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Cameron Perks, IM correspondent, looks back at the events that shaped the titanium and zirconium industries in 2018 and looks forward to what may play out in 2019
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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.
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Vietnam has ambitions to become one of Asia’s biggest glass exporters. Tran Kim Phuong looks at how the country is trying to achieve this by exploiting its high quality domestic silica sand reserves.
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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.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global frac sand market.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global iodine market.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global antimony trioxide market.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global TiO2 feedstocks and zircon markets.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global rare earths market.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global lithium market.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global fluorspar market.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global graphite market.
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A round-up of the year’s main events in the global bauxite and alumina markets.
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The complexity of the graphite market is one of the main reasons why new producers struggle to establish profitable businesses in this sector, even if they manage get new mines into operation. Correspondent Rose Pengelly examines the intricacies of the graphite supply chain and considers who may be able to step in to help break China’s dominance.
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Funding remains a problem for almost all junior mining companies but, for industrial minerals developers, the market is particularly tough because new ways of raising money do not sit well with the sector’s opaque and illiquid pricing practices, which makes it harder to communicate value, Rose Pengelly reports.
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Magnesia prices out of China have surged in 2018 following severe environmental restrictions. Carrie Shi, Fastmarkets IM market reporter, looks over the year of shutdowns and the effect on prices.
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Improved production in most mining areas is prompting hopes that andalusite supply tightness may ease in the near to mid term, but prices are expected to stay firm due to strong end markets.
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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.
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A round-up of all this year's events in the global industrial mineral sector.
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Strict environmental regulation on magnesite and magnesia production in China has resulted in strong demand for imported products. Cameron Perks, Fastmarkets IM correspondent, looks at how Sibelco’s Australian operations are currently benefiting from this.
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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.
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Amid growing concern about the supply of titanium dioxide feedstocks, Fastmarkets examines the scarcity of these minerals and how processors are adapting to changes in availability.
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With trade wars once again exacerbating concerns over critical mineral supplies, Fastmarkets correspondent Rose Pengelly looks at whether new technologies can make coal a viable alternative source of rare earths.
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Prices have built steadily over the past year in titanium dioxide, and despite seasonal fluctuations and one-off events the outlook is for a period of stability lasting at least into early 2019.
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As big players in the iron oxide pigment business reap the rewards of an upturn in the construction industry, Fastmarkets IM correspondent Myles McCormick takes a look at the state of the market.
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Fastmarkets IM Correspondent Sunder Singh looks at India's titanium dioxide supply and demand dynamics, as well as the future of the industry.
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Automotive manufacturers are demanding better accuracy and longer life from abrasive tools, and this has created an opportunity for a new family of high-performance synthetic abrasives, as Industrial Minerals correspondent Rose Pengelly discovers.
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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.
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Moves by Canada Fluorspar and Sepfluor to enter the global fluorspar market have raised questions about how this will affect the worldwide supply and demand dynamic, and how fluorspar prices may be affected.
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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.
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Pollution regulations and their enforcement in China, coupled with the maturity of the steel and refractory industries, are causing a third major disturbance to the global magnesia market.
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In a quest to make HarbisonWalker International its customers’ ‘first and only call,’ Carol Jackson has pulled out all the stops. “We are not your old refractory company,” she tells Jo Isenberg-O’Loughlin.
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Soaring frac sand demand is being met by a wave of new supply, but how will traditional sellers fare in a world where quantity, rather than quality, is king, William Clarke, Industrial Minerals reporter, asks.
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New supply from Uganda and Turkey pushed up global vermiculite production in 2017. Meanwhile, prices have increased out of the United States because customers are demanding higher grades.
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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.
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Climate change policies have long been part of the conversation in the EU, which set strong 20% reduction targets for 2020, but as Vasili Nicoletopoulos* discusses, the push to go green has had an impact on the mining industry worldwide.
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Two behemoths supply the bulk of the world borates market, making for a highly concentrated industry.
Myles McCormick, IM correspondent, reports on the tussle between the major players, the current dearth of exploration and innovative efforts to increase demand.
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Demand for lithium compounds has accelerated in recent years while China moves to decarbonise its economy. The pipeline for new lithium supply to meet demand largely in Asia remains slow but fears of oversupply are emerging, Martim Facada reports.
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It’s a finite balance between supply just meeting demand and moving to an undersupplied market. Demand in the primary end-use market for soda ash - glass - is strong and there is no new soda ash capacity scheduled to come online to meet growing demand, which means the market could be faced with higher prices for the raw material, Michael Greenfield, Industrial Minerals reporter, has found.
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Rising construction activity and increasing usage in coatings and fillers have helped drive a turnaround in the global slate industry, Rose Pengelly, IM Correspondent, discovers.
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As modern architecture increasingly looks to smart glass for its unique, functional and environmentally friendly properties, Industrial Minerals correspondent Cameron Perks takes a look at how this may stimulate demand for glass minerals, as well as certain metal oxides.
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The world’s refractories manufacturers are proving resilient, despite mounting pressures on the sector. How is this most traditional of industries adapting to unpredictable circumstances?
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The ceramics industry registered a dip in trade and production following the global economic downturn in 2008. But, as Industrial Minerals correspondent Sunder Singh finds, trade in Asia is now picking up, which is putting renewed pressure on kaolin, zircon, bentonite and other ceramics markets.
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Magnesia markets have been severely disrupted by the environmental measures undertaken by the Chinese government in 2017 and into 2018. Production at many sites remains shut in and there is a great deal of uncertainty as to when - and indeed whether - all sites will restart, Davide Ghilotti, deputy editor, discovers
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Digitization is continuing to drive change across many sectors worldwide, fueling a steady decline in writing and printing paper with the rise of e-readers, smart phones and calls for paperless offices. Although this has caused consolidation in the paper industry among some of the largest producing regions, there are still growth opportunities for paper manufacturers and their raw materials suppliers in less mature markets and in packaging products.
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Consumption of mineral filler is growing rapidly, with the market forecast to grow to a worldwide total value of $62.54 billion by 2024, according to some estimates, with global economic growth supporting expansion of the paper, plastics, rubber, paints and construction industries. Industrial Minerals explores the key drivers of this growth, and asks what makes calcium carbonate so attractive as a filler?
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China is still the world’s largest producer of talc but its influence after 50 years of dominating high-quality white talc is starting to wane, UK consultant Ian Wilson discovers.
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Lithium-ion batteries are set to lead the decarbonization of the world’s economy after a technological revolution in recent years. Martim Facada looks at the evolution of the battery industry and its relationship with the most critical raw materials: lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite.
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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.
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India has recorded economic growth of around 7% per year in the past three years. But while it has significant resources of some of the most widely used industrial minerals, this sector has shown only modest growth, as Industrial Minerals correspondent Sunder Singh discovers.
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