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 >

Refractories Feast in Frankfurt!

Big thanks to the UNITECR 2023 organisers for putting on a terrific show last week. It was fabulous to meet our customers, contacts, & make new friends from the refractories world. IMFORMED thanks all those who stopped by our stand, attended the recycling panel, and Mike O’Driscoll’s presentation “Squaring the Circle: Recycling Refractory Minerals – [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Monday, 2 October, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Hot dates for hot topics in refractories

CALL FOR PAPERS | SPONSORSHIP & EXHIBIT OPPORTUNITIES   XII European Congress of Refractory Raw Materials, Machinery & Installation Meliá Lebreros, Seville, 13-14 March 2024 Co-organised by ANFRE, Spain (National Association of Manufacturers of Refractories, Materials and Related Services) and IMFORMED, this will be a stimulating conference focusing on key aspects of the refractory raw [...]

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

Magnesia Amore at Maggiore | Supply & Market Outlook

Review of MagForum 2023, Baveno, Italy The shores of beautiful Lake Maggiore at Baveno hosted the largest and most successful MagForum to date. Some 230 international attendees from across the supply chain of the magnesia raw materials industry gathered in late May to network and learn of the latest market trends and developments. Certainly, there [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Thursday, 21 September, 2023|Newsfile|1 Comment

Dr Ian Wilson 1943 – 2023

It is with great sadness that we report the recent passing of our great friend, mentor, and worldly industrial mineral geologist Dr Ian Wilson in mid-June 2023, just weeks away from his 80th birthday. Without a doubt, Ian was one of the legendary geologists and communicators of the industrial minerals world and made long-lasting friendships [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Thursday, 20 July, 2023|Newsfile|9 Comments

Industrial Minerals Back to Basics: What? Why? How?

Workshop at 2023 AGM of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Sometimes you’ve just gotta get back to basics to properly understand the principles of the industrial minerals business and how it functions. IMFORMED was offered the opportunity to do just this by kind invitation to run a workshop at the 2023 Annual General Meeting of Benchmark Mineral [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Friday, 7 July, 2023|Newsfile|2 Comments

Industrial Minerals Review 2022-23: Getting greener | Sourcing smarter

My introduction to last year's IM Annual Review of Mining Engineering concluded with a pointer to the challenges facing the industrial minerals sector in developing and employing carbon emissions reduction, energy conservation, and recycling practices for a sustainable future (see Industrial Minerals Review 2021-22: Testing times sustain market turmoil, but outlook positive). Throw in further critical raw material [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Friday, 7 July, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Dusseldorf Daze! GIFA-METEC 2023

A hot, intense, but fabulous time last week networking at GIFA-METEC 2023, catching up with our many clients and contacts, and making new friends in the industrial minerals, refractory, foundry, metallurgy, & trading markets. We were especially pleased to meet so many Chinese contacts who were able to travel for the first time since the pandemic lockdown [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Monday, 19 June, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Fluorspar new sources go underground for the battery charge

Projects in Mongolia & Germany | Updates from USA, Canada, Italy, Kenya, Australia World fluorspar production capacity remains tight, with few, if any, new production capacities ready to come on-stream any time soon. However, there are some very interesting projects in the pipeline. Title Image Feeling their way underground: (left) Examining fluorite veins at KHD [...]

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

Mineral recycling radiates in Dubrovnik | Mineral Recycling Forum 2023 Review

Industrial Minerals | Refractories | Li-ion Batteries | Construction Materials | Fertiliser | LIBS Springtime in Dubrovnik? It must be time for IMFORMED’s Mineral Recycling Forum 2023! And indeed it was, with close to 100 international delegates attending from across the industrial mineral recycling supply chain. Title Image Sun, Sea & Recycling: Another successful Mineral Recycling [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Thursday, 18 May, 2023|Newsfile|0 Comments

Challenge & change in the world of speciality aluminas – the view from Almatis

IMFORMED interviews Anıl Sönmez, Chief Executive Officer, Almatis Almatis is the market leader in speciality alumina products and solutions for the high performance refractory, ceramic, polishing and speciality markets. In April 2023, IMFORMED interviewed Almatis CEO, Anıl Sönmez, to catch up with recent developments and to assess how the company has responded to recent challenges, [...]

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