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Pressure is continuing to mount on the refractories sector while its main market – the steel industry – suffers from overcapacity, trade tensions and emissions reduction targets, Rose Pengelly finds.
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Alexander Shevelev, CEO of Russian steelmaker Severstal, says that the company has changed its culture quite quickly and substantially to focus on being a solutions provider. Richard Barrett asked him to explain that mission and to recall his path from the shop floor to the top of a company that employs 50,000 people
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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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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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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 TiO2 feedstocks and zircon markets.
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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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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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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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While porous ceramic membranes for nanofiltration of liquids have been widely adopted, take-up of dense ceramic membranes for gas separation has been relatively slow to follow. IM Correspondent Rose Pengelly looks into this lesser known corner of the technical ceramics industry and discovers some of its most promising applications.
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Zircon is important - and some would argue irreplaceable - in markets such as ceramics, which accounts for around 50% of demand. But, as Cameron Perks, IM Correspondent, discovers, there are new sources of interest within that same industry - and demand projections vary wildly.
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Long dismissed as the Cinderella of the commodities world, industrial minerals were regarded as high bulk, low value for most outside the network which makes up our world. But after 50 years IM is looking forward to a glittering future - and so are those at the top of the industrial minerals tree, interviewed in turn about the changing face of the industry.
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Booming steel production has helped prop up demand for Indian refractories amid lacklustre demand from cement and foundries, but as Sunder Singh, IM Correspondent explains, the country’s relatively healthy market is attracting increased foreign competition.
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In the wake of President Trump’s announcement that the US will be pulling out of the 2015 Paris Climate Treaty,
IM looks at the significance of this move and the possible impact this will have on the industrial minerals market.
By Mark Rowe
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A rebound in titanium dioxide prices and demand has paved the way for positive momentum in the mineral sands sector. Kasia Patel, North American Editor, and Cameron Perks, IM Correspondent, look at current industry trends and planned new projects in the sector.
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The global abrasives market is a fairly steady one, but new innovations in application technology are helping to compensate for areas of shrinking demand, Rose Pengelly, IM Correspondent, discovers.
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Fused cast blocks have dominated the market for glass refractories since the early 20th century. Carlo Ratto takes a look at some of the alternative products which have emerged over the years and assesses the future uptake prospects for these materials.
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Mineral sands industry sentiment has been a mixed
bag throughout 2015 and into 2016. Cameron Perks,
IM Correspondent, takes a look at the ups and downs
of 2015 and asks whether mineral sands markets will register any improvements in 2016.
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The Indian mining industry is best described as a success story still in the making. Despite holding reserves of 89 different minerals, Shruti Salwan, IM Analyst, examines why growth in the domestic mining industry has been relatively stagnant, failing to reap the benefits of an emerging middle class.
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The increased uptake of EVs and the growing interest in various types of battery components is fuelling demand for ceramics in energy harvesting, which so far has accounted for a fraction of the industry.
Kasia Patel
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Alumina is the most widely used raw material in technical ceramics production, accounting for up to 80% of the total used. Jessica Roberts* looks at some of the key raw materials in advanced ceramics and their supply chains and outlines which sectors are poised for growth.
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The Australian resources sector is adjusting to lower commodity prices, which have necessitated a revision of cost structures and spending plans. IM gets a feel for the industry’s sentiments and looks at how the country’s miners are making plans to do business in a post-supercycle environment.
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The eastern Australian state of NSW is home to a large number of highly prospective industrial mineral deposits. Cameron Perks and David Forster* outline how the Geological Survey of New South Wales is producing an updated map of the region’s geology in order to showcase its potential to investors, geologists and the wider community.
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Gardanne, France-based Alteo is a leading supplier of speciality alumina products to the global refractories and ceramics industries, but its main focus is on abrasives, as it seeks to capitalise pockets of “tightness” in supply. In order to take advantage of slim opportunities in what is a fiercely competitive market, the company has had to reinvent itself as a business with a reputation for reliability and consistency, Diego Audemard, commercial director for Alteo ARC Fused Aluminas, told IM.
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As the growth in next generation technologies – most notably green energy – continues to gain momentum, scrutiny is intensifying on the supply and sustainability of the raw materials that are facilitating these developments. IM Research analyses the market sensitivity of eight of these critical minerals.
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Specific consumption of refractories in the steel,
glass and cement industries has been steadily declining worldwide, while the market has increasingly shifted towards higher quality products. Antonio Torrisi explores how advanced technical ceramics can benefit from new market trends globally.
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Energy minerals still waiting for battery lift off; chromite market bearish over next 12 months
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The downturn of the global “commodities supercyle” and slowing raw material demand in China has been felt keenly in Australia’s resources sector. But while proponents of Australian mining admit the industry isn’t quite as mighty as it used to be, they say that there are still plenty of reasons to be positive Down Under, Siobhan Lismore-Scott, Editor and
Laura Syrett, Prices Editor, discover.
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Alkane look to zircon markets with the Dubbo project
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Thunderbird deposit can fulfil 8% of global zircon demand according to Sheffield Resources; metallurgical testwork confirms high quality product using conventional process.
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IM Prices
IM October 2014 issue
Zircon buyers thrift; ilmenite further to fall
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Vietnam has 3,260km of coastline, along which the main sand deposits containing ilmenite, rutile, zircon and other heavy minerals are distributed. Tran Kim Phuong* outlines how these deposits can be of use for the rare earths — or the TiO2 — market.
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Potash miners unlikely to accept price erosion; Soda ash prices buoyed by capacity decreases; Substitution threat looms over zircon prices
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Over the last two years IM has reported on the shifting trends in the refractories industry, with China looking to reduce wastage and increase energy efficiency. Ted Dickson* explores these various trends and asks – how will this shift impact raw material supply?
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Agrimineral demand recovery continues as flame retardant chemical price growth stutters; no gains in sight for mineral sands
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Antimony prices settle for summer months; Magnesia stabilises as spot market sleeps
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Zircon and its derivatives face an uncertain future owing to competition from substitute materials, but where is additional demand expected to come from? Kasia Patel, Chief Reporter, investigates.
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Despite slow growth in traditional markets such as Europe, the ceramics industry is expected to be driven by urbanisation and a rebound in housing and construction in key markets such as China and the Middle East, creating opportunities for suppliers of ceramic minerals such as kaolin, zircon and feldspar.
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It has not been a good year for the industrial minerals industry. There have been some shining lights, of course Ñexploration continues at an astonishing rate in some markets despite falling demand and, consequently, prices - but on the whole producers and suppliers have felt the pinch.
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The titanium dioxide (TiO2) feedstock industry underwent a significant period of upheaval during 2012: prices rose, prices fell and production was cut by some of the largest producers.
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Recent titanium dioxide (TiO2) price hikes by major producers are unlikely to be accepted by pigment endusers, analysts told IM.
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The ceramics industry may have suffered on the back of bearish demand and flagging construction, but the sector’s major players are eyeing BRIC markets, while making expansions and acquisitions in far flung corners of the world, as Siobhan Lismore, Editor, discovers
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China is taking on more significance as a global producer of titanium dioxide pigment, industry consultants TZMI, explore recent developments and the country’s future growth
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2013 is to be Africa's year with Kwale to be first online followed by Minerals Commodities' Tormin and Mineral Deposits' Grand Cote
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Abrasives have had a hard time in the last few years as demand has waned on the back of an uncertain economy, but all sectors are set to enjoy growth as manufacturing returns to the black. Siobhan Lismore, Editor, takes a look at an industry on the up
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Guangzhou based show confronts a downshift in global economy
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Starting off the year in a bad place, things just got tougher for zircon with overstocks and substitute minerals looming
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John Ollett reports from the sidelines of this years TZMI conference in Hong Kong, where he finds the conversation has turned to the TiO2 processing route and China’s position in the market.
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While rare earths, zircon and TiO2 feedstocks slipped in September, antimony trioxide prices showed some recovery.
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