• Environmental and explosives controls impact output, prices increase • Magnesite supply reform: state control of raw magnesite sales • Bauxite/BFA supply also challenged How green is my valley? Mining of magnesite and production of magnesia in Liaoning province has been severely hit by a combination of very limited provision of explosives for mining [...]
SepFluor kickstarts Nokeng as Doornhoek awaits green light Core values: logging core at SepFluor's Nokeng project, where 12.2m tonnes of ore have been measured at an average of about 27% CaF2. Courtesy SepFluor The emergence of a new era of South African fluorspar production may have been heralded by SepFluor Ltd subsidiary Nokeng [...]
Despite a decline in world fluorspar demand in 2016 owing to weak demand particularly for metallurgical-grade material, the outlook remains strong for fluorine in the steel, aluminium, and fluoropolymer markets as prices firm during 2017. This was the essence of a review of the fluorspar market by Peter Huxtable, Huxtable Associates, UK published in Mining [...]
MagForum 2017 analyses latest issues and spotlights potential newcomers and markets Key takeaways China: supply impact issues to beset 2017-18; controversial trade reforms proposed New supply sources and capacities: Saudi Arabia (DBM+CCM), Australia, Canada Refractories: steady growth in steel demand; good cement outlook for certain regions Market opportunities in hydrometallurgy, flame retardants, environment, cement board, [...]
IMFORMED interviews Peter Huxtable & Alison Saxby Plus Fluorine Forum 2017 Programme Update "It's a very interesting time. There is an awful lot happening, and a lot of uncertainty". So says Peter Huxtable, consultant and specialist in fluorspar with over 40 years’ experience in the industry, including 20 years at the Glebe fluorspar mine in [...]
Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum 2017 Review This year there was definitely something to smile about, and we are not just referring those intrepid delegates braving the “bucking bronco” at the Monday reception (more on that later). The oilfield minerals industry is feeling its way out of the doldrums of 2015/16, as drilling activity recovers, [...]
Industry heads to MagForum 2017 Kraków for answers and latest outlook Fusing magnesia in Dashiqiao, Liaoning province; production has been dramatically reduced owing to pollution inspections in the province, prompting shortages in supply for export and domestic markets. Accounting for about 70% of world magnesite production and just over 60% of world magnesia production, [...]
Imerys' Wrens, Georgia, 500m lbs/yr ceramic proppant plant acquired from Pyramax Ceramics in 2012, idled in 2015 owing to the market downturn. Courtesy PayneCrest Electric & Communications The phrase “building on sand” has an unfortunate ring of reality to those ceramic proppant suppliers striving to attain some purchase on the wave of recovery [...]
A fleet of Weatherford pump trucks attends to a hydraulic fracturing pad in the Marcellus, Pennsylvania, soon to be part of the huge new OneStim joint venture between Weatherford and Schlumberger announced in March 2017. As the year’s First Quarter reports start to roll in it is already clear that 2017 is going [...]
Dr Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Mines and Steel Development said that the government was likely to commence substitution or ban importation of barite for oil companies to patronise barite produced locally, according to the Premium Times of Nigeria. Nigeria’s barite sector is hoping to enter a new era of development that will enable [...]
