-
In ever more environmentally conscious times, the recyclability of steel and aluminium packaging has come to the fore around the full circle of the supply chain, reports Gregory DL Morris
Read More
-
Refractory-grade bauxite prices have held firm due to tightening supply despite the uncertainties caused the Covid-19 pandemic.
Read More
-
Low capacity utilization at China’s kilns for production of brown fused alumina was weighing heavily on the markets, driven by weak demand for refractories.
Read More
-
Battle tested, hard-nosed, and, at times, known to be very blunt, the top executive of the largest and oldest independent iron ore mining company in the US has been called many things in an almost 40-year career spent from one end of the steel supply chain to the other. Fearful is not one of them.
Read More
-
Steel mills and service centers expect a slow restart to auto making, reports Gregory DL Morris.
Read More
-
While China’s ports have resumed normal operations, markets for refractories are sluggish.
Read More
-
China’s domestic logistics are returning to normal, but overseas demand has been curbed by the Covid-19 virus.
Read More
-
Delays to exports of minerals from China are inevitable as a result of the nation’s battle to contain the spread of novel coronavirus. Davide Ghilotti and Carrie Shi made a mid-February assessment of the impacts.
Read More
-
New LME chair Gay Huey Evans has a great depth of experience and wide range of interests. Andrea Hotter asks her what has driven her career and what priorities she has at the exchange.
Read More
-
Most provinces in China are still facing strict environmental restrictions during the winter months, with raw materials production and demand from the downstream sector affected to some degree, report Carrie Shi and Sybil Pan.
Read More
-
The market for fused alumina has been characterized by an increasing separation of brown fused (BFA) and white fused (WFA) alumina. As these factors strengthen, the decoupling is expected to drive these markets further apart in the near term, writes Davide Ghilotti
Read More
-
Weakening refractories business affected trade flows of Chinese bauxite to international customers, but the supply tightness in mining and processing acted as a counterbalance, reports Sybil Pan.
Read More
-
Pressure is continuing to mount on the refractories sector while its main market – the steel industry – suffers from overcapacity, trade tensions and emissions reduction targets, Rose Pengelly finds.
Read More
-
Suppliers debate whether calcined alumina can break the oversupply wall in a bearish 2020 scenario, writes Davide Ghilotti.
Read More
-
Alexander Shevelev, CEO of Russian steelmaker Severstal, says that the company has changed its culture quite quickly and substantially to focus on being a solutions provider. Richard Barrett asked him to explain that mission and to recall his path from the shop floor to the top of a company that employs 50,000 people
Read More
-
Indian refractories output rebounded in 2018, after three successive years of decline. Sunder Singh analyzes what was behind the shift in the industry’s fortunes and hears reasons for both optimism and consternation, from some of the market’s key participants.
Read More
-
When Erik Zobec launched Seven Refractories at
the height of the eurozone crisis, few would have believed the company would go on to become one
of the world’s leading monolithics producers. As
Seven approaches 10 years in business, he talks to Ross Davies about its ascent.
Read More
-
US-based Bricking Solutions has been in the refractories kiln maintenance business for more than 50 years and has been led by managing director Heather Harding since January 2019. She shares her views on the business she runs and the wider refractories industry.
Read More
-
Refractories bounced back in 2018, driving demand for bauxite and alumina raw materials, but the market continues to face what is becoming a perennial state of crisis affecting supply from China.
Read More
-
Whether you call them technical ceramics, engineering ceramics or advanced ceramics, these materials have advanced steadily through the past year, and 2019 holds a great deal of potential for more widespread adoption, notably in the high performance industrial arena, as Charlie Wallin reports.
Read More
-
A round-up of the year’s main events in the global bauxite and alumina markets.
Read More
-
The spreads in the bauxite market have been widening, while concerns over China's 2019 supply flow increase and keep brown-fused alumina (BFA) and white-fused alumina (WFA) prices stable.
Read More
-
A round-up of all this year's events in the global industrial mineral sector.
Read More
-
The broad upward swing has been welcomed by the beleaguered sector but there is cause for caution, writes Will Fray, senior analyst at Maritime Strategies International.
Read More
-
After a year of reorganization and changing narratives in the refractories industry – from significant M&A activity to raw material price spikes, and from booming end-market demand to uncertainties in global trade – Industrial Minerals correspondent Myles McCormick takes stock of a changed landscape for companies operating in the sector.
Read More
-
The non-metallurgical alumina market is diverse and complex and, over the past year, its main sub-sectors have been under pressure from rising costs and hiccups in supply, limiting availability of white fused, alumina hydrate and calcined alumina to the wider market, independent consultant, Ted Dickson, discovers.
Read More
-
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are at the forefront of digital solutions that could dramatically improve efficiency in the mineral processing sector. But mining companies have been reluctant to invest in the technology needed to revolutionize their operations.
Read More
-
Cheap Chinese alumina has been undercutting abrasives prices and output in North America and elsewhere for several years, but recent supply restrictions in China could reverse this trend, as Industrial Minerals correspondent Rose Pengelly discovers.
Read More
-
China’s high-profile disruptions to industrial operations have wreaked havoc in the bauxite and alumina supply chains serving refractories end markets, taking prices to new highs.
Read More
-
As non-metallurgical alumina markets are facing a combination of tight supply, high demand and rising prices, Industrial Minerals caught up with Gildas Fontaine, marketing, business development and communication director at France-based speciality alumina supplier Alteo, to discuss what is in store for calcined alumina and the future prospects of global speciality markets.
Read More
-
While porous ceramic membranes for nanofiltration of liquids have been widely adopted, take-up of dense ceramic membranes for gas separation has been relatively slow to follow. IM Correspondent Rose Pengelly looks into this lesser known corner of the technical ceramics industry and discovers some of its most promising applications.
Read More
-
If 2016 should be remembered with a shudder, then 2017 will be remembered as the year when it became harder to source minerals. The supply situation changed for many minerals in the markets that Industrial Minerals covers, not least because many producers were simply shut down by strict environmental laws in China, or found it harder to source materials due to demand-side challenges, consultant editor Siobhan Lismore-Scott writes.
Read More
-
Long dismissed as the Cinderella of the commodities world, industrial minerals were regarded as high bulk, low value for most outside the network which makes up our world. But after 50 years IM is looking forward to a glittering future - and so are those at the top of the industrial minerals tree, interviewed in turn about the changing face of the industry.
Read More
-
Demand for refractory products is evolving, forcing suppliers to upgrade their offers and processes to stay ahead of the game, while Chinese-origin raw materials are appreciating on the back of supply shortages, making productions costlier, Davide Ghilotti, IM Chief Reporter, finds.
Read More
-
One of the largest markets for industrial minerals, refractories are essential for producing steel, glass, ceramics, cement and lime and for many other processes requiring high temperatures. But as Richard Flook* explains, despite their crucial role, manufacturers of these products are facing significant challenges from changing global trends.
Read More
-
Booming steel production has helped prop up demand for Indian refractories amid lacklustre demand from cement and foundries, but as Sunder Singh, IM Correspondent explains, the country’s relatively healthy market is attracting increased foreign competition.
Read More
-
In the wake of President Trump’s announcement that the US will be pulling out of the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty,
IM looks at the significance of this move and the possible impact this will have on the industrial minerals market.
By Mark Rowe
Read More
-
Technical ceramics are opening up new possibilities in everything from spaceships to dentistry, but the closed nature of the industry’s raw materials supply chain may be holding the sector back, Davide Ghilotti, Chief Reporter, finds.
Read More
-
High purity alumina is typically produced via an add-on
stage to traditional alumina extraction from bauxite, but at least two companies are on the cusp of breaking into the material’s supply chain with revolutionary new processing methods, Cameron Perks, IM Correspondent, finds.
Read More
-
Jessica Roberts assesses the health of the refractory industry’s key consumers so far in 2016, and outlines longer term trends that look to influence the market this year and beyond.
Read More
-
As the US Geological Survey prepares to issue a special publication on the mineral resources of Iran, the international business community is kicking its heels in frustration about the snail’s pace of progress towards establishing trade links with the Islamic Republic, Rose Pengelly, IM Correspondent, writes.
Read More
-
The solar photovoltaic (PV) industry is at last experiencing its heyday after decades spent at the periphery of the energy market.
Read More
-
Alumina is the most widely used raw material in technical ceramics production, accounting for up to 80% of the total used. Jessica Roberts* looks at some of the key raw materials in advanced ceramics and their supply chains and outlines which sectors are poised for growth.
Read More
-
While technical ceramics may be a growing application for minerals such as kaolin and zircon, the majority of these are still consumed by traditional applications like construction and tiles. Kasia Patel, North American Editor, looks at some recent developments in the sector.
Read More
-
Ructions in the global commodities markets have wrought havoc with demand for both metallurgical and non-metallurgical grades of bauxite. While the demise of the former, used for the production of alumina for aluminium metal, has been well documented, the slowdown in the refractory grade bauxite sector has been less obtrusive. IM’s Acting Editor, Laura Syrett, spoke to the industry about how it is dealing with the downturn in refractories consumption.
Read More
-
A roundup of the year's main events in the global oilfield minerals industries.
Read More
-
The eastern Australian state of NSW is home to a large number of highly prospective industrial mineral deposits. Cameron Perks and David Forster* outline how the Geological Survey of New South Wales is producing an updated map of the region’s geology in order to showcase its potential to investors, geologists and the wider community.
Read More
-
Change is a constant in the industrial mineral world, but it is accelerating in some sectors in particular – a fact that has implications for the calcined bauxite supply chain. Liz Gyekye, Chief Reporter, investigates.
Read More
-
Essen, Germany-based Cofermin’s dispersed yet nimble network of operatives can expand the market reach of suppliers and multiply sourcing options for buyers of speciality minerals. With the recent launch of two new businesses, the group is delving into even more niches than it was in before. Cofermin spoke to IM how people are at the heart of its reputation for transparency, efficiency and trust.
Read More
-
While some refractories producers are seeing revenue decline, Pittsburgh, US-headquartered United Refractories Co. is maintaining its sales. Kasia Patel, North American Editor, spoke to the company about its strategy of creating new product blends according to customer requirements and remaining diverse in a number of markets.
Read More