Magnesia features

• December 2006

  The changing face of China

  01 December 2006

  Government measures to stifle exports and soaring domestic demand for minerals are just two of the factors reshaping the Chinese minerals market. Here we examine the main issues at play and see how players are reacting to this evolving market

• China's minerals go green

  01 December 2006

  China has embarked on an ambitious regulatory programme to improve its environmental record. As Ian Hanks and John Evans of Tractus Asia explain, improved enforcement of the clean-up rules is likely to help re-shape the Chinese minerals sector and benefit foreign investors.

• Expanded perlite: low in density, high in use

  01 December 2006

  Perlite is a multi-talented mineral and expanding it opens up a plethora of varied end use applications from acoustic tiles to fruit juice filtration. Graham Ellicott takes us through the key markets for expanded perlite.

• Termolita: northern Mexico's perlite producer

  01 December 2006

  MEXICO ACCOUNTS FOR 10% of world perlite production making it the fifth largest producer after the USA, China, Greece, and Japan. Production is dominated by Termolita SA de CV and Grefco Minerals.

• Paint's eastern bright spots

  01 December 2006

  Terry Knowles surveys the shifting world paint scene and highlights its brightest markets. Many of these are in the east, which has forced paint companies to invest there in search of growth, and raw materials such as industrial minerals

• Refractory aluminations

  01 December 2006

  Geography plays a major part in selecting kyanite or andalusite for the refractories and ceramics market. Here we highlight these sillimanite minerals’ main sources of supply and applications

• Taxing times for Chinese exports

  01 December 2006

  PLUS: RHI fusion plant in South Africa; Perlite Canada Inc. seals supply deals; CapMan to sell Nordkalk stake; Borates clarification; Jamaican GCC trials; Lynas relocates RE plant to Malaysia; SA kaolin expansion potential; GE to sell fused quartz business; Ownership changes at Oregon Resources; Kovdor reports increased baddeleyite/ apatite output; Almatis’ alumina price rises; BBR halts Nova Scotia quartz processing; ICL raises Mg(OH)2 pricing; IBI proceeds with Uganda vermiculite order; Hoben buys Minelco vermiculite operation; Lafarge expands US aggregate business; Admiralty’s lithium project success; UN Convention fails to agree asbestos restrictions; Morgan-DLJ bid talks terminated; Coyote Creek gypsum sale complete; Fairmount sand development

• Minerals boost for Yemen

  01 December 2006

  New IFC initiative to modernise mining regulation and boost investment

• A watery issue for US minerals

  01 December 2006

  A recent US Supreme Court decision on wetlands jurisdiction could have an impact on mineral producers, notably those with dredge and fill operations. As Robert W. Lawrence explains, it is all a question of definition.

• IM December 2006 prices

  01 December 2006

• November 2006

  Morgan Crucible bid talks terminated

  10 November 2006

  25 October 2006
  DLJ, the second company to take an interest in the UK refractories producer, pulls out of bidding

• RHI fused minerals plant in South Africa

  10 November 2006

  9 November 2006
  RHI Refractories to build a new Mg-Cr and Al2O3 fusion plant in Isithebe, South Africa, in a bid to increase revenue

• Refractory streamlining in Europe

  01 November 2006

  The refractory business may be buoyant at present, but these are interesting times. Overcapacity, industry consolidation, and a shift in production and consuming markets eastwards added up to a challenging market for European suppliers

• Japanese pyrophyllite

  01 November 2006

  Occurrences and applications: Pyrophyllite is used in refractories, pottery, tiles, cement, agricultural chemicals, and glass fibres. Rather more popular in East Asia than elsewhere, Gaku Yano and Tadataka Hida, review Japan’s supply and demand of pyrophyllite.

• A matter of purity

  01 November 2006

  Head to head: Exploring the pros and cons of boric acid and colemanite: why many end users are choosing the higher priced alternative

• Larger and leaner

  01 November 2006

  Refractory minerals supply feels the heat of steel consolidation: It’s a mantra that can be applied to virtually all industrial sectors – to stay competitive you have to cut costs, while adding value to products and services. It has been recited by many in the industrial minerals business for some time now, but refractory mineral suppliers could shortly be repeating it louder than ever.

• Swiss interest in Morgan Crucible

  01 November 2006

  PLUS: MTI Asmas buy sealed; Tata Refractories plant in China

• Ropczyce goes East

  01 November 2006

  First Polish-Chinese refractories j-v opens in Haicheng

• Magnesite focus in Shenyang

  01 November 2006

  Report on the 2nd China Liaoning International Magnesia Materials Exposition, which took place in Shenyang, 22-24 September 2006

• Seeing eye to eye: minerals & society

  01 November 2006

  Seen and heard at IMA-Europe’s 2006 Conference, Strasbourg, 6-8 September 2006

• IM November 2006 prices

  01 November 2006