Mike O'Driscoll

About Mike O'Driscoll

Mike has over 30 years experience in the international mining and minerals industry, specialising in industrial minerals and markets, for which he is widely recognised as a leading expert. After serving 26 years at Industrial Minerals (IM) magazine – 17 years as Editor – Mike left IM in 2014 to pursue an independent career in the industrial minerals business, and launched IMFORMED in January 2015 with Ismene Clarke. Read more >

Salt market to grow as new sources & challenges face industry

Review of IMFORMED’s inaugural Salt Forum 2022 Hamburg In response to market demand, IMFORMED launched its inaugural Salt Forum in Hamburg last year at the Grand Elysée Hotel, 15-17 November. And what a success it turned out to be! The event drew leading international players and experts from across the salt industry spectrum to present, [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Friday, 21 April, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Fluorspar market outlook | View from Vietnam

Fluorine Forum 2022 Review | Seen & Heard in Hanoi All good things come to those who wait. And for Fluorine Forum to take place in Hanoi, Vietnam we had to wait three years, but we got there – and it was definitely worth waiting for! What an occasion it was: record attendance, excellent presentations, fantastic [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Tuesday, 21 March, 2023|Uncategorized|0 Comments

SME 2023 Denver spotlights minerals for the green economy

It was great to be back at the SME Annual Conference & “MINEXCHANGE” Expo in Denver after a five-year absence, catching up with friends, making new contacts, and taking the pulse of the North American minerals industry. From 26 February to 1 March 2023 >6,500 attendees participated in >120 technical sessions and visited MINEXCHANGE 2023, [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Tuesday, 14 March, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Mineral Market Matrix 2nd Edition 2023

OUT NOW! IMFORMED’s unique Mineral Market Matrix® Wall Chart At a glance guide: which minerals for which markets New edition March 2023 Active in the industrial minerals supply chain? Whether exploring, financing, mining, processing, trading, distributing, transporting, developing, buying or using industrial minerals the Mineral Market Matrix® will be an invaluable reference tool. One of the key features [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Monday, 20 February, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Magnesia Market Review: coming out the other side stronger

Seen & Heard at MagForum 2022 Noordwijk Last year the magnesia industry brushed off the pandemic blues by gathering for a glorious few days at Noordwijk on the Dutch coast to attend IMFORMED’s MagForum 2022, 7-9 June 2022. And what a few days it was! Outstanding networking after so many Zoom meetings, and an excellent [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Wednesday, 25 January, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Oilfield minerals market outlook & 2022 review

Barite | Bauxite | Frac sand | Leonardite | Logistics | Sourcing | China | Morocco | Mexico The New Year rise of oil prices should come as some reassurance to suppliers of industrial minerals to the oilfield market, having faced headwinds and depressing news over the last three years or so. But there are mixed [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Wednesday, 11 January, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Let IMFORMED bring the mineral markets together for you in 2023

 As IMFORMED nears its eighth anniversary, Mike and Ismene would like to thank all our customers, sponsors, friends, and families for their unstinting support during 2022. The last three years has been challenging, particularly 2020-21, and 2022 should perhaps be marked as a year in transition: the world cautiously exited pandemic lockdowns and returned to travel and [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Tuesday, 3 January, 2023|Newsfile, Uncategorized|0 Comments

In Memoriam: David Holmes | David Delamore | Malcolm Crawford

It is with great sadness that we report on the passing of three friends and colleagues from the industrial minerals world. Each were stalwarts of the industrial minerals business, widely respected and recognised for their individual areas of expertise, fondly remembered for their contributions and participation at industry events, and above all for their friendship [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Tuesday, 20 December, 2022|Newsfile|0 Comments

“Recycling is coming”: mineral industry gears up for supply chain evolution

Mineral Recycling Forum 2022 Dubrovnik Review | 2023? same place, same time! If we were to talk about high drama in Dubrovnik, you would be forgiven for immediately thinking of the successful medieval fantasy TV drama series Game of Thrones, much of which was filmed in and around the beautiful old town of Dubrovnik. However, [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Thursday, 24 November, 2022|Newsfile|3 Comments

China refractory minerals outlook in transition

As we head towards the final quarter of 2022 and look towards 2023 and beyond, the international refractory industry is readying itself for a busy period of important international refractory meetings (ICR, Aachen; ALAFAR, Foz do Iguaçu; IREFCON, Kolkata). Kicking off the season was IMFORMED’s China Refractory Minerals Forum 2022 ONLINE held on 14 September [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Monday, 26 September, 2022|Newsfile|4 Comments