic additives. In a more indirect way, construction is also an important end-market for steel, an industry that would be impossible without refractory minerals. Read More

Strandlines

• Whitewash for TiO2 pigment producers

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

Regulation

• Qualified Persons and Mineral Resource and Reserve Estimation

  One of the key components of mineral resource disclosure standards across the world is that projects are certified by somebody who is sufficiently “qualified” to make the necessary assessment. Don Hains* discusses what makes a Qualified Person and how this relates to resource reporting under NI 43-101. Read More

Processing

• TIVAN extraction process underpins TNG project

  Australia-based TNG talks to Kasia Patel about its patented TIVAN technology, an acid leach process designed to produce three high-purity projects, iron oxide, titanium dioxide, and vanadium pentoxide. Read More

Logistics News

• Scrapper’s torch and dust control

  Stuttering economies around the world continue to put pressure on demand for dry-bulk commodities, while the healthy number of industrial mineral and non-metallic mine projects and expansions set to come on stream over the next few years, suggest an oversupply may be a threat to miners’ balance sheets Read More

People & Places

• People and Places

  US-based chemicals company BASF Corp. has named Thomas Groff as key account manager responsible for national distribution of BASF Automotive Refinish Coatings in North America. Read More

Refractories Hotline

• CUMI posts 83% drop in profits as global business suffers

  Profits under pressure in all segments; Sales volumes down in Russia and India Read More

Company Profile

• Allana Potash Corp.

  Canadian exploration and development company Allana Potash Corp. (Allana) focuses on the acquisition and development of potash assets, with a flagship project underway at the Dallol potash site in the Danakil depression, Ethiopia Read More