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From the withdrawal of one of its core members to the implementation of a new fuel surcharge on exports, the last year has been an eventful one for Ansac - the world’s largest exporter of natural soda ash. But as president Chris Douville tells Ross Davies, the challenge of running the corporation continues to be a rewarding experience.
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Lithium has traditionally been considered a specialty chemical, but it has been acting more like a commodity in recent years, according to analysts. Martim Facada considers how this development was sparked by the growth of the Chinese industry and raised quality expectations.
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Frustration at the lack of progress in India’s mining sector was simmering at the annual FIMI meeting in Delhi in September. Sunder Singh discovers how many in the industry believe that, far from advancing, mineral production in India is going backwards.
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Delegates at Fastmarkets' Graphite 2019 Conference in Berlin, Germany, in September said reduced volumes from Mozambique may gradually rebalance graphite prices, Davide Ghilotti and Jon Stibbs, write.
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European battery production will more than double in the decade to 2025, according to industry association Eurobat. Jon Stibbs considers Europe’s political response to the growth of its battery sector.
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Prices for market electrodes have hit bottom and the market is now waiting for the trigger for prices to rise again, GES Europe analyst Benjamin Sarkoezy tells Fastmarkets in an overview of the current market.
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The consequences of China’s environmental inspections crippled supplies of fluorspar to the rest of the world in 2018, and the material now comes at a premium although quality and delivery are not guaranteed. Michael Greenfield examines how European and US consumers of the mineral are looking elsewhere to secure their supply chains.
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Fastmarkets identified seven main takeaways from its 11th Lithium Supply and Markets Conference in Santiago in June.
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Claims that natural graphite is a cheaper alternative to synthetic material are frequently made in the junior mining sector, but downstream users say there is price parity among end-products. Rose Pengelly reports.
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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.
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State-backed incentives for the production of electric vehicles (EVs), which up until now have been mostly financial, are slowly shifting to supportive legislation for the sector.
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Production from new lithium projects is expected to fall short of forecast consumption.
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Having the capacity to produce either lithium carbonate or hydroxide is essential to the commercial survival of projects industry delegates have heard.
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Australian exploration company Infinity Lithium explains why the rewards of developing lithium projects in the EU could be immeasurable, if the bloc acts on pledges to support the development of local battery supply chains.
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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.
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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.
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Fastmarkets lithium reporters consider why Chinese average marginal tonnage has prompted market participants to rethink their business practices and why the domestic spot price in China is becoming increasingly more relevant as the price proxy for the lithium industry.
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Abundant reserves, robust price forecasts and a lack of major catastrophes have dampened enthusiasm for innovation in the global potash industry, but does this approach risk missing important chances to improve production of one of the world’s most important minerals? Rose Pengelly reports.
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Driven by demand from multiple sectors - from construction and horticulture to fire protection and steelmaking - the global vermiculite and perlite market remains in growth mode, underscored by a healthy supply-demand balance, reports Ross Davies.
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Wollastonite has been described as “a white mineral for a greener world” and it seems governments, businesses and industries agree – with wollastonite set for increased market growth in its traditional uses plus a new focus on its powerful qualities to help tackle climate change.
Sarah Gibbons, Keith Nuthall, Raghavendra Verma and John Pagni
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Markets for oilfield minerals have had a slow start to the year while global drilling activity remains limited and oil markets repeatedly fail to break new highs.
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Mining companies have been given several solutions to reduce transport costs, including no need for tugs, which reduces onshore infrastructure, and keeping vessel sizes in a range of 22,000-60,000 dwt that would mean project development is faster, easier and cheaper.
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Demand for battery raw materials has led lithium producers to increase their total production volumes while looking to diversify their investments in different lithium operations to ramp production up faster and diminish asset risk.
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“I’ve always enjoyed brainstorming ideas with engineers, asking what else we can develop using graphite.” Stephen Riddle, chief executive officer of Asbury Carbons, speaks to Rose Pengelly about his passion for carbon, and why even four decades of experience does not mean you have seen everything in graphite.
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Led by a revival in North American sales, the outlook for the global flat glass market remains positive – as it also does for the container sector. Manufacturers will need to fork out more for raw materials, though, Ross Davies finds.
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Turkey is the standout performer in Eurasia’s industrial minerals industry but its economic recession is affecting the wider region. Rose Pengelly looks at what neighboring countries are doing to boost their domestic mining sectors.
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Paper markets may be changing but the minerals used within them are still being used in the same way. Ian Wilson takes a look at precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) and discuses producer developments in 2019.
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The mineral kaolinite was named after a hillside near the village of Gaoling in Jiangxi province, China, where the clay was traditionally mined to supply the nearby famous porcelain factories in Jingdezhen. Today, as Ian Wilson* and Frank Hart ** discover, China is just as important in the kaolin - and indeed the ceramics - industry.
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Sameer Nagpal has been charged with turning Indian refractories producer Dalmia-OCL into an international brand and he is convinced he can do it.
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Steep increases in price of the raw material have squeezed margins among iodine derivatives producers, while some companies are reported to be producing very cheap derivatives in a bid to gain market share, Michael Greenfield, Market Reporter, finds.
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Widely used in industrial applications, pharmaceuticals make up a relatively modest proportion of bentonite’s end markets – a situation which could change with more research and advances in technology, Rose Pengelly, Correspondent, finds.
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The Indian ceramics industry has made steady progress in the past few years on the back of a growing middle class and several governmental schemes to boost the industry, as correspondent Sunder Singh discovered at India’s recent Ceramics Asia event.
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The chief executive of VV Minerals tells Fastmarkets that restrictions on private exports of mineral sands will be bad for production.
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“For us, customization is essential,” ArrMaz chief executive officer Dave Keselica, tell Jo Isenberg-O’Loughlin, as his company spearheads a molecule-by-molecule drive to recover every bit of lithium the company’s customers pull out of the ground.
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The global high-purity quartz market remains as tightly controlled as ever, despite efforts by China, junior companies and synthetic material producers to open up the supply chain, correspondent Rose Pengelly writes.
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Cold water was thrown on the lithium market in 2018, with prices falling and lithium miners’ equity prices declining alongside. Fastmarkets IM believes the price weakness was front-loaded, with the market deleveraging into the prospect of two to three years of supply surplus.
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An uptick in mineral exploration financing since 2017 is welcome but may not be enough to undo years of under-investment in identifying new economic deposits, correspondent Rose Pengelly finds.
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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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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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