Thursday 12 March 2026 was the inaugural "International Day of Ceramics", a global initiative launched by the International Ceramic Federation and the Japan Fine Ceramics Association, and supported by The American Ceramic Society. And what better moment than to simply remind that the ceramics market is the largest consumer of different types of industrial minerals. [...]
Critical Mineral Status | Supply | New Sources | Decarbonisation | Refractories | Chemicals | Hydrometallurgy | Agrimarkets One of the most important suites of industrial minerals are those containing magnesia (magnesium oxide), derived from both natural and synthetic sources, which supply a wide range of markets including agriculture, chemicals, construction, water treatment, steelmaking, refractories, [...]
The refractories industry is facing some challenging headwinds, especially in Europe, but certain factors, plus bright spots expected from steel market performance in India, the Middle East and eventually the USA, should contribute to an overall positive outlook to 2040. According to leading refractories consultant Tom Vert, world refractory consumption is projected to increase by [...]
Industrial minerals recycling has never been more important in today’s and tomorrow’s markets. With consumer overreliance on limited mineral sources, vulnerable supply chains, and the prevailing climate of tariff implementation and ongoing threats of more such disruption, recycling industrial minerals provides a welcome and necessary alternative source option. Moreover it rightly reinforces manufacturing industries’ “green” [...]
RECYCLING | MAGNESIA | FLUORINE | SALT As IMFORMED enters its twelfth year of business (Already?!? What happened?!?), Mike and Maria would like to thank all our customers, sponsors, supporters, friends, and families for their unstinting support during 2025. The year was a particularly tough and uniquely unusual one, having begun it with heavy hearts [...]
IMFORMED’s Salt Forum 2025 took place in the Abu Dhabi InterContinental last week attracting 100 attendees from 34 countries, active in all stages of salt supply and demand. A wide range of key topics were presented by world experts over a day and half, with plenty of time for the all-important networking. A convivial [...]
Fluorine Forum 2025 took place 3 weeks ago at Baveno, Lake Maggiore, Italy. What an event! Whether learning about increased Chinese fluorspar capacity, FSA developments in Morocco and Italy, latest LiPF6 and semiconductor market trends – there was something for everyone in this spectacular setting with a record attendance of over 200 attendees. A message [...]
IMFORMED has just spent the week at the superb UNITECR 2025 in Cancun, where the global refractories community met for four days of networking, exhibits, and presentations. A wide range of refractory industry topics were under discussion including raw materials and recycling, very close to IMFORMED's heart. In addition to IMFORMED as media partner, Mike [...]
In the far north of Peru, more than 1,000km north of Lima, in the arid countryside near the port city of Paita, in Paita Province, lies an alluvial deposit of andalusite that is the world’s fourth largest producer, and one of the few independent suppliers, of the aluminosilicate refractory mineral. In December 2024, following the [...]
Anyone scanning the fluorspar supply sector right now cannot have ignored the uptick in activity and attention to mine development projects for this specialist industrial mineral. Fluorspar has recently garnered increased attention owing to it’s perceived “criticality” in Li-ion battery and semiconductor manufacture, and remains an important mainstay ingredient for production of steel, aluminium, fluorochemicals, [...]
