Magnesia features

• December 2000

  Alumina cements - Lining up against steel & sewage

  01 December 2000

  In the September issue of IM we published a review highlighting the wide variety of special cements manufactured for a range of markets  In that article, only brief mention was given to alumina cements, whose market is split into high, medium and low calcium aluminate cements (CAC). These cements, using limestone, bauxite, and/or alumina as starting raw materials have become the workhorse component of the growing castables sector of the monolithic refractories market.

• Not to be sniffed at - US and European cat litter markets reviewed

  01 December 2000

  The cat litter market remains a huge consumer of absorbent clays. People in the west, and in the USA particularly, are spending more and more on their pets. The US cat litter market alone is now worth $1,100m. In Europe the market is more complex but trends are still discernible, and to some extent have followed the lead of the USA.

• November 2000

  Graphite - High-tech supply sharpens up

  01 November 2000

  From its unassuming beginning as the “lead” in a pencil, graphite has become an $8,000m. industry. The applications for this slippery, conductive material keep evolving, and look set to make graphite a material for the future.
   

• Fertilisers bear frit - IM projects in Jordan and Saudi Arabia

  01 November 2000

  Both Saudi Arabia and Jordan have established modern and favourable mining laws and offer tax and other incentives to attract investment. Both are also steadily shifting the emphasis from public to private sector development of their mining industries..This article highlights some of the major projects that are now making it off the drawing board and into production

• Caught up in the Web - Industrial minerals and e-commerce explained

  01 November 2000

  B2B, B2C, C2C, e-hubs (biased and neutral), vertical networks, aggregating, matching – ah yes, some of the familiar terms associated with the fast growing vocabulary of e-commerce. But what do they all mean? And more importantly, what kind of role can e-commerce play in the business of industrial minerals? Iain Scarr has been assessing just this issue

• Getting it in the bag - Haver & Boecker's new innovation for packaging technology

  01 November 2000

  Haver & Boecker reveals a new innovation that it hopes will enhance the market for modern packaging technology