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 >

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|Comments Off on Mineral Market Matrix 2nd Edition 2023

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|Comments Off on Magnesia Market Review: coming out the other side stronger

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|Comments Off on Oilfield minerals market outlook & 2022 review

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|Comments Off on Let IMFORMED bring the mineral markets together for you in 2023

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|Comments Off on In Memoriam: David Holmes | David Delamore | Malcolm Crawford

“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

Cofermin Chrome gets flexible in “unprecedented” market climate

Since its restructuring and new management announced in January 2021, we have been reporting on the evolution of Essen-based global mineral distributor Cofermin Group. In this latest follow-up article we focus on the management and role of Cofermin’s chromite division, Cofermin Chrome, established in 2015. Title Image Chromite Horizons: One of South Africa’s leading sources [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Monday, 26 September, 2022|Newsfile|Comments Off on Cofermin Chrome gets flexible in “unprecedented” market climate

Salt market awaits new sources as demand grows amid Asian shortages

New sources of salt are being developed to meet the rising demand for salt worldwide. Some 330m tonnes of salt is consumed globally, with the primary markets being the chloralkali and deicing sectors. The Asia-Pacific region is seeing significant market demand growth estimated at 35% over the next decade. However, the region has been beset by [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:12+00:00Monday, 19 September, 2022|Newsfile|2 Comments

Canada Fluorspar: new owner & restart on the cards?

Fluorspar market awaits outcome as it readies to meet at Fluorine Forum 2022 Canada’s beleaguered newcomer to the global fluorspar supply sector, Canada Fluorspar Inc. (CFI), is awaiting news, potentially by mid-October 2022, of a positive outcome to end its period of interim receivership and closure since February 2022. On 30 August, Newfoundland’s Supreme Court [...]

By |2024-03-22T05:52:13+00:00Friday, 2 September, 2022|Newsfile|Comments Off on Canada Fluorspar: new owner & restart on the cards?