IM22: Price secrecy major barrier to financing industrial minerals projects
By Laura Syrett
Published: Thursday, 03 April 2014
Financing for mineral exploration projects hit an all-time low in 2012/13 after the collapse of the commodity supercycle in 2011. The warning that opaque pricing in industrial minerals markets is one of the chief deterrents to investment will strike a chord with many hoping to raise funds for new projects.
Secrecy surrounding the price of industrial minerals like
graphite, fluorspar and rare earths that are not traded openly
via exchanges or public contracts deters investors from funding
new exploration for these commodities, delegates at the IM22
Congress in Vancouver have been told.
Speaking before an audience of private and...