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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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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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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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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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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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With the United States gearing up to create a domestic solar cell industry to rival that in China, Industrial Minerals correspondent Cameron Perks asks what effect this will have on domestic suppliers of high-purity quartz.
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Although the number of industrial minerals covered by IM is far reaching and the technology required for their production often varies by sector, the mining industry is seeing increasing calls for corporate social responsibility and greener technology, particularly in light of the growing role renewable energy has to play in the everyday lives of consumers.
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Spruce Pine in the US state of North Carolina is the self-styled “silica valley” on which the more famous Silicon Valley of California relies for high purity quartz. Cameron Perks, IM Correspondent, investigates how the supply concentration of HPQ is causing concern and creating opportunities for other producers.
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Russian Quartz LLC is ramping up its Kyshtym project in the southern Urals to produce 10,000 tpa high purity quartz concentrates from the beginning of next year. In cooperation with Japan’s Sumitomo Corp., the company hopes to turn the previously uneconomic project into a major supplier to Asia’s high-tech industries, Vladislav Vorotnikov, IM Correspondent, discovers.
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The mining arm of Kaltun Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret is one of the biggest feldspar producers in Turkey, with output of around 2m tpa as well as smaller quantities of mica and quartz. The company is seeking to build on its strong position in the Turkish market by reaching new customers in regions including the Middle East, Africa and Russia.
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As well as importing more minerals into the region, countries in the Middle East also started to concentrate on developing their own minerals industry, here, Siobhan Lismore-Scott details why this has happened and where.
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Although regulatory difficulties in the past may have discouraged foreign investment, South East Asia is being touted as a region ripe for development with many underexploited resources and demand for industrial minerals in a variety of markets including refractories, glass, ceramics, construction and proppants.
Andrew Scogings, IM Correspondant, Kasia Patel, Deputy Editor, and Tran Kim Phuong, Contributor
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LKAB Minerals highlighted the issue of sustainability in refractories at a number of events in the last 12 months, emphasising the need for renewable energy and more recycling.
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The Norwegian government is seeking to attract miners to the country and has developed a strategy for the minerals industry to do this by promoting the country’s deposits and publicising the industries that are already in place and working.
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With limited competition and few high-grade resources worldwide, the market for high-purity quartz should be a tough nut to crack. Yet with leading producers working side-by-side and others focusing on targeted end-market specifications, progress has been steady even throughout the challenging financial period of late. Emma Hughes, Deputy Editor, takes a closer look at these projects.
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Glass manufacturing is a large consumer of many industrial minerals, including soda ash, quartz and limestone. It is also used in a wide variety of industries, such as construction, manufacturing and home ware. But with the economic recession still leaving a trail of devastation in many industries, how will the glass supply chain fare in 2013?
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India’s ceramics industry has emerged as a modern, world-class sector, ready to take on global competition. Consultant Ajay Kulshreshtha outlines the country’s main ceramic producers and raw material sources
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Minsands focus could turn to welding as global demand increases for the sector
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While economic difficulties for Greece continue, Ananias Tsirambides and Anestis Filippidis highlight the wealth of the country’s mineral resources and suggest how they could contribute to assisting its financial future
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With an estimated market size of 100,000 tpa, and intrinsic ties to the semiconductor and photovoltaic cell markets, high purity quartz is the downplayed strategic mineral of the green technology boom
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The new generation of alternative power sources are providing attractive prospects for industrial mineral applications. Despite the recession, and against expectations, the photovoltaic and wind power sectors grew significantly in 2009, a trend that is expected to continue through 2014
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After many prosperous years, the ceramic tile industry saw its first real slowdown in 2008. Asia and the Middle East now lead the way to recovery, while Europe and the USA remain sluggish
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Mathias Trojosky of Allgaier Process Technology discusses the pros and cons of rotary drum versus fluidised bed drying techniques
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An abrasives market focus: opportunities have opened up for certain types of abrasive products, especially superabrasives in specific markets. Alison Russell reviews minerals used as abrasives and examines consumption trends within the industry.
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Industrial minerals are expected to play an important role in Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification policy. Amongst other minerals the country hosts high quality silica sand, quartz, and quartzite deposits. Mian Habib et al examine the country’s investment in high purity silica minerals, and highlights supply and demand
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China's need for ceramics raw materials is increasing. The response from southern sources is examined
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Major redevelopment projects in Afghanistan are placing large demands on the minerals industry, which is struggling to keep pace. Clive Mitchell and Antony Benham report on the revival of the country’s industrial minerals industry
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Having established a solid position in the domestic Turkish feldspar and quartz markets, Turkish producer Ermad sees a bright export future in all minerals, including its olivine production
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Turkey's ever increasing production power and reserves of high quality ceramic raw materials, particularly feldspar has the leading European producing countries of Spain and Italy looking over their shoulders.
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Greece continues to hold leading positions in world magnesite, bentonite, perlite, and pumice production and exports. The country is also the leading producer of bauxite in the EU and a dominant player in the global cement market. Kiki Hatzilazaridou and Ioannis Marantos of IGME review the industry’s status, developments, and outlook
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New IFC initiative to modernise mining regulation and boost investment
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The EU’s new REACH policy is scheduled to come into force in spring 2007. According to Roger Doome of IMA-Europe, co-ordination is the name of the game if the industrial minerals industry is to be ready for implementation.
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EU employers and employees concerned about the risks posed by respirable crystalline silica have reached Europe’s first multi-sector agreement, aimed at workers’ health protection. Dr Michelle Wyart-Remy, Secretary General of IMAEurope, explains its road to approval and how it will work.
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Often dwarfed by metallic exploration and production, the mining of industrial minerals in the Nordic region is often overlooked. However, the area hosts some of Europe’s most important carbonate deposits, as well as a suite of other minerals
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Industrial minerals are widely used in the production of ferroalloys for steel production – this includes not only manganese ores and chromite but also silica-rich materials
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Tile manufacture has shifted in recent years towards low cost producing regions such as Asia and Eastern Europe. This presents challenges for ceramic industrial minerals suppliers
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SMEs are at the core of the EU’s entrepreneurship policy
revamp. Michelle Wyart-Remy, IMA Europe General- Secretary, describes the problems industrial minerals SMEs may encounter when facing the EU health and safety programme.
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