Industrial Minerals

Latest News

AACHEN 2018: Raw materials, price evolution in the spotlight

Monday, 22 October 2018

Attendees discuss how market participants will secure supply for the coming year, and how prices are expected to perform going forward.
Aachen 2018: What we learned

Monday, 22 October 2018

Key takeaways from the 61st International Colloquium on Refractories, held September 25-26 in Aachen, Germany
Industrial Minerals commodity prices for September

Monday, 22 October 2018

A round-up of commodity price movements in September 2018.
Refractory minerals taken off US tariffs list; TiO2 pigments, ceramic raw materials still included

Monday, 22 October 2018

Graphite, magnesia, alumina and silicon carbide are excluded from the list of China-origin materials subject to a new US tariff, as are antimony, rare earths and barite. Pigments such as titanium dioxide will also be subject to the duty, as will refractory finished products, some ceramic minerals such as kaolin, and lithium.

Alumina prices set to plummet back below $500/t following Alunorte U-turn – sources

Wednesday, 10 October 2018

Market participants expect alumina prices to plunge below the psychological $500 per tonne level after the planned shutdown at the Alunorte refinery in Brazil was called off.
Price Briefing: September 21-27

Friday, 28 September 2018

China’s domestic magnesia prices edge up on regulatory restrictions, export prices unchanged; China’s unshaped refractory materials output up 10% in August; Aachen 2018: Prices of refractory minerals expected to remain firm
Bauxite, brown fused alumina prices rise in China

Friday, 21 September 2018

Current closures at bauxite and alumina plants in China may be in place for months once the recently announced winter shutdown regulations come into force, forcing prices upward.
Fused alumina prices rise on Q4 supply concerns

Friday, 14 September 2018

Brown fused and white fused alumina prices have increased, offsetting yuan-related depreciation, while the price of refractory grade bauxite 88% ticked up on continued production issues in Shanxi.

Dissecting alumina supply

Thursday, 06 September 2018

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.
Out of the melting pot: A year of change in refractories

Thursday, 06 September 2018

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.
Feeling the rub: Asian abrasives continue to challenge Western suppliers

Thursday, 22 February 2018

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.
Feeling the heat: Bauxite and alumina under pressure

Friday, 26 January 2018

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.