RHI Magnesita will fuse together the world’s second and third largest refractory groups, pooling an impressive stable of refractory producing facilities and considerable refractory raw material resources, dominated by magnesite and dolomite.

Mega-Mag-Merger: Magnesita’s vast Pedra Preta magnesite mine, near Brumado, Bahia, Brazil, which provides >1m. tpa feedstock for dead burned and caustic calcined magnesia production could be joining RHI’s equally impressive magnesite resources in Austria (Ibar Nordeste’s magnesite mine is in the background, soon to be exporting its DBM production).

The potential of such a move was most recently signalled in June this year by Magnesita’s formation of Magnesita International Ltd in the UK and its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM – the rationale was described as being “in the context of strengthening the image [of Magnesita] as a global player”.

Octavio Pereira Lopes resigned as CEO of Magnesita and was appointed Chairman of Magnesita International Ltd (apparently remaining leader of the Magnesita Group with regards to international operations), while former Technical & Raw Materials Director, Luis Rodolfo Bittencourt, was appointed the new CEO of Magnesita in Brazil.

Magnesita also announced plans to relocate its executive board to a London headquarters, although Brexit has somewhat thrown a spanner in the works here, and now the Netherlands is being eyed for the new headquarters.

In July 2016, the Brazilian group then divested its talc business for US$55m, presumably deemed “non-core”.

This was a not an inconsiderable asset, and a rather nice addition for Italian talc leader IMI Fabi SpA’s growing portfolio, bolstering its position behind Imerys and Mondo Minerals as third leading western talc producer.

Mining talc at Magnesita’s Cabeaceiras mine very close to the magnesite operations. This asset was sold to IMI Fabi SpA of Italy in July, in advance of the RHI Magnesita deal.

Magnesita produced around 1.5m tpa crude talc from the Cabeaceiras mine, hosting 11m tonnes talc reserves (neighbouring its magnesite operations in Bahia) and producing around 44,000 tpa high grade talc for filler markets. In 2015, the talc business generated US$ 14m in revenue.

Otherwise, it has been widely regarded by industry observers that the world refractories industry was ripe for further consolidation and an RHI-Magnesita deal had been mooted some years ago.

Back in 2011 the prospect of such a consolidation between RHI and Magnesita became a hot topic as both groups were preying on each others’ home turf – Magnesita grabbing ThyssenKrupp steel contracts in Germany, RHI building a refractory plant in Brazil (subsequently placed on hold in the face of punitive antidumping import duties).

Nevertheless, the news still arrives with some impact, as the merger of these two giants of magnesia and refractory production brings under one roof a significant array of refractory raw material assets, which are examined later, as well as refractory manufacturing plants worldwide.

Richard Flook, Mosman Resources, will review and analyse the changing shape of the refractories sector at MagForum 2017, 11-13 June 2017, Kraków
Super Early Bird Rates available now

Also: Field Trip to leading magnesia refractories producer Ropczyce SA

The RHI Magnesita deal

Announced on 5 October 2016, RHI’s Management Board has agreed to sign a share purchase agreement with Magnesita’s controlling shareholders regarding the acquisition of a controlling stake of at least 46%, but no more than 50%, plus one share of the total share capital in Magnesita.

The purchase price for the 46% stake will be paid in cash amounting to €118m and 4.6m new shares to be issued by RHI Magnesita, a new RHI entity to be established in the Netherlands and listed in London.

Based on RHI’s six-month volume-weighted average price of €19.52, the implied value of the 46% stake amounts to €208m.

As a result of the transaction, GP Investments (a controlling shareholder of Magnesita) will become a relevant shareholder of RHI Magnesita. The migration of RHI is to be effected by RHI Magnesita becoming the ultimate holding company of RHI Group.

Completion of the deal is subject to approvals including the relevant competition authorities, the migration of RHI to the Netherlands, and the listing of RHI Magnesita’s shares in the premium segment of the Official List on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

Completion is expected in H2 2017. Until then, the two companies will remain completely separate and independent. Following completion, a mandatory tender offer will be launched by RHI Magnesita or one of its affiliates for the remaining shares in Magnesita.

In its statement last week, RHI expected the combined company to generate fully consolidated revenues of €2.6-2.8bn with an operating EBIT margin of more than 12%.

Magnesita made a London share listing a precondition for its takeover by RHI, but owing to the UK vote on 23 June to leave the European Union the group now has to find a place other than London for the headquarters of RHI Magnesita.

Therefore the new company is to be established in the Netherlands to remain subject to European merger rules, while its shares will be listed in London. Had the Brexit vote failed, then RHI Magnesita would most likely have been based in London. RHI is to be delisted from the Vienna Stock Exchange.

Just before announcement of the takeover, RHI appointed Stefan Borgas as RHI’s new CEO with effect from 1 December 2016. Dr. Wolfgang Ruttenstorfer will continue to be available as interim Chairman of the Management Board until 30 November 2016.

Continuing consolidation

This is a process that has been ongoing for some time and which has radically reshaped the corporate landscape of the sector. But it has needed to.

The main end use sectors for refractories are global heavy manufacturing industries which have also consolidated in similar fashion across the world: steel, cement, ceramics, glass, lime, nonferrous metals.

Drivers for the these markets are primarily regional economic performance, construction, and urban development.

In order to conserve costs in production, sourcing, and logistics (especially in the face of low cost Chinese exports of both refractory raw materials and end products), as well as maintain an efficient global sales and distribution network, the refractory industry has shrunk considerably in the last three decades to just a few multi-national players leading the field, followed by a few medium sized companies (see chart).

Each of the top four refractory groups are the resultant amalgamations of massive mergers and acquisitions during the 1990s and 2000s: Vesuvius (Hepworth, Foseco); RHI (Veitsch-Radex, Didier Werke); Magnesita (LWB Refractories); Calderys (owned by Imerys: Plibrico, Lafarge Refractories).

Some of the companies following them have also followed this trend: Krosaki/Harima, HarbisonWalker International (formerly ANH, the collective of AP Green, North American Refractories, and Harbison Walker Refractories).

RHI Magnesita will be the fusion of the world’s second and third largest refractory groups, which will see it move above the current top spot held by Vesuvius.

The merger enables a far superior global reach for both companies which would have otherwise remained a challenge, especially in bringing Magnesita to Europe and RHI to the Americas.

Both companies complement each other on basic refractory technology, particularly in magnesia and dolomite refractories, and in operations in China.

However, it is their combined refractory raw material resources which also stand out to be examined.

A raw material world: vertical integration

Regarding raw materials, the common bond between RHI and Magnesita has been their pursuit of self-sufficiency in key refractory raw materials, each having achieved somewhere in the region of 80% self-sufficiency – mainly in dead burned magnesia (DBM) and fused magnesia (FM).

Although the vertical integration trend kicked off in earnest in the mid-2000s, with RHI making some major magnesia acquisitions and investments, and Magnesita expanding its DBM capabilities, both companies have roots in magnesite mining, if not pioneering the development of refractory magnesia grades. That is, they were already captive mineral producers from the start.

Which might explain perhaps why most other leading refractory producers have not followed suit, as was anticipated to a certain degree. In other words, unless you are an existing captive refractory mineral producer, starting from scratch might be a challenge too far.

Key exceptions outside China (where vertical integration is widespread) are Magnezit (magnesite) and Calderys (aluminosilicate minerals from Imerys), while a few others have limited themselves to some specific captive production, eg.: Vesuvius (fused silica), Ropczyce (fused magnesia), Refratechnik (fused magnesia), POSCO (magnesia), Saint-Gobain (silicon carbide), Kerneos (bauxite).

The accompanying map illustrates an overview of the combined refractory raw material sources under the proposed new company RHI Magnesita.

Immediately apparent is the consolidation of two of the world’s leading DBM producers, which will now result in a magnesia group to rival Magnezit, Russia in size, and overtake SMZ, Slovakia and Kumas, Turkey in capacity.

RHI also has two synthetic magnesia sources using seawater, in Ireland and Norway to produce DBM and FM, respectively.

The majority of DBM is for captive use in refractories production, but both groups also sell to the external market.

In 2015, Magnesita’s Industrial Mineral sales accounted for 6.6% of Magnesita’s consolidated revenue for the year, against 5.5% in 2014. Mineral sales revenue totalled US$65m up 40.8%.

Magnesita explained the rise as mainly down to a 160% increase in DBM external sales, driven by higher productivity in Brumado combined with a decrease in refractory volume production. Thus DBM was the single largest external mineral sale in 2015 accounting for 29%, over 12% in 2014.

Another key point is the reinforcement of refractory grade dolomite resources that is brought by Magnesita, the world leader. RHI has one source in Italy, but Magnesita is active in the USA, Europe, and China.

Although dolomite is mostly mined for feedstock for dead burned dolomite production for refractories, dolomite is also sold for non-refractory applications, such as slag conditioning.

In 2015, RHI saw its raw material external sales increase by 63.2% to 297,000 tonnes in total . This was primarily due to sales of raw dolomite from Italian subsidiary Dolomite Franchi SpA which made a “significant contribution to volume”. The trend appears to continue in 2016 with H1 2016 total sales up 26% to 180,000 tonnes.

Although RHI sources most of its magnesia from magnesite, in 2011 the group acquired Premier Periclase Ltd, producing high purity synthetic DBM from seawater at Drogheda, Ireland. Courtesy Sonja Larissegger, RHI

Both groups have limited raw material operations in China, but to have at least some presence in China is a good thing for this industry.

Just to complete the magnesia portfolio, both groups produce caustic calcined magnesia (CCM) for DBM and FM feedstock, but also for a range of non-refractory markets.

Additionally, RHI is active in magnesium hydroxide (MDH) production in Ireland and through MAGNIFIN Magnesiaprodukte GmbH & Co KG in Austria, a 50:50 JV with Martinswerke GmbH (now part of Huber Engineered Materials).

In Brazil, Magnesita also offers an interesting mineral reserve portfolio of graphite, chromite, kaolin, gibbsitic clays, kyanite, and pyrophyllite to complement its mainstream magnesia and dolomite production.

Hostage to market forces

The drive for vertical integration, while laudable and understandable in seeking alternatives from inconsistent Chinese supply availability and pricing, is not without its pitfalls.

RHI has reduced output at its new 85,000 tpa fused magnesia plant in Porsgrunn, Norway, built to negate purchasing Chinese FM. The €75m plant opened in late 2012, however, a year on and production was around 35,000 tpa owing to energy costs and technical issues, which have since been addressed.

With the dramatic drop in Chinese fused magnesia prices during 2015-16, this has further compounded the plant’s position. During H1 2016 19,000 tonnes FM was produced.

Lower qualities of fused magnesia are now purchased from China at a lower price, while the Norwegian raw material is used for high quality grades for the steel industry.

In Brazil, Magnesita was keen to develop a 40,000 tpa graphite mine in Almenara, Minas Gerais, with measured and indicated resources of 12m tonnes of graphite with an average grade of 2.2% graphitic carbon.

Much interest was garnered in 2012, however, the mine life was estimated at just six years, and the project was suspended in late 2014. Whether any impetus will stem from RHI Magnesita remains to be seen, although with the emerging battery market consuming more graphite, a second look at this project would not be surprising.

Don’t miss Graphite Supply Chain 2016, 13-15 November 2016, Newport Beach including:

Refractories: Global trends and the future for graphite’s biggest market
Dr Paschoal Bonadia Neto, Mineral Technology Manager, Mineral Technology Centre, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil

China: the future for graphite supply and demand
Haibo Mo, Deputy General Manager, Qingdao Hensen Graphite Co., China

Graphite: An independent supply/demand forecast for 2017 onwards
Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK

The evolving use and applications of graphite in the foundry industry
Richard Clark, Senior Technical Specialist, Morgan Advanced Materials, USA

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It will probably take until late 2017 or even early 2018 to allow the dust to settle and take stock of any potential structural changes to the RHI Magnesita raw material portfolio.

In any event, it remains one of the greatest mergers in the refractory industry’s evolution.

FINAL PROGRAMME ANNOUNCED

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SUNDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2016
DAY ONE: WELCOME

16:00 Registration Island Hotel, Newport Beach
18:00 Welcome Drinks Reception & Networking
sponsored by Bass Metals Ltd   

MONDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2016
DAY TWO: CONFERENCE

07:30 Registration | Networking Breakfast | Exhibition Booths

08:30 Welcome Address
Mike O’Driscoll, Director, & Ismene Clarke, Director, IMFORMED, UK
• Launching Graphite Supply Chain 2016
• The rising critical of niche minerals versus commodities
• Conference & Workshop overview

08:45 SESSION ONE: KEYNOTES
Chair: Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK
each speaker slot includes 10 minutes of Q&A

08:45 Graphite anodes and the lithium ion battery age
Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK
09:15 Refractories: global trends and the future for graphite’s biggest market
Dr Paschoal Bonadia Neto, Mineral Technology Manager, Mineral Technology Centre, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil
9:45 Expandable graphite: an overlooked but emerging growth market
Thomas Junker, Managing Director, Graphit Kropfmühl /AMG Mining, Germany

10:15 Coffee Break & Exhibition Networking

11:15 SESSION TWO: GRAPHITE SUPPLY
Chairman: Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK
11:30 China: The future for graphite supply and demand
Haibo Mo, Qingdao Hensen Graphite Co., China
11:50 Environment problems and solutions for China’s graphite industry
Christopher Zhao, Secretary, China Non-Metallic Minerals Association, China
12:10 The North American graphite industry: from a processors perspective
Stephen Riddle, President, Asbury Carbons, USA
12:30 India’s graphite market: supply & demand dynamics
Shishir Poddar, Managing Director, Tirupati Carbon and Chemicals PVT Ltd, India
12:50 New major near term flake supply from Mozambique
Speaker TBA, Syrah Resources, Australia
13:10 Q&A session with all speakers

13:30 LUNCH | BUYERS FORUM | EXHIBITION
sponsored by Alabama Graphite Corp. 
Welcome speech from Donald Baxter, President & CEO, Alabama Graphite

Exhibition: an exhibition for new graphite suppliers, services companies and end users will provide the backdrop for all networking sessions during the conference, including the lunch
Buyers Forum: an extended lunch to allow for private meetings with all major suppliers of graphite with buyers/interested parties.

15:30 SESSION THREE: NEW SUPPLY PIPELINE
Chair: Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED
Coffee served during session from 16:45

15:30 Julian Stephens, Managing Director, Sovereign Metals Ltd, Australia
15:45 David Christensen, Managing Director, Renascor Resources, Australia
16:00 Paul Gorman, CEO, Great Lakes Graphite, Canada
16:15 Tim McManus, CEO, Bass Metals, Australia
16:45 Doug Smith, Executive Chairman, Graphite One, Canada
17:00 Cherie Leedon, Managing Director, Metals of Africa, Australia
17:15 John Parker, Managing Director, Lincoln Minerals, Australia
17:30 Steve Tambanis, Managing Director, Black Rock Mining, Australia

17:45 Networking Drinks Reception
sponsored by Alabama Graphite Corp. 

TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016
DAY THREE: CONFERENCE & WORKSHOPS

08:00 Networking Breakfast with Exhibitors, Benchmark & IMFORMED

09:00 SESSION FOUR: GRAPHITE DEMAND
Chair: Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED
each speaker slot includes 10 minutes of Q&A

09:00 Batteries: An independent market overview and forecast to 2022
Sam Jaffe, Managing Director, Cairn Energy Research Associates, US
09:30 Anodes for batteries: current to future technologies
Dr Emma Kendrick, Chief Technologist – Energy Storage, SHARP Laboratories of Europe
10:00 The evolving use and applications of graphite in the foundry industry
Richard Clark, Senior Technical Specialist, Morgan Advanced Materials, USA
10:30 Flake graphite price outlook: the divergence of concentrate versus value added products
Andrew Miller, Analyst, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK

11:30 SESSION FIVE: WORKSHOPS
Focused workshop discussions on key market and technical aspects of the graphite industry. A short 10 minute presentation from industry experts will introduce themes to be discussed. A closed door affair, Chatham House rules. No journalists permitted. Coffee and snacks to be served in each respective workshop.

Workshop 1: Batteries
Competing anode materials: trends in R&D
Technical problems with producing spherical graphite and synthetic graphite

Chair: Andrew Miller, Analyst, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK
Presentations and discussion from:
Emma Kendrick, Chief Technologist, SHARP Laboratories of Europe
Joseph Li, Product Manager for Energy Materials, Superior Graphite, USA
Simon Moores, Managing Director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, UK
George Hawley, President, George C. Hawley & Associates, Canada
Don Baxter, President & CEO, Alabama Graphite, USA

Workshop 2: Industrials
Trends in graphite consumption in refractories and industrial markets
Considering other carbon materials: threats and opportunities

Chair: Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK
Presentations and discussion from:
Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED, UK
Richard Clark, Senior Technical Specialist, Morgan Advanced Materials, USA
Thomas Junker, Managing Director, Graphit Kropfmühl, Germany
Dr Paschoal Bonadia Neto, Mineral Technology Manager, Mineral Technology Centre, Magnesita Refratários SA, Brazil

13:00 Lunch

14:30 Close of Conference

* subject to change

• Receptions, lunches, coffee breaks specifically designed for networking
• Private meeting space service and facilities
• and a stunning beach proximal location in California…

REGISTER NOW!

Courtesy Island Hotel Newport Beach

The Middle East remains a powerhouse of oil and gas production and thus a major market for oilfield minerals used in drilling fluids, stimulation and cementing applications.

The region is a major importer of key oilfield minerals such as barite and bentonite used in drilling fluids, and is anticipated to be a potential growth market for proppants as development of unconventional resources gets underway.

Although there are changes afoot in the global energy market (see below), the Middle East share in global oil production in 2016 has been at its highest level for 40 years.

Imports of barite have increased markedly from 2011 to 2015: with Saudi Arabian imports rising from 334,874 tonnes to 912,202 tonnes, Kuwait from 16,972 tonnes to 158,203 tonnes, and Oman from 13,534 tonnes to 73,510 tonnes (see chart).

There is understood to be some limited developments in frac sand processing in Saudi Arabia, but regarding ceramic proppants there are no regional sources.

With Saudi Aramco’s ongoing shale gas exploration programme and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s (ADNOC) 2030 strategy including planned gas developments, any future demand market for proppants is likely to be met by imports.

All the latest trends and developments in oilfield mineral demand in the Middle East and Asia will be discussed at Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017, 15-17 January 2017, Habtoor Grand Resort, Dubai.

Attractive Early Bird Registration Rates end next week 30 November 2016

Book Now!

Programme

OVERVIEWS
Review and outlook for the Middle East oil and gas sector
Mark Watts, Oil & Gas Editor, MEED, UAE
Supply chain management: Procurement is the low oil price panacea
Sam Achampong, Regional Director, Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, Middle East & North Africa (MENA), UAE
Middle East unconventional gas production: potential and progress
Robin Mills, Chief Executive Officer, Qamar Energy, UAE
Review of current hydraulic fracturing activity in Middle East/Central Asia
Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FRAC PT FZE, UAE

CERAMIC PROPPANTS
Chinese ceramic proppants for the Middle East market
Viviana Trevino, President, Changqing Proppant Corp., China
Ceramic proppant production and its export potential in South Asian countries
Jayantibhai Bhatt, Bhuvaneshwari Mineral Consultancy, India

FRAC SAND | PROCESSING
Frac sand resources & supply in the Middle East & India: a regional review
Murray Lines, Managing Director, Stratum Resources Ltd, Australia
Developments in oilfield mineral processing
ST Equipment & Technologies LLC, USA

DRILLING FLUIDS | BARITE
Oilfield drilling fluids outlook in the Middle East
Abdul Seedat, Commercial Director, International Drilling Fluids and Engineering Services (IDEC) Ltd, UAE
Indian barite supply and demand in Middle East & India
Rajmohan Reddy, Managing Director, IBC Ltd, India
Iran barite resources: geology, economy, and outlook
Dr Alireza Ganji, Industrial Minerals Specialist, Iran

INDIA | CLAYS
Supply and demand of oilfield minerals in India and trade with the Middle East
Yaswanth Vattikunta, Managing Director, Garuda Drilling Mud chemicals Pvt Ltd, India
Bentonite in drilling fluids in the Indian and Middle East oilfields
Rohan Khandelwal, Regional Manager, Star Bentonite Exports, Dubai
Development and supply of clay grades for drilling fluids
Tolsa SA, Spain

Click here for Programme timings

Natural gas revolution forecast

November 2016 has seen the release of two major forecast reports on the oil and gas market which pretty much are in agreement with each other: oil and gas demand is to continue to 2040, but with major growth in gas and renewables.

The 2016 OPEC World Oil Outlook (WOO) was launched by His Excellency Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo during the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC) 2016 on 8 November 2016.

Key takeaways included forecast total primary energy demand set to increase by 40% to 2040 with combined, oil and gas expected to supply around 53% of the global energy demand by 2040.

There is projected a major shift towards gas and renewables at the expense of coal. The majority of demand growth is expected to come from natural gas, at some 2.1% p.a. growth to 2040.

OPEC anticipates supply from unconventional gas resources “…to rise and play an increasingly important role in meeting global demand requirements”.

Then on 16 November, the International Energy Agency (IEA) launched its World Energy Outlook 2016, revealing that renewables and natural gas are “the big winners in the race to meet energy demand growth until 2040.”

Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2016

The IEA sees global oil demand continuing to grow until 2040, mostly because of the lack of easy alternatives to oil in road freight, aviation and petrochemicals.

In the longer-term, investment in oil and gas will be essential to meet demand and replace declining production.

The IEA predicts “a second natural gas revolution” with a 30% rise in LNG, and doubling of trade in LNG supporting an expanded role for natural gas in the global mix (see chart).

As well as focusing on specific oilfield mineral developments, Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017 will cover the broader issues and influences on the oil and gas market which will directly impact demand outlook for industrial minerals used in the sector.

Register now!

Contact Ismene +44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

SUPER EARLY BIRD RATES

FIELD TRIP TO MEXICHEM

CALL FOR PAPERS

In response to customer demand, IMFORMED is delighted to announce its inaugural Fluorine Forum 2017, 30 October – 1 November 2017, in San Luis Potosí, followed by a Field Trip, 2 November 2017, to Mexichem, operator of the world’s largest fluorspar mine.

Set in a superbly styled hotel, selected for its convivial atmosphere and facilities for conference and private meetings, Fluorine Forum 2017 will provide an invaluable and unrivalled networking and knowledge acquisition base for professionals in the fluorine minerals market, plus a rare opportunity to visit a world class fluorspar mine and plant first hand.

The conference will be essential to all those active or with an interest in the fluorine mineral supply chain, from developing and mining sources, through logistics and processing, to end use applications. Don’t miss out, book now!

Programme, Presentation enquiries

Mike O’Driscoll | mike@imformed.com | +44 (0)7985 986 255

Registration, Sponsorship, Exhibition enquiries

Ismene Clarke | ismene@imformed.com | +44 (0)7905 771 494

As IMFORMED nears its second anniversary, Mike and Ismene would like to thank all our customers, sponsors, friends, and families for their unstinting support during the year.

May we take this opportunity to wish all of you a most Happy, Peaceful, and Prosperous New Year, and very much look forward to continuing our business and meeting you in 2017.

Forums for 2017

Programmed with Intelligence | Moderated by Experts | To Engage and Serve the Industry

CLICK ON TITLE FOR DETAILS

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017

15-17 January 2017, Dubai

Mineral Recycling Forum 2017

7-8 March 2017, Rotterdam

Mineral Logistics Forum 2017

10-11 April 2017, Amsterdam

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

21-23 May 2017, Houston

MagForum 2017

11-14 June 2017, Kraków

Fluorine Forum 2017

30 October-2 November 2017, San Luis Potosí

Graphite Supply Chain 2017

November 2017

Please contact us now with your interest in participating

Early Bird Rates available

Registration | Sponsorship | Exhibition

Ismene ismene@imformed.com T: +44 (0)7905 771 494

Programme | Presentations | Field Trip

Mike mike@imformed.com T: +44 (0)7985 986 255

Additional speakers | Sponsor news

With just over a week to IMFORMED’s inaugural Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017, 15-17 January, at the Habtoor Grand Resort Dubai, we are delighted to announce some updates to the programme.

The barite mine in Karazhal, central Kazakhstan, operated by a j-v between Halliburton and Global Chemicals Corp. The plant, which came on stream in early 2016 is expected to reach its design capacity of 200,000 tpa by 2018, supplying drilling consumers mainly in Azerbaijan,Russia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan Courtesy Karazhal

Barite session extended

Our barite session on Day 2 has been extended with the addition of the following presentations:

Barite from Pakistan
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, Advisor to GMSA, Bolan Mining Enterprises, Pakistan

Broychim barite developments
Imane Moudnib, Marketing Manager, Broychim, Morocco

These join the other barite talks:

Indian barite supply and demand in Middle East & India
Rajmohan Reddy, Managing Director, IBC Ltd, India

Iran barite resources: geology, economy, and outlook
Dr Alireza Ganji, Industrial Minerals Specialist, Iran

Barite and minerals in Morocco
Ali Melouki, Director of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Ministry of Energy and Mines, Morocco

The extended barite session means that Abdul Seedat, Commercial Director, International Drilling Fluids and Engineering Services (IDEC) Ltd, UAE, will present his keynote “Oilfield drilling fluids outlook in the Middle East” on the morning of Day 1.

FULL PROGRAMME DETAILS HERE

Guizhou Saboman to sponsor Welcome Reception

We have great pleasure in announcing Guizhou Saboman Imp. & Exp. Co. Ltd as the Welcome Reception sponsor of Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017.

Guizhou Saboman is engaged in mining, production, and marketing of barite products including API grade, chemical grade, paint grade, raw barite ore and all kinds of barite powder.

Sourced from its seven barite mines and resources in Guizhou, the company controls the quality of raw barite ore and offers high quality and excellent service.

Trimex exports record barite shipment to Middle East

Leading Indian mineral processor and exporter, Trimex Industries Ltd, recently set a new barite loading record at Chennai Port.

On 16 December 2016, Trimex loaded 32,483 tonnes of barite by mobile harbour crane on to the vessel MV Maa Saleha Begum at JD-2, surpassing the previous highest loading of 30,200 tonnes of barite in a single day on 23 September 2008.

The cargo was destined for Abu Dhabi, UAE. Despite the recent oil industry depression, barite consumption in drilling fluids in the Middle East has been relatively healthy.

Trimex is part of Rescom Holdings, a sponsor of Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017, and one of the largest mineral and metal conglomerates in the GCC and Asia Pacific regions.

The group prospects, mines, sources, processes and delivers minerals and metals to the world’s leading oil drilling, ceramic, glass, construction, energy and fertiliser industries.

Ecutec acquired by Netzsch

In November 2016, the Netzsch Business Unit Grinding & Dispersing, headquartered in Selb, Germany, acquired ECUTEC Barcelona SL.

ECUTEC, a leading supplier of production equipment and process solutions for the dry processing of minerals, is exhibiting at Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017.

The company’s primary focus is ultrafine grinding and classification as well as special surface coatings of such products. Founded in Germany in 1996, ECUTEC is headquartered in Barcelona.

The Netzsch Business Unit Grinding & Dispersing is also active in the market for mineral applications with its Business Field Minerals & Mining. With the acquisition of ECUTEC, the company plans to intensify and expand its activities in this sector.

Joe Roettle, Global Sales Director, ECUTEC explained to IMFORMED about the benefits of the deal: “ECUTEC had a good past with M-I SWACO/Schlumberger who helped us to grow and initiated the successful entry into the oilfield market with oilfield minerals as well as ceramic proppant processing technologies.

“But the growth rate of ECUTEC and the declining oilfield market wasn’t a good match and we were looking for an environment which can appreciate what ECUTEC has to offer and which allows ECUTEC to grow further. This we found with Netzsch as a company with an extremely good reputation in the market and a very wide technological and sales network all over the world.

ECUTEC can benefit from the Netzsch structure and technologies where for some of them we can apply for the mineral market. For example, Netzsch has wet processing technologies which ECUTEC can take to the industrial mineral market.”

Register now!

Contact Ismene +44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

Key takeaways from Dubai:

• Market recovery on the way

• Saudi rig activity up

• Mineral demand increase expected

• Gas supply challenge a driver

• Stricter environmental specs. on barite

• Aramco pushing for SG4.2 barite, Na-treated bentonite, local suppliers

• Broychim to open new 240,000 tpa barite plant at Safi

The oilfield minerals community descended on Dubai in mid-January for IMFORMED’s inaugural Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai held at the Habtoor Grand Resort, 15-17 January 2017.

Regarding industrial mineral consumption in oilfield applications, such as in drilling muds and as proppants in hydraulic fracturing, the Middle East region has fared somewhat better than other parts of the world.

On evidence from the excellent presentations given in Dubai last month this trend seems set to continue.

From most accounts, it was felt that a corner had been turned in the depressed market and that 2017 was already looking brighter.

The big picture

Providing the conference with an excellent scene-setter was Mark Watts, Oil & Gas Editor, of Middle East Economic Digest with his “Review and outlook for the Middle East oil and gas sector”. Watts covered reserves, production, prices, E&P spending, and projects for the region.

“The market is showing signs of recovery since late 2016 when OPEC and non-OPEC producers agreed to cut production to support prices. However, few analysts are forecasting a return towards $100 a barrel in the coming years.” said Watts.

Saudi Arabia, followed by Iraq and the UAE, has been by far the largest market for projects since 2011 with nearly $70bn worth of contracts awards, and bucked the trend by actually increasing its project expenditure in 2016 over 2015.

“Few analysts are forecasting a return towards $100 a barrel in the coming years” Mark Watts, Oil & Gas Editor, MEED

“Gas is expected to be a fast-growing sector with the emergence of sour gas, tight gas and shale gas over the last ten years” Watts added.

In “Supply chain management: Procurement is the low oil price panacea”, Sam Achampong, Regional Director, Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, offered music to the ears of hard-pressed oilfield mineral producers by cautioning consumers not to cut costs by squeezing their suppliers during tough times.

Achampong questioned whether companies in the oilfield sector were investing enough in procurement and supply, and urged a focus on supply chain visibility, optimisation, and supplier relationship management.

Oilfield mineral consumers must adapt their procurement strategies to the changes taking place in the market.

Barite and Saudi Aramco requirements

Moving closer to the sharp end of the sector, Abdul Seedat, Commercial Director, International Drilling Fluids and Engineering Services Ltd presented “Oilfield drilling fluids outlook in the Middle East”.

With a market size valued at US$1.45bn in 2015-16 and estimated to reach US$2.19bn by 2022, Seedat assured that the Middle East is and will continue to be a major market for oilfield minerals used in drilling fluids, stimulation and cementing applications.

Consumption of barite in the Middle East in 2015 was some 1.65m tonnes with the major consumption being in Saudi Arabia (55%), followed by Kuwait (9%) and Oman (4.5%).

“If the drilling fluid market in the Middle East does indeed reach the estimate of US$2.19 billion, then by the same token, consumption of barite is likely to increase by some 50% to over 2.40 million tonnes” said Seedat.

However, he warned that this was a most optimistic (but not unrealistic) prediction, since barite consumption is very difficult to estimate owing to the variations in application and density requirements of fluids used.

“Some insist on using the 4.20 grade [barite], but most now also accept 4.15, Indian in particular, and 4.10 grades” Abdul Seedat, Commercial Director, IDEC

For example, in Kuwait fluid densities of up to 19ppg are used where barite can amount to 40-45% of the fluid, which could equate to 950-1,600 tonnes barite per interval/well. But in other applications, it may not exceed 5%.

Other key factors regarding barite use in the Middle East include stricter environmental regulations (especially on heavy metals) and the price difference between SG 4.2 and lower SG grades is not as critical as the material’s availability.

Seedat commented: “Barite with SG 4.20 was the only grade used in the Middle East until recently, where due to the tightness of supply, operators started to accept lower grades. Some insist on using the 4.20 grade, but most now also accept 4.15, Indian in particular, and 4.10 grades.”

While barite will remain the main weighting agent of choice, calcium carbonate is taking a small slice of the market by replacing barite in many reservoir drilling applications, especially at lower densities, owing to its solubility in acids.

Seedat concluded with some interesting pointers on Saudi Aramco, the region’s largest oilfield minerals consumer, and its strategies.

The outlook is positive for drilling minerals, with Aramco’s December 2016 rig count at 218 active with an anticipated growth of 4-6% for 2017.

However, what might have an impact on supplier selection is Aramco’s current supplier focus on Local Content (IKTVA – in-Kingdom Total Value Add Programme), Availability, Pricing Discounts and Performance with products on the ground.

“Best pricing and proof of material readiness will create some preference from buyers. Local content and local manufacturing is a must going forward to enter the market.” said Seedat.

Regarding barite, Aramco sources from India (especially grey barite, with less fines), China, and Turkey to meet min. SG 4.20 and maximum 3000 mgl total carbonates.

On bentonite, Aramco is pushing hard for API Section 9 Sodium Treated Bentonite versus Wyoming Grade (non-sodium treated) in order to reduce costs.

Shale gas potential and fracking

One of the growth sectors in the region, which has ramifications for frac sand and ceramic proppants, is expected to be unconventional gas exploitation.

“Meeting the Middle East supply challenge” by Robin Mills, Chief Executive Officer, Qamar Energy reviewed gas in the global context, Middle East, regional challenges, new horizons, and pricing.

Demand for gas is outpacing oil by a factor of 3x, and LNG demand growth is 2x as fast as gas consumption in total. Overall gas demand is expected to grow by 50%+ by 2030, from the current 320 Bcf/day, according to Mills.

The key shale gas plays are mainly hosted by Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and the UAE, although Egypt, Libya, and Oman also have shale gas deposits.

It is early days, but Mills concluded: “Resources are abundant but prices and commercial terms are not right…yet. Policies have to tackle all four quadrants of the challenge: supply, demand, tradition, and innovation”.

“On bauxite, while local sources are used for aluminium, no suitable material for proppant production has been found” Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FRAC PT FZE

Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FRAC PT FZE, presented “Review of current hydraulic fracturing activity in Middle East/Central Asia” and explained the principles of fracturing before taking delegates on a tour of Middle East and Indian Sub-continent activity (summarised in the accompanying chart).

In Saudi Arabia, where fracking is ongoing, Trepess highlighted the significant requirement for electricity generation and industrial feed, as well as the opportunity for a new resin coating plant in the country.

Regarding suitable mineral sources for proppant manufacture, Trepess concluded: “A lot of local sand is contaminated with carbonate (seashells etc.) and clay, however, suitable silica sand exists in Saudi Arabia”.

On bauxite, while local sources are used for aluminium, no suitable material for proppant production has been found. Importing material is an expensive option, and India is a potential source.

Proppant supply

“Chinese ceramic proppants for the Middle East market” by Viviana Trevino, President, Changqing Proppant Corp., reviewed Middle East and Africa energy markets, proppant markets, comparison with other shale plays, and Chinese ceramic proppant players.

Frac sand accounts for almost 84% of the MENA proppants market, which amounted to 957,000 tonnes in 2016, and is expected to grow by almost 11% to 1.6m tonnes in 2021.

Ceramic proppant demand is 615,000 tonnes, expected to grow to just over 1m tonnes in 2021. Notable markets include Saudi Arabia and Oman which are each expected to see 12% growth.

Trevino noted that Middle Eastern shales are deep to ultra deep shales and require a minimum of 11,000psi crush value, thus favouring ceramic proppants.

“Ceramic proppant production and its export potential in Middle East & South Asian countries” was provided by Jayantibhai Bhatt, Managing Director of Bhuvaneshwari Mineral Consultancy.

Proppant grade, non-metallurgical bauxite resources are confined to Kutch, Jamnagar in Gujarat while large bauxite-kaolin blends and additive resources are near the coastal ports of Saurashtra and Kutch areas of Gujarat.

Bhatt commented that Indian calcined bauxite-kaolin producers were attracted to switch from abrasive and refractory markets to the proppant sector owing to a higher profit margin of export.

“Shale gas exploration programmes of the Middle East will give a boost to establish new projects in India.” said Bhatt.

Murray Lines, Managing Director, Stratum Resources Ltd presented “Frac sand resources & supply in the Middle East & India: a regional review”.

“Sand is abundant [in the Middle East]– but sand suitable for frac sand is rare” Murray Lines, Managing Director, Stratum Resources

Lines underlined that the Middle East is showing a good deal of interest in fracking technology as there is significant potential for producing unconventional gas in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan, Algeria and Tunisia.

“Sand is abundant [in the Middle East]– but sand suitable for frac sand is rare” commented Lines, who went on to comprehensively review frac sand specifications, leading resources, and players in the Middle East and South Asia.

Barite from India, Iran, and Morocco

In “Indian barite supply and demand in Middle East & India”, Rajmohan Reddy, Managing Director, IBC Ltd described the world famous barite source at Mangampet in India, operated by APMDC.

APMDC’s mining targets for 2016-17 are as follows:

OB removal: 9 million cu metres
ROM: 3 million tonnes
A Grade expected: 1.35 million tonnes (around 45%)
B Grade expected: 0.45 million tonnes (around 15%)
C + D + Waste: 1.20 million tonnes (around 40%)

Yaswanth Vattikunta, Managing Director, Garuda Drilling Mud chemicals Pvt Ltd commented on trends in Indian barite supply. He highlighted a possible shift of the industry from direct exports to increased value addition domestically; APMDC to support beneficiation projects with long-term supply contracts for low-grade mineral; and that Middle East and North American markets will witness an increase in powder sales from India.

Everything required to know about Iran’s barite sector was covered by Dr Alireza Ganji, Industrial Minerals Specialist, in “Iran barite resources: geology, economy, and outlook”.

“Production capacity of Iranian barite is estimated at over 850,000 tpa, although actual production was 471,316 tonnes in 2014″ Dr Alireza Ganji, Industrial Minerals Specialist

Production capacity of Iranian barite is estimated at over 850,000 tpa, although actual production was 471,316 tonnes in 2014, with Poudrsazan Industrial & Mining Group and Iran Barite Group accounting for about 45% of total production.

Only about 25% of production is exported. “The increasing trend of rig activity assures that the oil and gas well drilling market will remain an appreciable consumer of barite in Iran.” said Ganji.

Ali Melouki, Director of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Ministry of Energy and Mines of Morocco reviewed the country’s resources, mining sector, and infra structure, before Youssef Laghzali, Business Developer, Broychim, summarised the barite business of Broychim.

Broychim accounts for nearly 50% of Morocco’s barite exports and in 2017 the company will open a new 20,000 tpm barite plant at the port of Safi, hosting two grinding units, crushing, washing, and jigging units.

In “Developments in oilfield mineral processing”, Herve Guicherd, Director Business Dev. Minerals, ST Equipment & Technologies outlined the successful completion of the company’s first barite project in 2016.

The plant, for Ramadas Minerals, is located in Kadapa District, Andhra Pradesh, India, and utilises STET’s tribo-electrostatic technology – consuming no water, no chemicals, and low energy needs.

Clays in consideration

In “Bentonite in drilling fluids in the Indian and Middle East oilfields”, Rohan Khandelwal, Regional Manager, Star Bentonite Exports reviewed Indian bentonite production, its oilfield application, and the role of Star Bentonite.

Typical challenges at present include API Section 10 bentonite (equivalent to US Wyoming bentonite) availability issues in Indian mines and the unwillingness of oil and gas contractors to use API Section 9 and 11 bentonite in deep wells.

“The demand for bentonite in the Middle-East and Indian market is forecast to increase drastically by 2020.” concluded Khandelwal.

“Development and supply of clay grades for drilling fluids” by Francisco Beneyto, Product Manager Industrial Bentonites, Tolsa SA emphasised the need for mine management, good quality, and analysis of suitable clay grades for oilfield application. Bentonite, attapulgite, and Sepiolite were all considered.

For programme summary, feedback, attendees, and picture gallery, please go to:

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017

See you in Houston!

As ever we are indebted to the support and participation of all of our sponsors, speakers, and delegates for making Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Dubai 2017 such a success.

Initial feedback from the conference already suggests a follow-up Middle East event should be planned for 2018 and we are working on that now: we very much appreciate all the completed feedback forms and please continue to provide us with your thoughts and suggestions.

Sponsor & exhibit enquiries: Ismene Clarke T: +44 (0)7905 771 494 ismene@imformed.com

Presentation & programme enquiries: Mike O’Driscoll T: +44 (0)7985 986255 mike@imformed.com

We shall keep you abreast with developments and hope to meet you again at our upcoming Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017, 21-23 May 2017, the Houstonian Hotel.

 CLICK HERE

Additional speakers: Harsco | Befesa | Hosokawa Alpine | STET

There is just a month to go until IMFORMED’s upcoming Mineral Recycling Forum 2017, 7-8 March 2017, Rotterdam.

Much interest is already gathering for our second Mineral Recycling Forum, expanded following the success of our inaugural event last year where over 100 senior decision makers from across the secondary raw materials supply chain attended (for a review, programme, attendees, and feedback see Mineral Recycling Forum 2016).

We are delighted to announce the following recent additions to our speaker panel:

Steelmaking slag: a global resource
Nick Jones, Slag Technology Development Manager, Harsco Metals Group Ltd, UK

Full recycling process for aluminium wastes, salt slags SPL treatment, and recovery
Carlos Ruiz de Veye, Managing Director, Befesa Salt Slags Recycling, Spain

Conversion of recycled glass into high value foam-glass products
Dietmar Alber, Operations Director, Minerals & Metals Division, Hosokawa Alpine AG

Dry beneficiation of fly ash
Herve Guicherd, Director Business Dev. Minerals, ST Equipment & Technologies LLC, France

These speakers join our programme with sessions on waste stream recovery, refractories, steel slag, aluminium waste. For details see FULL PROGRAMME.

Registration: €1350 | £1200 | US$1600
Register now online, or

Contact Ismene +44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com
Limited sponsorship and exhibition opportunities available

The emergence of secondary raw materials becoming a more mainstream source of recycled industrial minerals is to increase in significance in the overall supply chain from mine to market.

However, the diversification of end use markets and the manufactured products consumed within them create differing degrees of complexity and varying rates of ultimate success in their ability to be recycled.

Recycling of glass, paper, and steel and metal scrap is well established. The recycling of slags, fly ash, and spent refractories for their contained industrial mineral values, although started some decades ago, remains in evolutionary phase, particularly with regard to developing high value market applications for the secondary raw materials.

The latest trends and developments in recycling industrial minerals from such waste sources is the theme of IMFORMED’s Mineral Recycling Forum 2017, 7-8 March 2017, Rotterdam.

Leading players active in sourcing and processing minerals from steel slag, aluminium slag, spent aluminium pot liners, gypsum wall board, glass, and waste refractories will be discussing the challenges and opportunities arising from this growing sector.

For full programme details see Mineral Recycling Forum 2017 Programme.

Li-ion battery recycling prospects

The prospect of a growing Li-ion battery (LIB) recycling industry is real, though not expected to impact the industry for at least ten years or more for a variety of factors. But it is coming.

This was the topic of a recent presentation by Mike O’Driscoll of IMFORMED: “Industrial mineral recycling in Li-ion batteries: Impact on raw material supply chain?” at the Global Battery Raw Materials R&D Symposium during the 7th International Advanced Automotive Battery Conference, held in Mainz, 30 January 2017.

With the clear signals that the LIB market is to take off owing to a dramatic rise in the use of electric vehicles (EV) in the near future, there is expected to be increased demand for lithium (by 2020 an additional 100-120,000 tonnes LCE needed) and graphite (by 2020 an additional 150-170,000 tonnes needed, of which around 75% will be natural flake graphite; estimates according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence) required in LIB cathode manufacture.

Naturally, this has come as good news to the many developers of lithium and graphite projects across the globe, as well as established producers which are looking to bring online capacity expansions.

However, what is also apparent is that in the future there is going to be an abundance of spent LIB coming into the market.

In its recent 2017 BP Energy Outlook, BP for the first time acknowledged the EV impact, with electric cars to rise significantly, from 1.2 million in 2015 to around 100 million by 2035, of which 75% were pure battery EVs.

Bob Dudley, BP Group Chief Executive, said: “The global energy landscape is changing. The energy mix is shifting, driven by technological improvements and environmental concerns.”

Bloomberg New Energy Finance recently reported that more than 95 GWh of used batteries will be extracted from hybrid and electric vehicles by 2025, while the organisation Call2Recycle estimated that 12 million LIB will be available for recycling in the USA in 2020.

In a detailed study in 2015, the US Commission for Environmental Cooperation calculated that for North America almost 700,000 LIB EV batteries will reach their end of life each year by 2030.

Regarding the situation in Europe, figures are hard to come by, although a forecast just shy of 14,000 tonnes of LIB will be available for recycling.

So where are we regarding LIB recycling technology?

The bottom line is that LIB recycling is very much in its infancy, with very few players committed to commercial scale operations and investment for the future.

Key challenges are that most current LIB recycling processes are aimed at recovering the high value metals, such as nickel and cobalt, rather than lithium, and certainly not graphite at present.

Also the range of differing LIB chemistries used and LIB designs make the approach to recycling quite complex: ie. LCO (lithium cobalt oxide), NCM (lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide), NCA (lithium nickel cobalt aluminium oxide), LFP (lithium iron phosphate).

Moreover, at present there are simply not enough spent LIB around to justify any kind of serious investment in LIB recycling infrastructure.

Indeed, a comprehensive California Energy Commission Report published last year concluded that California is not likely to reach a sufficient battery pack disposal rate to justify a pilot-scale LIB recycling facility running at full capacity until 2030, and a commercial-scale facility not until after 2050.

This is not to suggest that no work is being undertaken in this area: far from it. There are a number of companies, consortiums, and organisations pursuing lithium, and even graphite, recycling from LIB using a combination of mechanical, hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processing.

These include established players such as Umicore in Belgium, and emerging players such as Retriev Technologies in the USA, and Accurec in Germany.

Elsewhere, Tesla has stated that it plans to recycle LIB at its Sparks, NV Gigafactory, and in Europe at Umicore, while Renault and Nissan have each announced partnerships for development of second lives for EV LIB (once LIB have exhausted their usefulness EVs, they do retain sufficient charge (approx. 70%) to have a secondary use in certain applications, such as grid storage, an area being researched; note this will also contribute to a “delay” in their availability for recycling, thus making estimates of LIB recycling volumes hard to predict).

The main challenge is to develop an feasibly economic and technically efficient process that can be brought up to commercial scale.

Key among the primary factors in successful LIB recycling processes will be:

• flexibility in dealing with LIB chemistries
• pace of declining battery costs; reducing amount of Co and Ni used may aid development of Li recovery processes
• standardisation in LIB design and labelling
• increasing and clearer national/regional legislation on LIB recycling targets as major drivers (the European Commission has already kick-started this for the EU)
• partnerships between major LIB recyclers, suppliers, and end users
• mineral supply trends: price, availability, “criticality”, quality

In summary, LIB recycling remains in its infancy, and its impact on the primary raw material supply chain will remain negligible until at least 2030-40.

But it will play an increasing and important role in the battery raw materials supply chain, since EV LIB in use now and in the near future will eventually reach the end of their lives, and EV LIB consumption is set to boom.

FREE PDF download of Mike O’Driscoll’s presentation:
“Industrial mineral recycling in Li-ion batteries: Impact on raw material supply chain?”

Mike is also presenting
Recycling industrial minerals: a not so “secondary” raw material source
at the Industrial Minerals & Aggregates: Innovations in Industrial Minerals session of
2017 SME Annual Conference & Expo, 22 February 2017 in Denver.
The theme of the event is “Creating Value in a Cyclical Environment”

Register now!

Andalusite slipping through the fingers: Processing andalusite at Andalusite Resources’ plant, Maroeloesfontein, Limpopo province, South Africa.

And the winner is…the Competition Tribunal of South Africa, plus consumers of andalusite for refractories: no mixed up envelopes in this drama.

The Appeal Court in South Africa today ruled in favour of the Competition Tribunal and dismissed the Appeal by Imerys and Andalusite Resources (Pty) Ltd to overturn the SA Competition Commission’s initial 2015 decision to prohibit the merger of Imerys with Andalusite Resources.

Not a lot of details on the judgement have emerged at present, mainly owing to the amount of competitively sensitive information the judgment contains.

On 21 September 2016, the Tribunal announced that it had prohibited the proposed acquisition by Imerys South Africa (Pty) Ltd of Andalusite Resources (Pty) Ltd, which had been initially prohibited in April 2015 and went to tribunal in May 2015 (for background and more details on andalusite see Imerys merger with Andalusite Resources prohibited 21 Sept. 2016 ; Imerys move to buy Andalusite Resources quashed 20 April 2015).

Imerys then registered an Appeal which was scheduled to be heard on 15 December 2016, and now the result of that Appeal has been released.

This must surely finally quash Imerys’ hopes of amalgamating one of the world’s two independent producers of the refractory mineral andalusite.

It leaves the primary andalusite supply market still dominated by Imerys’ operations (around 60%, see chart), but retaining independents Andalusite Resources in South Africa and Andalucita SA in Peru.

Refractory consumers’ concerns

In a statement released today, the Commission said it had received numerous concerns from both producers and end-users of andalusite based refractories regarding the effects of the proposed merger.

In particular, producers and users were concerned that, as a result of the proposed merger, they would be deprived of competitive choice between Imerys and Andalusite Resources for andalusite, and that the merged entity would increase the price of andalusite locally or increase the amount it exported.

Consumers also emphasised that they cannot easily switch between andalusite-based refractories and refractories containing other raw materials (such as bauxite, which enjoyed capturing a limited market share) in their production processes and that switching would involve high costs.

The Tribunal rejected argument by the two companies that in the absence of the proposed merger the two companies would become capacity constrained and would accordingly raise their andalusite prices to export parity levels, with the result that the merger would not have any effect on their market power.

The Tribunal also raised concerns that the merger could be used to control availability of andalusite in the market. Andalusite Resources and Imerys are by far the largest suppliers of andalusite globally and the former has more than half of the SA market.

Apparently, the merging parties’ own internal strategic documents revealed that Andalusite Resources had become a formidable competitor to Imerys in the mining and sale of andalusite in South Africa and that it had taken significant market share away from Imerys in recent years.

The documents further show that Imerys was very concerned about this, as well as overcapacity that existed in the mining and sale of andalusite and it devised strategies to limit that overcapacity. The acquisition of Andalusite Resources formed part of that strategy.

“Not only has Imerys reduced its andalusite production capacity by closing down its Krugerspost mine in South Africa, it has also closed its Yilong mine in China and now intends taking over its only competitor in South Africa, “ the Tribunal said in its reasons.

The Tribunal concluded that the relevant counterfactual is the status quo, ie. a situation where at least one or both of Imerys and Andalusite Resources will not (permanently) be capacity constrained.

Imerys on an M&A roll

The Andalusite Resources acquisition dismissal has somewhat spoilt the M&A party which Imerys has been enjoying over the last year or so.

Having completed in early 2015 the acquisition of the massive and diverse portfolio of S&B Industrial Minerals (see Imerys seals S&B acquisition: so what does it mean? 6 March 2015), one may have thought that the Paris based group would have had its hands full for the next year or two picking over and sorting the gifts of the Greeks.

But no, we are talking IMERYS here! Into 2016 and by July next in line is speciality aluminas producers Alteo and Alufin, the transaction of which was completed in October after EC approval on condition of divestment of Alteo ARC’s white fused alumina business in La Bâthie, France.

Then in December, less than two years since the S&B buy and while appealing against the SA Tribunal’s decision on Andalusite Resources, Imerys makes another major acquisition, this time of calcium aluminate cement leader Kerneos.

The deal remains subject to relevant workers’ council consultation, as well as regulatory authorities’ approval and is expected to be completed by mid-2017.

The common thread here, including Andalusite Resources, is Imerys’ strategy of targeting aluminosilicate related players (Kerneos’ calcium aluminate cements are manufactured from sintering limestone and bauxite).

While the Kerneos buy is a nice fit and addition to Imerys’ refractories arm, Calderys (which also picked up monolithics producer SPAR Inc. in September 2016), it also brings, or rather completes, for Imerys the rest of the Greek bauxite resources.

Just before the S&B acquisition by Imerys, S&B had divested its bauxite resources to Kerneos and Elmin (and with Kerneos having bought a 54% stake in Elmin in 2012). This left S&B, and consequently Imerys, with just the 300,000 tpa capacity underground bauxite mine and plant operated by Sardabauxiti, in Sardinia (see Imerys seals S&B acquisition: so what does it mean? 6 March 2015).

With the Kerneos buy, should all go well, Imerys will now have access to all the ex-S&B bauxite resources after all. And don’t forget, Imerys still has the ex-MSL bauxite reserves in northern Brazil, and some andalusite claims in Peru for that matter.

Finally, in January 2017, Imerys complemented its diatomite assets (World Minerals acquired in 2005) by buying Danish unique diatomaceous earth “moler” producer Damolin. This will sit in Imerys’ Filtration & Performance Additives business group.

Interested in refractory mineral and market trends?

Hear from Magnesita and Steuler-KCH on refractory recycling at

Mineral Recycling Forum, 7-8 March 2017, Rotterdam

Hear about refractories in steel, cement, and DBM/FM supply outlook at

MagForum 2017, 11-14 June 2017, Kraków

includes visit to ZM Ropczyce

Shipping Outlook | Kaolin from Brazil | New Silk Way | Mineral Inspection |  New Opportunities

Completion of the new sea lock is expected end-2019; 500 metres long, 70 metres wide, and 18 metres deep. The outline of the new lock is now becoming clearly visible from the air (inset). Construction commenced in 2016, and about 7.5 metres of lock chamber walls are springing up each day. Courtesy Port of Amsterdam.

By 2020 the largest sea lock in the world will open in IJmuiden, increasing the Port of Amsterdam’s total transhipment tonnage from 96 to 125m tonnes.

The new sea lock will be larger, wider, and tide independent, enabling a new generation of vessels to transport industrial minerals to the Port of Amsterdam.

Attendees of Mineral Logistics Forum 2017, 10-11 April , The College Hotel, Amsterdam, will have an exclusive visit to SHIP – the new Lock and Port Information Centre offering a unique insight into the construction of the world’s largest sea lock – as part of the conference programme on Tuesday 11 April.

This follows a day of high level presentations on Monday 10 April discussing the latest trends in industrial mineral supply chain logistics and a convivial dinner, sponsored by Yasheya.

KEYNOTE PANEL DISCUSSION: Total Supply Chain Management
Port of Amsterdam, Widescope, OBA

Dry bulk shipping market overview
Marc Pauchet, Senior Dry Analyst, Maersk Broker, Denmark

Specifics of mineral handling in the Port of Ghent
Danny Vancoppenolle, Commercial Manager, Port of Ghent, Belgium

Efficient and secure transit of goods through the worldwide global supply chain system
Nik Delmeire, Secretary General, European Shippers’ Council, Belgium

New Silk Way Logistics
Kees Kuijken, CEO & Erik Loijen, General Manager, KLG Europe, the Netherlands

Shipping kaolin from the Amazon to Europe
Jef Brepoels, Supply Chain Manager, KaMin, the Netherlands

The role of mineral inspection in logistics
David Chanet, Control Union, Belgium

Are there still mineral logistics opportunities today?
Robert van Muiden, Managing Director, RoBuLog, the Netherlands

Shipping kaolin from Brazil to Europe: KaMin subsidiary CADAM operates the Morro do Filipe Mine and a beneficiation port and plant at Munguba, located on the Jari River, on the border between the state of Pará and Amapá, northern Brazil. Jef Brepoels, Supply Chain Manager, KaMin will be presenting on this at Mineral Logistics Forum 2017. Courtesy Paulo Santos.

IJmuiden New Sea Lock

The new lock will be 500 metres long, 70 metres wide and 18 metres deep, and is being constructed at a cost of €500 million at the entrance of the North Sea Canal at Ijmuiden, providing access to the Amsterdam port region.

Construction by OpenIJ began in January 2016 and the new lock will be available for shipping at the end of 2019. From then on, the port of Amsterdam will be accessible 24 hours a day.

The project is an alliance of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, the Province of North Holland, the City of Amsterdam, Havenbedrijf Amsterdam NV and the Municipality of Velsen.

Mineral Logistics Forum 2017 – Book Now!

Contact: Ismene ismene@imformed.com | T: +44 (0)7905 771 494

Mineral Recycling Forum 2017 Review

Rotterdam was again the setting for IMFORMED’s second Mineral Recycling Forum last week, 7-8 March 2017, bringing together leading players in the fast evolving secondary raw materials sector.

A real buzz was felt among the delegates as they listened to experts presenting on a range of topical subjects followed by much discussion and networking during the coffee and lunch breaks.

Perhaps indicative of this Forum’s rationale and growing success, was the comment by Allan Bell, Process Materials Manager, Procurement at British Steel: “Programme items that appeared irrelevant to our industry still offered some food for thought for our by-products.”

For programme, feedback, attendees, and picture gallery, please go to:

Mineral Recycling Forum 2017, 7-8 March 2017, Rotterdam

Such feedback has illustrated the gathering momentum of the industrial mineral recycling business, with common challenges and differing solutions offered whether dealing with slags, spent refractories, construction waste, or waste electrical and electronic equipment.

The upshot has been the emergence of new opportunities to develop mineral products from waste for a range of market applications.

The Circular Economy

Setting the scene in ideal fashion was Magnus Gislev, Policy Officer for Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials, DG GROW, European Commission (EC), with his overview presentation “EU policies on mineral recycling and the Circular Economy.”

“Industry has a key role to play by making specific commitments to sustainable sourcing and cooperating across value chains.” Magnus Gislev, Policy Officer for Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials, DG GROW, European Commission (EC).

Gislev set out the EC’s extensive raft of policies and initiatives with which to drive forward the transition towards a Circular Economy. Central to this is the €650m Horizon 2020 fund allocated for raw materials’ initiatives, including recycling. Also of note is the impending EU Critical Raw Materials update expected mid-2017.

Providing an international dimension, Gislev reminded of the output of the 2030 Sustainable Agenda, the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, and the G7 Alliance for Resource Efficiency.

Gislev underlined the role that must be played by industry: “Making the circular economy a reality will however require long-term involvement at all levels, from Member States, regions and cities, to businesses and citizens. Industry has a key role to play by making specific commitments to sustainable sourcing and cooperating across value chains.” he said.

One way to make such a commitment is within the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials: already there are a staggering 123 Raw Materials Commitments, comprising 980 partners, with an indicative budget of around €2 billion.

This led neatly to “Strengthening the European raw materials value chain through recycling” by Dr Roland Gauss, Thematic Officer Substitution and Recycling, EIT RawMaterials GmbH.

EIT RawMaterials, launched and funded by the EC, is the largest consortium in the raw materials sector worldwide. It unites more than 100 partners – academic and research institutions as well as businesses – from more than 20 EU countries.

Dr Roland Gauss, Thematic Officer Substitution and Recycling, EIT RawMaterials GmbH outlined the work of several projects including the development of fly ash for the flame retardants market.

Gauss explained EIT RawMaterials’ mission is to boost competitiveness, growth and attractiveness of the European raw materials sector via radical innovation and guided entrepreneurship.

He outlined the work of several projects including the development of fly ash for the flame retardants market: FLAME FLy Ash to valuable MinErals. The aim of the project is to upscale Dusty Plasma Separator technology to unlock vast amounts of high value minerals from fly ashes.

Waste streams: construction, gypsum, glass

In “Waste-to-Product: how to recover value from waste”, Dr Liesbeth Horckmans, Researcher Sustainable Materials Management, VITO NV, explained how VITO was active in some 140 projects, mapping reuse possibilities from waste materials and developing technical solutions for mineral waste.

Horckmans shared results from REFRASORT, the automated sorting of refractory waste for high value recycling using a LIBS sensor based sorting system. Performance of the recycled refractory material was found to be equal or better than reference products.

Although a demonstration unit is operational, Horckmans acknowledged that some more work was required before it could be scaled up commercially in perhaps 2-3 years.

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) is one of the most important waste streams in the EU, with 500-1,000 million tpa generated, representing 31% of total waste production.

Dr Liesbeth Horckmans, Researcher Sustainable Materials Management, VITO NV shared results from REFRASORT, the automated sorting of refractory waste for high value recycling using a LIBS sensor based sorting system.

Horckmans also outlined the HISER project, part of Horizon 2020, Holistic Innovative Solutions for an Efficient Recycling of Valuable Raw Materials from Complex Construction and Demolition Waste.

Christine Marlet, Secretary General, Eurogypsum, presented “From gypsum to gypsum: a circular economy for the gypsum industry” and stated: “Gypsum as such is 100% and eternally recyclable. You can always reuse gypsum because the chemical composition of the raw material in plasterboards and blocks always remains the same.”

Marlet highlighted how Gypsum-to-Gypsum project partners from eight countries had created a cooperative business model for recycling CDW, among other gypsum based waste. The model is established in France, UK, Scandinavia, Belgium, and the Netherlands; is being implemented in Germany and assessed in Spain.

The two main drivers for gypsum recycling in Europe are the difficulty in accessing primary raw material, and the decline in FGD gypsum as coal combustion plants close.

One of the main challenges to gypsum recycling is the comparative cost. Marlet said: “If the recycling gate fee (average €55/tonne) is lower than the landfill costs, (gate fee + landfill tax), then the recycling route is likely to be chosen.”

Other challenges included the very limited data available on plasterboard waste generation, the waste volume consistency, and recycled gypsum quality consistency. “This means that producers are reluctant to invest in the production process if waste generation is uncertain.” said Marlet.

The two key issues at stake (which can also be translated to other waste streams) were identified as the recyclability of the plasterboard waste at the entrance of the recycling plant and the recyclability of the plasterboard itself due to additives. Marlet stressed that this means collaborative technological innovation between recyclers and producers has to take place.

Dietmar Alber, Operations Director, Minerals & Metals Division, Hosokawa Alpine AG presented “Conversion of recycled glass into high value foam-glass products” and went through the process stages of cleaning, sorting, milling, and processing to foam-glass.

Cullet quality specifications for foam-glass are typically: a feedsize max. 60 mm; moisture: max. 5%; CSP-content: max. 3%; organics: < 0.1%; plastics: < 0.03%; metals: <0.005%.

Alber introduced the REDWAVE CS as an efficient sorting machine for waste glass recycling with low space requirement. The sorting unit removes ceramics, stones, porcelain and metals from the glass stream.

The main ultrafine grinding equipment is a Super Orion Ball-Mill SO-CL and Air Classifier ASP.

Market applications for foam-glass include foam-glass gravel (typically 90% <75-100µm): eg. insulation material for road construction, or concrete foundations; expanded glass balls (99% <36µm): eg. insulation filler for mortars, concrete; and foam-glass boards (97% <15-20µm): insulation boards for the building industry.

“Building waste: construction materials from your waste” by Eunan Kelly, Area Business Development Manager, CDE Global Ltd showed just how much we depend on sand in a range of construction products.

One of CDE Global’s Advanced Recycling Process plants for recovering silica sand from CDW. Courtesy CDE Global

The increasing rate of urbanisation worldwide means that we consume around 50bn tpa of sand.

Until recently, processes for recycling sand failed to deal with lightweight contaminants, organics, clay contamination, and high fines content. Thus CDE Global as evolved an Advanced Recycling Process incorporating aggregate screening, scrubbing and sizing, sand washing and classification, primary stage water treatment, sludge management, and feed system.

“Our projects are diverting more than 13 million tonnes of C&D waste from landfill every year with plants across the UK, Germany, Norway, Australia, India, and Aruba.” said Kelly.

“Raw materials represent 40-50% of the cost of refractories” Dr Erwan Guéguen, Technical Director EMEA, Magnesita Refractories

Refractory recycling

In his presentation “Refractories recycling: technical challenges and market drivers”, Dr Erwan Guéguen, Technical Director EMEA, Magnesita Refractories, provided an excellent overview of where the industry is at present.

Guéguen reviewed the key refractory minerals consumed and how their prices have trended, mostly upwards, in recent years helping to drive recycling. “Raw materials represent 40-50% of the cost of refractories, and China is currently the main supplier of a high volume of important refractory grade raw materials.” said Guéguen.

Other increasing cost factors for refractory manufacturers include energy and environmental control. While producers are aiming to integrate and keep costs down using captive raw materials, the objective is the development of a supply chain for obtaining used refractory materials that can be successfully processed and used for refractory brick production.

Guéguen highlighted successful recycling of MgO-C bricks and concluded: “We must promote usage of recycling to end users: it is Performance versus Cost; while the price difference between recycling and fresh raw material must make it attractive.”

“Sustainable refractory management” by Ulf Frohneberg, General Manager, Refractory Division, STEULER-KCH GmbH, explained how the company underwent a rethink and rebranding of its recycled products to better inform customers of the benefits and high quality of recycled refractories.

“By the controlled use of professionally recycled raw materials we have continued to further develop our products while keeping the highest quality standards and even improving the performance over many years” said Frohneberg.

STEULER has partnered with refractory recycler Horn & Co. Group to implement what is describes as Sustainable Refractory Management.

“Our end user industry belongs to the main recyclers themselves and is already investing essential budgets in sustainability. Sustainable Refractory Management – which reduces the carbon footprint, preserves finite resources, and reduces waste disposal – will be a part of an even more integrated policy evaluating suppliers and their products.” said Frohneberg.

Processing: spent pot linings, fly ash, waste dust

“Co-processing of spent pot linings from aluminium smelting in cement kilns: lessons learned” by Dr Christian John Engelsen, Senior Research Scientist, Foundation for Scientific & Industrial Research (SINTEF) took the audience through aluminium and cement production, lessons learned in co-processing technology, and the potential of using spent pot linings (SPL) in cement production.

“Huge amounts of SPL are generated annually and stockpiles exist in many countries. Some cement companies have discovered that the benefits outstrip the challenges.” Dr Christian John Engelsen, Senior Research Scientist, Foundation for SINTEF

About 58 million tonnes of aluminium was produced in 2015, which generated some 1.45 million tonnes SPL. Engelsen explained that co-processing in cement manufacture was partly substituting the coal fuel with alternative fuel (AF) and/or the raw materials with alternative raw materials (AR), such as SPL.

Engelsen outlined a successful project in Norway where 97.3 tonnes of pre-crushed refractory (SPL <40 mm) was fed to the raw mill, crushed, and blended with the other raw materials and fed to the kiln during production of high strength cement.

Results showed that refractory SPL provided enough aluminium and substituted the normal Al-source, there were no process or quality problems caused when 5 tph were fed to the raw mill (about 2% of raw feed).

“The potential of recycling raw material resources from SPL refractories is worthy of consideration by the cement industry. Huge amounts of SPL are generated annually and stockpiles exist in many countries. Some cement companies have discovered that the benefits outstrip the challenges.” said Engelsen.

Recovering SPL at a plant in Norway for co-processing in the cement industry Courtesy SINTEF

“Beneficiation will play a key role in securing future supplies of quality assured fly ash for high value cementitious applications” was how Herve Guicherd, Director Business Dev. Minerals, ST Equipment & Technologies LLC, introduced his presentation “Beneficiation: Securing future supply, processing fresh fly ash and reclaiming landfilled ash”.

Guicherd began by outlining the changing world energy mix and the pending closure of coal-fired power stations, before detailing STET’s triboelectrostatic separation technology utilised in fly ash beneficiation (ProAsh), and its benefits in ammonia and carbon removal.

Herve Guicherd, Director Business Dev. Minerals, ST Equipment & Technologies LLC noted that processed landfilled ash can be a valuable source with over 1.7 billion tonnes of fly ash present in landfills.

More than 15 million tonnes of ProAsh has been produced at 14 different power plants worldwide, which is consumed in cement and concrete applications.

With the advent of low “fresh ash” generation as coal-fired power stations decline in numbers, Guicherd noted that processed landfilled ash can be a valuable source with over 1.7 billion tonnes of fly ash present in landfills.

“Air classification for improved recycling of waste dusts” by Andreas Henssen, Area Sales Manager, Neuman & Esser, focused on processing waste dusts generated by high combustion processes such as biomass combustion plants, blast furnaces and sinter plants, and cement and lime kilns.

Challenges include potential limitations for chlorides and heavy metal concentrations, and potential up-cycling of hazardous substances.

Henssen illustrated a successful example of using air classification of by-pass dust from cement manufacturing which can be recycled for use in cement and as a filler in asphalt roads.

For such applications, Neuman & Esser has developed a new classifier with an integral dispersing unit, offering optimised air flow, and sufficient dispersion to release chloride from the agglomerates for use in cement.

Steel slag

Nick Jones, Slag Technology Development Manager, Harsco Metals Group Ltd reviewed pioneering milestones in developing slag technology since 1892, and the different types of slag and their uses in “Steelmaking slag: a global resource”.

Jones noted that while across the world slag was referred to differently as waste, by-product, or product, it was nevertheless a high quality global resource. He highlighted environmental and quality challenges, and the dire consequence of material failure, such as in Ontario where a moratorium on slag use persists.

Nick Jones, Slag Technology Development Manager, Harsco Metals Group Ltd highlighted environmental and quality challenges in steel slag recycling

Applications were described in general construction, drainage, raw feed materials in cement and mineral wool, fertiliser and in road construction.

“Lixivia: Extracting value” by Mark Tilley, VP Business Development, Lixivia Inc., moved the agenda up a notch to look at recycling added value products from steel and other wastes.

“We think of industrial mineral waste as an opportunity to reconfigure existing supply chains and broaden the circular economy using chemistry” said Tilley.

In 2013, Lixivia invented a chemistry and process called SELEX to improve productivity, enable refining and develop new mineral sources that existing technology could not provide. The company is now working with partners to scale this technology. Projects include precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), magnesia, rare earths, and lithium.

Using the SELEX process with steel slag, a proprietary hydrometallurgical process is used with a “Lixiviant” that can be recycled, which yields high purity controlled size engineered crystals of PCC with market applications in food, pharma, paper, paints and plastics.

“We think of industrial mineral waste as an opportunity to reconfigure existing supply chains and broaden the circular economy using chemistry” Mark Tilley, VP Business Development, Lixivia Inc.

Tilley concluded with some interesting cost comparisons between a typical 150,000 tpa PCC plant and a single slag recycling plant using SELEX at a steel plant site (supplying a feedstock of 400,000 tpa slag), the latter realising a slag value of $476/ton (PCC and cement ready slag additive).

In “Dry steel slag processing for high valuable products” Frank Dardemann, Technical Sales Manager, Loesche GmbH comprehensively highlighted the company’s work in stainless steel slag, LD/BOF slag, and FeCr slag, indicating further investigations on incinerator ash, non-steel slags, and concrete rubble.

Full dry processing technology has been developed for stainless steel slags with fines valorisation in standard applications such as concrete, cement, asphalt, as a reactive binder, and in alternative products, such as Carbstone. Ultrafine grinding of LD/BOF slag has enabled fines use in cement.

Aluminium salt slag

“Full recycling process for aluminium wastes, salt slags SPL treatment, and recovery” by Carlos Ruiz de Veye, Managing Director, Befesa Salt Slags Recycling, reviewed Befesa’s aluminium waste recycling process.

“In 2016, Befesa eliminated the need to dispose of 505,000 tonnes of hazardous wastes from the primary and secondary aluminium industry and reintroduced into the market a similar quantity of secondary raw materials.” said Ruiz de Veye.

“In 2016, Befesa eliminated the need to dispose of 505,000 tonnes of hazardous wastes from the primary and secondary aluminium industry and reintroduced into the market a similar quantity of secondary raw materials.” Carlos Ruiz de Veye, Managing Director, Befesa Salt Slags Recycling

In the secondary aluminium recycling loop, Befesa targets salt slags, dross fines, spent pot lining, and filter fines, which were examined by Ruiz de Veye, noting that with the closure of some aluminium smelters in Europe, less SPL may be available in the future.

Market applications include cement, ceramics, bricks, mineral wool, civil works, high alumina refractories, and steel.

Ruiz de Veye concluded with a look at development of new processes to obtain high value products such as aluminium hydroxide (ATH) for flame retardants and high purity alumina for non-metallurgical applications

Oliver Ballon, Managing Director, evol GmbH, presented “Aluminium salt slag recycling: a reality check” by showing the entire global aluminium supply chain and check-listing the few existing plants successfully recycling aluminium waste.

Oliver Ballon, Managing Director, evol GmbH explained the main reasons why only Europe seems to be recycling Al salt slag

Ballon looked at the characterisation of Al salt slag and examined the recycling process and its products. He highlighted the main reasons for why only Europe seems to be recycling Al salt slag, which are:
• European legislation has banned landfilling of salt slag since 2000.
• The recycling process competes with landfill, which is still allowed in USA/Asia/ Middle East and Australia
• High investment for treatment plant is required
• Product revenue has dropped significantly after the technology change of secondary aluminium processors
• Sales of high alumina product are problematic

Ballon concluded with a reality check on existing potential market applications for Al salt slag products, and a look at new potential applications in steel conditioning and calcium aluminate cements.

See you next year!

As ever we are indebted to the support and participation of all of our exhibitors, speakers, and delegates for making Mineral Recycling Forum 2017 such a success.

We very much appreciate all the completed feedback forms and please continue to provide us with your thoughts and suggestions.

Sponsor & exhibit enquiries: Ismene Clarke T: +44 (0)7905 771 494 ismene@imformed.com

Presentation & programme enquiries: Mike O’Driscoll T: +44 (0)7985 986255 mike@imformed.com

We shall keep you abreast with developments for Mineral Recycling Forum 2018 and look forward to meeting you again soon.

For programme summary, feedback, attendees, and picture gallery, please go to:

Mineral Recycling Forum 2017, 7-8 March 2017, Rotterdam

Also

FREE PDF download of Mike O’Driscoll’s presentation “Recycling Industrial Minerals: a Not so Secondary Raw Material Source” given at the SME 2017 Annual Meeting, 22 February 2017, Denver

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Shipping outlook | Kaolin from Brazil | Fertiliser minerals | New Silk Route | Mineral inspection | Port of Amsterdam | Port of Ghent

The Year Dot: a plethora of oil wells exploiting the Permian Basin populate Eddy County, New Mexico. Google Earth 2017

The oilfield minerals industry is emerging from the doldrums of 2015/16 with renewed vigour and expectations of rising demand during the next two years at least.

Increased E&P spending and drilling activity in the USA has rejuvenated the market for oilfield minerals such as barite, bentonite, calcium carbonate and proppants.

Outside North America, recovery is less pronounced, with the exception of Brazil and parts of the Middle East (see Oilfield minerals outlook for the Middle East).

IMFORMED will be bringing together the world’s leading players of the global oilfield minerals supply chain to listen to a panel of expert speakers at Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017, 21-23 May, The Houstonian Hotel – very attractive Early Bird Rates available only until 10 April 2017.

For all the latest trends, developments, & invaluable networking for the oilfield minerals market

EARLY BIRD RATE SAVING $300 ENDS 10 APRIL 2017

IEA calls for global investment

According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest forecast released earlier this month, unless new projects are approved soon global oil supply will struggle to keep pace with demand after 2020, risking a sharp increase in prices.

“We are witnessing the start of a second wave of US supply growth.” Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director, IEA.

Supply growth in oil is expected to “slow considerably” after 2020. Demand and supply trends outlined in the IEA’s Oil 2017, published 6 March, indicate a tight global oil market, with spare production capacity in 2022 falling to a 14-year low.

Oil demand will rise in the next five years, passing the symbolic 100 million barrels per day (mb/d) threshold in 2019 and reaching about 104 mb/d by 2022.

Chief among the main contributing factors has been the record two-year investment slump of 2015 and 2016. While investments in US shale plays are emerging strongly, early indications of global spending for 2017 are not encouraging to the IEA.

Dr Fatih Birol, the IEA’s Executive Director, commented: “We are witnessing the start of a second wave of US supply growth, and its size will depend on where prices go. But this is no time for complacency. We don’t see a peak in oil demand any time soon. And unless investments globally rebound sharply, a new period of price volatility looms on the horizon.”

Speaking at Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

Outlook for oil and gas supply and demand
Uday Turaga, CEO, ADI Analytics LLC, USA
Boom, bust and beyond: oilfield chemicals & minerals
Ray Will, Director, IHS Markit Specialty and Inorganic Chemical Consulting, USA
Essential minerals for drilling fluids
JJ Miller, Snr. Global Product Manager, Baroid Global Technical Services, Halliburton, USA

Rise in US drilling activity

US drilling activity is continuing to rise. According to the Baker Hughes weekly rig count the total number of rigs active in the USA grew by 21 on 17 March, with land rigs up by 22. This brings the total rigs active in the USA to 789, up from 768 the previous week and 476 last year.

The resurgence in fracturing treatments is reflected in the vast majority of added rigs drilling horizontal wells, a trend well demonstrated overall with over 80% of all US rigs drilling horizontal wells (see chart).

A recent survey from Barclays echoes the IEA’s concerns on global spending but highlights a different case for North America. While the overall recovery in the global oil and gas industry remains slow, capital spending in North America is expected to rise 27% in 2017.

This is expected to see major US exploration and production companies quickly raise spending on drilling and completing wells, while spending by international companies elsewhere will be quite slow.

Barclays concluded that US shale oil producers, which were the fastest to react by cutting activity when crude prices began to tumble in 2014, are also likely to be the quickest to recover. Certainly this seems to be playing out in southern USA, where frac sand demand is soaring (see below).

The IEA recognises the role to be played by the USA as the largest contributor to new oil supplies. US light tight oil (LTO) production is expected to make a strong comeback and grow by 1.4 mb/d by 2022 if prices can be maintained around US$60/bbl. Expectations for US LTO are higher than last year’s forecast thanks to impressive productivity gains.

The US responds more rapidly to price signals than other producers. If prices climb to US$80/b, US LTO production could grow by 3 mb/d in five years. Alternatively, if prices are at US$50/b, it could decline from the early 2020s.

Speaking at Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

World barite supply and demand
Peter Huxtable, Director, The Barytes Association,
North American barite consumption trends and outlook
John Newcaster, Director Southwest Region, The Cumberland Group Inc., USA
Mexican barite deposits and operations
Ken Santini, Santini Associates Inc., USA
Chinese barite production and outlook
Liao Ying, Managing Director, Baribright International Inc., China
India’s barite resources, production, and trade
Venkaiah Chowdary, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, APMDC, India

In its March Short-Term Energy Outlook, the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) forecast US crude oil production to average 9.2 million b/d in 2017 and 9.7 million b/d in 2018 (over an estimated 8.9 million b/d in 2016.

The EIA forecasts Brent crude oil prices to average $55/b in 2017 and $57/b in 2018. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices are expected to average about $1/b less than Brent prices in the forecast.

In mid-March US oil prices dropped below $50 a barrel for the first time in 2017 as near-record US stockpiles and rising output have impinged on the production reductions by OPEC.

Whether these cuts are to be continued will be decided by OPEC in May, but signs in the marketplace suggest there is little faith in this happening. Indeed, it will an interesting decision making process all round for OPEC, since it appears that the cartel may have underestimated the resilience of the US shale sector when it decided to curtail oil supply back in November 2016.

Break even prices in the leading US shale areas are now <$40/b: eg. $36-39/b in the Eagle Ford, and $36/b in the Permian (compared to $71/b in 2014!). So shale gas production recovery in the USA is set to continue unless prices drop very dramatically towards the $30/b mark. Can OPEC afford to maintain losing market share to US producers by keeping a lid on production?

In any case, the emerging boom in shale gas play drilling activity has been utterly welcomed by the proppant supply sector, although it’s all frac sand – ceramic proppants seem to be enjoying less of the action.

Proppant surge – Texas stampede for brown sand

The US frac sand industry is preparing for a boom year as intense activity is taking place using more frac stages and longer laterals mainly in the Permian, Eagle Ford, and Bakken shale plays.

Above all, the Permian in West Texas and New Mexico is the lead target with wells frequently pumping a full-unit train of around 100 railcars of sand during completions.

Talking to Mark Zdunczyk, consulting geologist specialising in frac sand, at last month’s 2017 SME Annual Meeting in Denver, he said: “It’s almost impossible to find a drill rig [for core drilling] in Texas, everyone is after Texas frac sand.”

The critical factor here is that frac sand users in southern USA have apparently got over their somewhat picky attitude that has prevailed until now in wishing only to use the bright, white frac sands of the Mid-West, ie. from Wisconsin and Illinois.

The likes of the discoloured sands, such as the Brady Brown (Cambrian Hickory Sandstone) of Texas, which are totally on spec regarding crush resistance, are now in high demand as consumers want a secure frac sand source close to their active wells rather than pay the considerable freight rates to bring down large volumes of “cleaner looking” sand from elsewhere – yet again underlining the critical logistics factor in this market (see US shale plays map). One might ask why should colour have mattered so much to frac sand selection?

This trend has placed great pressure on regional suppliers to Texas, considerably upped frac sand deposit exploration and evaluation in the area (especially around Voca, central Texas, location of the Hickory Sandstone – see picture and map), and no doubt concerned some investors in Mid-West frac sand projects.

Only this month, major US frac sand producer Hi-Crush Partners LP concluded its acquisition of Permian Basin Sand Company LLC, located just east of Voca, with a 1,226 acre frac sand reserve hosting >55m tons of 100 mesh frac sand, the hot grade of choice at present.

To further bolster its Texan resources, Hi-Crush has also purchased the former recreational Dunes park at Kermit, in west Texas, and is preparing the 1,300-acre site for frac sand mining with construction of a 3m tpa plant.

Speaking at Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

Frac sand supply chain: challenges and opportunities
Taylor Robinson, President, PLG Consulting, USA
The frac sand industry new normal
Joel Schneyer, Managing Director , Minerals Capital & Advisory Practice, Headwaters MB,
Why silica sand successfully substitutes bauxite in some shale fracs
Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FRAC PT FZE, UAE

The only way is up – US proppant demand outlook

Whether supplying Northern White or Brady Brown, it would seem most US frac sand producers will be looking forward to the next two years with relish.

Analysts Raymond James has forecast that while the average 2017 US rig count will be 60% below activity levels during 2014, domestic proppant demand should exceed 2014 levels with US sand volumes to nearly double to all-time highs in 2017 at 55m s.tons, and grow another 45% or more in 2018 to a potential 80m s.tons (see chart).

The increased demand is anticipated to push frac sand prices up by maybe 60%, hitting the $40/ton range over the next 18 months. Sand costs are about $25/ton at present, and reached $70/ton prior to the downturn.

Key to proppant demand is the “proppant intensity” or proppant loading, ie. pounds/lateral foot (lb/ft), which has increased by more than 50% on average since the start of 2014.

There has been a major shift to higher proppant loading from around 700 lb/ft to around 1,400 lb/ft, and many leading operators are testing at rates higher than 2,000 lb/ft, and in some cases more than 3,000 lb/ft.

Proppant loadings in Q4 2016 boosted the average proppant per lateral foot in tight formations 50% to 1,740 lb year-over-year. Average proppant per lateral also soared in 2016, finishing up 72% to an average 14.56m pounds/lateral.

Combined with proppant loading has been the extension of lateral lengths drilled and number of stages per well, also positively influencing proppant consumption.

Laterals grew 14% in 2016, according to a Hart Energy survey. Horizontal drilling has gone past the previous standard of 1,372 metres (4,500 ft) per section, to average lateral lengths exceeding 2,530 metres (8,300 ft) by the end of 2016.

Stages per well rose 34% to an average of 41 across US shale plays in 2016. Spacing between stages, which extended more than 76 metres (250 ft) three years ago, now averages < 61 metres (200 ft).

There also has been a return to batch completions during the first months of 2017, ie. E&P companies fully completing wells. When the oil price fell there quickly became a backlog of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUC), these are now being addressed.

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Courtesy Port of Ghent

The importance of logistics in transporting industrial minerals from mine to market came under the spotlight last week at IMFORMED’s Mineral Logistics Forum 2017, 10-11 April 2017, held at The College Hotel, Amsterdam.

This is the third Mineral Logistics Forum by IMFORMED which uniquely brings together leading players in the mineral logistics supply chain to discuss the latest trends, challenges, and innovations influencing this most critical, and at times costly stage in getting the mineral from its source to the customer.

“Good programme, broad range of topics, diverse; good opportunities for networking”

Hugo du Mez, Advisor Business Intelligence, Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands

“It is very interesting to meet people from different businesses and see how it fits together to develop new projects and improve current ones.”

Alex Aizpurua, General Manager, Midegasa, Spain

“Good programme, venue, and organisation; keep up the good work”

Michael Tsoukatos, Director of Business Development, Grecian Magnesite SA, Greece

For programme, feedback, attendees, and picture gallery, please go to:

Mineral Logistics Forum 2017, 10-11 April 2017, Amsterdam

Dry bulk demand to outpace supply

In “Dry Bulk sub-Panamax Outlook” presented by Marc Pauchet, Senior Dry Analyst, Maersk Broker, delegates were provided with an excellent and most comprehensive review and outlook of the dry bulk shipping market, focusing mostly on the smaller vessels used for mineral freight.

Pauchet started with a recap of the trend in dry bulk freight rates through the boom and bust cycle before explaining how construction in China firmed up, demand for steel and coal increased, and a warm summer prompted coal demand and soaring prices during 2016.

Pauchet described overall demand outlook as one of “contained enthusiasm”; long gone are the boom years, and smaller commodities will grow faster than the larger ones.

Among the highlighted key influencing factors were the growth in urbanisation, especially in Asia, with more growth to come from China, described as the “main engine” for the dry bulk market.

The “New Silk Road”, now termed “One Belt, One Road” was touched upon, which boasts a budget of about $100bn to invest in rail, highways, ports and power generating infrastructures.

“We will have to wait until 2019/20 for dry bulk freight rates to be negotiated near the 2014 levels” Marc Pauchet, Senior Dry Analyst, Maersk Broker.

Pauchet likened the venture “as equivalent to the Marshall plan in today’s money”, and would likely spur economic growth and local demand for steel.

Other factors included the “Trump card” and how that may or may not affect the US steel market with ramifications for shipping, plus the influence of coal, biomass, and agribulk trades.

The dry bulk industry is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. The excessive ordering of new ships has led to a situation of severe oversupply.

“While we expect supply growth to be almost neutral over the next couple of years and demand to outpace supply towards 2020, the excess supply will take time to be absorbed.” said Pauchet.

Pauchet concluded that dry bulk freight demand will outpace supply for the next three years: “…but oversupply is still consequent. We will have to wait until 2019/20 for dry bulk freight rates to be negotiated near the 2014 levels. Sub-Panamax assets will benefit more due to an older fleet and better growth outlook for smaller commodities.”

Transparent global supply chain

Nik Delmeire, Secretary General, European Shippers’ Council, highlighted CORE project research: developing and maintaining an optimised and transparent supply chain.

CORE, supported by a consortium of partners including shippers and the European Commission, demonstrates how a powerful and innovative Consistently Optimised REsilient ecosystem implementation, integrating interoperability, security, resilience and real-time optimisation can produce cost effective, fast and robust solutions that will guarantee the efficient and secure transit of goods through the worldwide Global Supply Chain system.

Delmiere explained how CORE research had found trade barriers for less efficient containerised shipping in global supply chains, namely: international trade cost, uncertainty in lead time, and security concerns.

The proposal was for an IT solution, a “Shipping Information Pipeline”, to enable transparent global supply chains.

Mineral shipment diversity in Ghent

Danny Vancoppenolle, Commercial Manager, Port of Ghent took the audience through the main attributes of the Port of Ghent and underlined the diversity of minerals handled there in “Specifics of mineral handling in the Port of Ghent.”

“We focus on bulk owing to the neighbours of Antwerp and Rotterdam being so big on containers” Danny Vancoppenolle, Commercial Manager, Port of Ghent.

The port annually manages 2,891 seagoing vessels and 14,073 inland vessels, and is working on building a new lock at Terneuzen by 2022 and a new, upgraded, canal for inland traffic between Ghent and Paris.

Nautical access to the port is through the Terneuzen lock complex and the 32km Ghent-Terneuzen Canal, with no tides and accessible to Panamax vessels up to 92,000dwt.

Dry bulk shipments make up about 60% of total cargoes handled at Ghent, and around 22m tonnes is expected to be handled in 2017.

“We focus on bulk owing to the neighbours of Antwerp and Rotterdam being so big on containers” said Vancoppenolle.

Just over 1m tonnes of minerals is shipped through Ghent, including marble, granite and other natural stones, limestone, chalk, perlite, kaolin, magnesite, phosphate, dunite, talc, soapstone, olivine, rutile, salt, sand, and borax.

Leading world industrial minerals group Imerys, has a talc plant at Ghent which producing 55,000 tpa, of which 90% of feedstock ore is imported.

Dry loading of rutile into trucks at the Port of Ghent. Courtesy Port of Ghent

New Silk Way Logistics: an alternative route to/from Asia

Hanno Reeser, BU Manager East Region, H. Essers, talked about the venture “New Silk Way Logistics” as the new Eurasian Intermodal Network.

Hanno Reeser, BU Manager East Region, H. Essers, talked about the venture “New Silk Way Logistics” as the new Eurasian Intermodal Network.

Described as a “multi-industry railway corridor”, with special temperature controlled equipment, 24/7 monitoring by control tower, and Intervention & Contingency plan on E-2-E route, the rail route takes just 15 days as opposed to 35-50 days by ocean freight.

Khorgas was highlighted as a multimodal gateway to and from China and surrounding countries.

Reeser said that although ocean prices are at all time low, congestion is a current issue and rail is most cost efficient if cost of capital is included.

Tanzania graphite project: logistical challenges

Just how important it is to secure the optimum logistics route for a mineral project development was ably demonstrated by Steve Tambanis, Managing Director, Black Rock Mining Ltd, in his presentation of the Mahenge Graphite Project in Tanzania.

Tanzania claims to have the highest quality graphite in the world. The Mahenge Graphite Project has a JORC Compliant Mineral Resource Estimate of 210m tonnes at 7.8% Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) with Ulanzi and Cascades holding 172m tonnes at 8.2% TGC (14.1m tonnes of contained graphite).

Concentrate grades of over 99% have been produced via simple flotation circuit, spherical graphite has been produced and battery cell testing is returning excellent results, providing opportunities to target the growing battery market.

The project is at the PreFeasibility Study stage for a mine expected to deliver an initial 80,000 tpa with US$90m capital expenditure (rising to 280,000 tpa in three phases), delivered to port at US$458/tonne.

Tambanis envisages basic logistic requirements as utilising 1 tonne polyethylene lined bulk bags, and trucking the graphite 450km to the port of Dar es Salaam. However, he offered to the audience a range of key questions for the project’s logistics (see figure).

Although the project site is only 60km from the Tazara rail line (Zambia to the port of Dar es Salaam), Black Rock’s initial plan is to utilise an established logistics company in Tanzania to manage trucking and port logistics.

Expected export markets are 60% of product to China, Japan, South Korea; 20% to the USA; and 20% to Europe.

ICL fertiliser minerals: handling 8.8m tpa of EU shipping

When discussing mineral supply chain logistics, it is always instructive to have an understanding of the end user’s viewpoint. Manfred Stolk, European Supply Chain Manager, ICL Fertilizer Europe CV provided delegates with a fine review of “Supply chain logistics for fertilizer minerals”.

Stolk explained in detail ICL’s integrated value chains, including the sourcing of potash from Israel, the UK, and Spain, and phosphate from Israel and China shipped to ICL’s plant in Amsterdam.

Typically, for its overall annual EU supply chain movements, ICL utilises 1,600 trains, 105,115 trucks, 1,115 barges, 525 coasters/vessels, and 1,520 sea-going vessels. During 2016, for its EU shipping routes alone ICL handled some 8.8m tonnes of goods.

ICL’s 600,000 tpa fertiliser plant in Amsterdam was founded in 1907, and became part of ICL in 1982. The plant is also an important distribution point for phosphoric acid.

Typical annual distribution volumes from the plant are 750,000 tonnes by barge, 320,000 tonnes by coaster vessel, and 80,000 tonnes by sea-going vessel.

Stolk outlined a range of typical influencing factors on logistics and how ICL has managed these (see figure). He also underlined some more recent factors which are expected to add more complexity to EU logistics and the supply chain, including:

• the disappearance of smaller coaster vessels (1,200 -2,000t)
• the disappearance of smaller “Peniche” barges (200-300t)
• the transition towards a Circular Economy: the use of secondary phosphates, eg. struvite from sewage sludge; RecoPhos – promising innovation that enables regaining phosphorus and phosphates out of bone meal and sewage sludge ash
• environmental restrictions: new fertilizer regulation; traceability will become a requirement

Mineral inspection: necessary and innovative

In “Inspection on minerals”, David Chanet, Operations Manager, Control Union, explained the risks, role and importance of inspection in the supply chain of minerals.

Chanet provided an insight into the main functions of a mineral inspector including supervision of loading and discharge; physical sampling as per ISO, IFA, EEC standards; weight control – draft surveys – barge gauging; hold cleanliness inspections; stock control, temperature monitoring; tally control; and analytical services.

An innovative method of stockpile measurement was introduced using camera-bearing drones. “Our stock monitoring reports include a photographic overview map which serves as a visual snapshot of the situation on the storage area.” said Chanet.

“Volume calculations are much more precise. The measurement of volumes is faster and volume calculation is complete within a day after the image recording.”

The day’s proceedings were rounded off with a discussion on total supply chain management involving the audience and the following panellists: Geoffrey Verheul , CEO, Wide Scope Shipping & Forwarding BV; Lub Kramer, Sales Manager, OBA Bulk Terminal Amsterdam; Manfred Stolk, European Supply Chain Manager, ICL Fertilizer Europe CV; and Abel Coplet, CEO, Yasheya Ltd.

A most convivial dinner was enjoyed by all at the impressive Restaurant C, kindly sponsored by Yasheya.

The following morning, courtesy of the Port of Amsterdam, a party of delegates visited the world famous Rijksmuseum, and then inspected the recently opened information centre (Sluis- en Haven Informatie Punt (Lock and Port Information Point/SHIP)) and site of the new IJmuiden sea lock (above), which is expected to greatly enhance cargo handling for the Port of Amsterdam.

The new lock will be 500 metres long, 70 metres wide and 18 metres deep, making it the world’s largest sea lock. Construction began in January 2016 and the new lock will be available for shipping at the end of 2019.

Industrial minerals also have a role to play in this major engineering feat. A bentonite mixing plant is to be built on the western corner (seaward side) of the Middle Lock Island. The bentonite will be used for the construction of the diaphragm walls, required in the deep trench excavations.

See you next time!

As ever we are indebted to the support and participation of all of our sponsors, speakers, and delegates for making Mineral Logistics Forum 2017 such a success.

We very much appreciate all the completed feedback forms and please continue to provide us with your thoughts and suggestions.

Sponsor & exhibit enquiries: Ismene Clarke T: +44 (0)7905 771 494 ismene@imformed.com

Presentation & programme enquiries: Mike O’Driscoll T: +44 (0)7985 986255 mike@imformed.com

We shall keep you abreast with developments for the next Mineral Logistics Forum and look forward to meeting you again soon.

For programme, feedback, attendees, and picture gallery, please go to:

Mineral Logistics Forum 2017, 10-11 April 2017, Amsterdam

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Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

21-23 May, The Houstonian

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 it to compete more favourably with the dominant and superior quality barite imports.

The Nigerian government recently launched its Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, of which one of its main targets is the mining sector, and in particular, the stimulation of processing and import substitution.

The government is targeting strategic minerals and metals for development including barite, plus limestone, iron, bitumen, lead, and zinc, and offering tax breaks to mining companies.

All you need to know about the barite market and more

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

21-23 May 2017, The Houstonian

Keynote speakers

Outlook for oil and gas supply and demand
Uday Turaga, CEO, ADI Analytics LLC, USA
Boom, bust and beyond: oilfield chemicals & minerals
Ray Will, Director, IHS Markit Specialty and Inorganic Chemical Consulting, USA
Essential minerals for drilling fluids
JJ Miller, Snr. Global Product Manager, Baroid Global Technical Services, Halliburton, USA

The initiative received a boost on 20 April when the World Bank approved a US$150m credit line to help increase the mining sector’s contribution to the Nigerian economy.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Dr Kayode Fayemi, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, gave assurance to the Association of Miners and Processors of Barite (AMAPOB) that the government would find ways of convincing oil companies in the country to patronise local producers of barite to reduce importation of the product.

He was speaking at a town hall meeting in Benue state, one of the key source areas of Nigerian barite. Another news report indicated that Fayemi may call on the government to reintroduce the import ban to help the local miners.

A barite mine at Osina, Cross River state, Nigeria

Mike Mku, First Vice President, AMAPOB, told the minister that Nigerian barite was of international standard (attaining 4.3 SG) and “in abundance to sustain the oil companies”.

Mku also echoed earlier appeals from the mining sector that barite imports must be banned again so that domestic producers can re-enter the market.

In October 2016, Patrick Odiegwu, National Publicity Secretary of AMAPOB, appealed to the government to stop giving waivers to oil and gas companies to import barite.

Odiegwu cited Sani Abacha’s regime of 1993-98 that saw the oil and gas sector source domestic barite, adding that there should be a deliberate policy to ensure that laws binding barite in the country were adequately enforced.

The Nigeria Content Act of 2010 provides for the increase of local content in the servicing of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. Odiegwu underlined that the Act backs barite development and stipulates that 60% of barite utilisation in the country must be sourced locally.

Barite import ban lifted in 2014

Although Nigerian oil production has fallen to around 1.2m bpd from around the 2.2m bpd level of 2010-12, the OPEC producer is nevertheless Africa’s largest oil producer, and was until a few years ago one of the USA’s top import sources of oil (this maybe revived, in March 2017 the USA increased Nigerian imports by almost 300%).

As with all oil and gas producing regions, Nigeria is a consumer of barite, an imperative ingredient used as a weighting agent in oilfield drilling fluids.

From 2003 to 2014, Nigeria had prohibited imports of barite (and bentonite) in an effort to stimulate development and use of domestic barite resources, which was met with some success although supply shortages did not endear local producers to the oilfield service majors.

Limited development had taken place and oilfield service companies claimed local production struggled to meet API specifications as well as desired volumes. As a result, the oil companies applied for the barite import ban to be lifted, which occurred in 2014.

In its report submitted to the government in 2013, the Committee on Waiver of the Ban on Import of Barite and Bentonite revealed that Nigeria had a shortfall of 31,318.65 tonnes of barite, against domestic demand requirements of 70,590 tonnes. The committee put the domestic production level of barite at 39,181.35 tonnes.

Speaking on barite at Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

World barite supply and demand
Peter Huxtable, Director, The Barytes Association, UK
North American barite consumption trends and outlook
John Newcaster, Director Southwest Region, The Cumberland Group Inc., USA
Shipping market: trends & outlook
Jesper Hoppe, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. A/S, Norway & Morten Petersen, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. (Hong Kong) Ltd
Mexican barite deposits and operations in Sonora, Baja California, and Jalisco
Ken Santini, Santini Associates Inc., USA
China’s barite market
Guizhou Saboman Imp & Exp Co. Ltd, China
Chinese barite production and outlook
Liao Ying, Managing Director, Baribright International Inc., China
Processing barite for the oilfield drilling market
Frank Hrach, Vice President, Process Engineering, ST Equipment & Technology LLC, USA

Nigerian barite imports in 2015 totalled 17,406 tonnes, mainly sourced from China, the USA, the UK, and the Netherlands (see charts for world barite production and consumption).

This figure slightly exceeded the import total of 2002, while with the exception of 13,678 tonnes imported in 2012, the period 2003-2014 saw negligible import volumes as the ban was in place.

Another factor facing Nigerian consumers of barite is the local bureaucracy. According to a report by Bashir Ahmed in The Cable, end users need to get approval from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (FMMSD) before they can import barite.

Similarly, the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board (NCDMB) must also give its consent before importation of barite for use in the Nigerian oil and gas industry can go ahead.

Another regulatory body, the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS) has banned the importation of processed barite but allows importation of barite crude ore, provided all import duties are paid.

Then, at the point of importation, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) also has to inspect and certify the product before it is cleared by the NCS.

Nigerian barite resources, supply and demand

The Benue Trough is a Cretaceous sedimentary basin, an elongated rift approximately 1,000km long and 50-150km wide, and is Nigeria’s main source of barite mineralisation across eight states in the north and south-east of the country: Nasarawa, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa, Benue, Cross River, Ebonyi and Gombe (see map).

Discordant, vein type of occurrence is by far (>90%) the most common barite occurrence and the veins occur in swarms ranging in width from 20cm to 6m.

The deposits in Nasarawa state have been estimated to be 730,000 tonnes barite. Over 7.5m tonnes of barite have been reportedly identified in Cross River, Benue, Taraba, and Bauchi states. The states hosting most barite mining activity are Nasarawa, Taraba, Cross River, and Benue.

There are more than 200 barite sites that have been or are being worked in the Benue Trough, and barite quality varies widely (see chart).

In his paper “Barite Veins in the Benue Trough” published in 2012, Michael Oden, Dept. of Geology, University of Calabar, described the barite deposits in Cross River as “the state with the highest prospect” and which required large scale operators and further exploration work to augment the existing “enormous informal and organised mining in progress”.

Cross River state claims to have the highest quality and volume of barite in Nigeria and the mineral can be found in commercial quantities in Obubra, Ikom, Biase, and Ogoja local government areas.

Work in 2014 by Dominic Obi et al, Dept. of Geology, University of Calabar, estimated the total volume of barite deposits in Cross River State to be about 9.6m. tonnes.

There is little or no news of established large scale commercial production of Nigerian barite.

Nigeria’s Chicason Group has an oil and gas business and owns a mining subsidiary, RIMCO, which holds 34 barite mining concessions in three states including Benue, where it has a barite processing complex located 22km from the rail centre of Makurdi.

In December 2016, local barite miners in Benue state received barite earth moving equipment worth $1.284m from Chevron Nigeria Ltd in line with the company’s efforts to increase Nigeria’s barite supply capability.

Chevron has purchased local barite directly from AMAPOB members including a 700 tonne purchase order awarded to Qualchem Nigeria Ltd.

The latest data recorded by the US Geological Survey and the British Geological Survey lists Nigerian barite production at 10,000 tonnes in 2013 and 6,000 tonnes in 2015, respectively.

A Nigerian news report in 2016 claimed the country produced >80,000 tpa barite and that domestic consumption was in the order of 75,000 tpa.

There is no doubt that Nigeria is giving its barite sector a welcome shot in the arm. Whether the government reconsiders resumption of a barite import ban remains to be seen, and if it does, there may be more impetus to commercially develop the barite deposits this time around.

However, as Dr Fayemi reminded AMAPOB, in order to make any headway the local miners have to prove themselves able to deliver consistently available supplies of high quality drilling grade barite. Otherwise, the oilfield majors will have to resort to Chinese and other sources.

Register Now!

Full programme details here

Contact: Ismene ismene@imformed.com | +44 (0)7905 771 494

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 to turn out to be a marker in the recovery of the proppants industry of North America.

Frac sand producers and oilfield service companies alike are all pointing towards a ramping up of activity, proppant consumption, and revenues.

Increased proppant loading, longer laterals, and more frac stages have all contributed to rising frac sand demand.

Some analysts forecast US proppant demand in 2017 is to exceed 2014 levels with sand volumes nearly doubling to all-time highs at 55m short tons, with the potential to rise by another 45% or more in 2018 to 80m tons (see Oilfield minerals market: Year of recovery).

The accompanying chart shows how US frac sand demand has risen since 2006 from 4.2m tonnes to its peak of 81.7m tonnes in 2014, according to US Geological Survey data.

Against this is shown the average yearly rig count, dropping during the global financial crisis in 2008-09, and more dramatically with the onset of the oil price crisis in 2014-2016.

Interestingly, the number of horizontal wells drilled has consistently grown over the period to dominate oilfield drilling in the USA, reflecting the increasing activity in hydraulic fracturing and also showing its robustness in the downturn.

IMFORMED has brought together a panel of expert speakers to examine and discuss the proppant market at

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

21-23 May, The Houstonian Hotel

Frac sand supply chain: challenges and opportunities
Taylor Robinson, President, PLG Consulting, USA
The frac sand industry new normal
Joel Schneyer, Managing Director , Minerals Capital & Advisory Practice, Headwaters MB, USA
Frac sand supply chain: challenges and opportunities
Taylor Robinson, President, PLG Consulting, USA
The frac sand industry new normal
Joel Schneyer, Managing Director , Minerals Capital & Advisory Practice, Headwaters MB, USA
Outlook for oil and gas supply and demand
Uday Turaga, CEO, ADI Analytics LLC, USA

Q1 results show North American market recovery and growth

US Silica Holdings Inc., in its Q1 2017 results released yesterday, revealed the tonnage sold in its Oil & Gas division as totalling 2.5m tons, representing an increase of 79%, compared with the 1.4m tons sold in Q1 2016, and an increase of 22% sequentially compared with the tons sold in Q4 2016.

Bryan Shinn, President and Chief Executive Officer of US Silica said: “Continued industry recovery and powerful secular trends are driving record demand for our products and services in Oil and Gas.”

US Silica’s revenue for the quarter totalled $193.0m compared with $73.9m in the same period in 2016, an increase of 161% on a year-over-year basis and an increase of 41% sequentially from the fourth quarter of 2016.

Paal Kibsgaard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Schlumberger, the leading oilfield services company, in his Q1 conference call on 21 April commented: “The only region in the world showing clear signs of increased E&P investments in 2017 is North America land, where activity has been growing for the last few quarters.”

Schlumberger reported that the North America land market continued to strengthen during the first quarter in terms of both activity and pricing, leading the company to start full-scale deployment of idle capacity for most product lines.

Revenue growth was led by hydraulic fracturing and drilling services, where 16% sequential revenue growth was achieved in US land.

“Recovery will clearly be led by North America land, where investment levels are expected to increase by 50% in 2017.” Paal Kibsgaard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Schlumberger.

Kibsgaard said that recovery will clearly be led by North America land, where investment levels are expected to increase by 50% in 2017, leading to a strong increase in activity and an overdue correction to service and product pricing.

Although, one item was perhaps not to most proppant suppliers’ tastes: “With proppant prices and distribution costs now starting to rapidly increase, we are also expecting to see a recovery in the use of our HiWAY technology, which reduces proppant use by 40% and water use by 25%.” said Kibsgaard.

Schlumberger’s good timing and vertical integration

Either by good luck or shrewd strategizing, the oilfield major has somewhat acted in advance in reinforcing its hydraulic fracturing assets at a time when the market is taking off.

On 24 March Schlumberger and Weatherford announced an agreement to create OneStim^SM, a 70:30 joint venture to deliver completions products and services for the development of unconventional resource plays in the USA and Canada land markets.

Under the terms of the formation agreement, which is expected close later this year, Schlumberger and Weatherford will contribute all their respective North America land hydraulic fracturing pressure pumping assets, multistage completions, and pump-down perforating businesses.

The joint venture will be a giant of multistage completions portfolios combined with one of the largest hydraulic fracturing fleets in the industry. As Patrick Schorn, President, Operations Schlumberger put it: “It really creates a new industry leader in terms of hydraulic horsepower and multistage completions.”

Schlumberger has made significant investments in recent years to its hydraulic fracturing and completions business, including the development of a fully automated surface delivery system, acquiring its own frac sand operation (Wisconsin Proppants LLC, mine and plant, near Hixton, Wisconsin) and an associated vertically integrated distribution system.

However, the company is keen to stress that total vertical integration is not its aim. During the Q1 conference call Schorn explained: “We basically started this vertical integration investment program towards the back end of 2014. And we have made a number of investments in sand mines, which are now starting to come on production.

“And in addition to that, we obviously also invested further into owning railcars, owning transloading facilities. And we have now established our own trucking fleet. But just to be clear, we are not looking to fully vertically integrate.”

“We are still going to rely on the long-term suppliers that we’ve had both in upturn as well as in future downturns. So it’s going to be a balancing between vertical integration, 100% owned by us, as well as using the supply chain capabilities that we have in the open market.”

In frac sand, logistics is king

If not vertical integration, the name of the game with the frac sand market is certainly logistics – a factor not only picked up by Schlumberger but by most of the leading US frac sand producers some time ago.

Investing in facilities to utilise unit trains to shift large volumes of frac sand from mine to well head is reported to save $7-8/ton in logistics cost. Perhaps unsurprisingly the recent market flush has sparked another round of logistical reinforcements.

Rail car trains at Hi-Crush’s Whitehall, Wisconsin plant, with 2.8m tpa production capacity of 20/100 frac sand. Located on a mainline of the North American rail network of the Canadian National, with an on-site rail yard that contains approximately 30,000ft of track and storage capacity for approximately 500 rail cars. Courtesy Hi-Crush

Badger Mining Corp. recently completed work on a 4,500ft expansion project on a rail siding near its Taylor, Wisconsin facilities, allowing the site to now hold up to three >100 railcar unit trains concurrently.

Smart Sand Inc. has just announced plans to expand its rail siding and transload facility on the Union Pacific network in Byron Township, Wisconsin to allow unit train shipments from this facility. The expansion is expected to be completed in approximately six months.

Hi-Crush Partners LP operates four frac sand plants in Wisconsin with a combined production capacity of 10.4m tpa – all have unit train capabilities. Hi-Crush has 11 terminals, six have unit train capability, three have been temporarily idled owing to market conditions.

A new terminal is being built in Pecos county, Texas, due for completion in October 2017, and will be well placed for the surge in demand for frac sand in the Permian Basin (see Oilfield minerals market: Year of recovery).

PropX, developed by Hi-Crush and partners, is a patent pending containerized solution for Last-Mile proppant delivery for hydraulic fracturing operations. Courtesy PropX

But the company has done much more with frac sand logistics.

In October 2016, Hi-Crush developed PropStream^(TM), an integrated delivery solution, which is designed to structurally enhance the efficiency of sand delivery in the well completion process. PropStream also uses a proprietary conveyor system called PropBeast^(TM).

At the same time, Hi-Crush formed with other partners and initial funding, Proppant Express Investments LLC (PropX), established to develop critical “last-mile” logistics equipment for the proppant industry, such as manufacturing the containers, or pods, and the PropBeast conveyor system.

Hi-Crush has committed to invest up to $17.4m in PropX for the manufacturing of PropX pods and PropBeast conveyor systems.

All the latest trends and outlook for frac sand demand

Network with the leading players in the oilfield minerals supply chain from supplier to consumers

Register Now!

Full programme details here

Contact: Ismene ismene@imformed.com | +44 (0)7905 771 494

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 currently sweeping the North American hydraulic fracturing market today.

Proppant producers and oilfield service companies are enjoying a most buoyant recovery period from the oil price decline doldrums of 2015/16, driven not only by a moderate recovery in oil prices but by impressively increased proppant loading levels, longer laterals, and more frac stages per lateral.

Evidence from first quarter performances of proppant suppliers and users has signalled a strengthening trend, commencing in Q4 2016, in increasing fracking and proppant use which is expected to continue through 2017 and into 2018.

Early estimates of US proppant consumption for the year of around 55m short tons, with the potential to rise to 80m tons in 2018 have been blown away by more recent figures of 75m tons for 2017 and >100m tons for 2018.

However, this is mostly all demand for frac sand, ceramic proppants simply do not get much of a look-in. Indeed, proppant and fracturing expert Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FRAC PT FZE, will be explaining just why silica sand successfully substitutes ceramic proppant in some shale fracs at Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston, 21-23 May, The Houstonian Hotel (click for programme and details).

For many years, and during the last golden period 2010-12, the proppant market share was in the order of 80% frac sand, and 10% each for ceramic proppants (CP) and resin coated sand (RCS).

Owing to E&P companies pursuing innovative and lower cost fracturing treatments using sand, this ratio has shifted to around 95% frac sand, with 5% shared by CP and RCS.

IMFORMED has brought together a panel of expert speakers to examine and discuss the proppant market at

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

21-23 May, The Houstonian Hotel

Frac sand supply chain: challenges and opportunities
Taylor Robinson, President, PLG Consulting, USA
The frac sand industry new normal
Joel Schneyer, Managing Director , Minerals Capital & Advisory Practice, Headwaters MB, USA
Why silica sand successfully substitutes bauxite in some shale fracs
Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FRAC PT FZE, UAE
Screening the facts: the 40/70 & 100 mesh frac sand boom and its impact on silica sand supply and markets
David Frattaroli, Executive Advisor (formerly Chief  Commercial Officer, Unimin), USA
Outlook for oil and gas supply and demand
Uday Turaga, CEO, ADI Analytics LLC, USA

 CLICK HERE FOR PROGRAMME & DETAILS

80% US capacity idled

The market downturn and continuing trend of using more volumes of frac sand rather than CP has naturally prolonged the early 2015 idling of most of the USA’s CP production capacity (see Proppants: Carbo Ceramics idles US & China plants in 18% capacity cut; Proppant prospects postponed? Be patient).

Few, if any of the idled plants of Carbo Ceramics, Saint-Gobain, and Imerys are expected return to production any time soon, although whether they will suffer the same fate as Oxane Materials and Shamrock Proppants remains to be seen.

The upshot is that around 80% of US CP production capacity is not operational, leaving a potential 680m lbs/yr capacity active, although even some of this maybe underutilised. Precise numbers are difficult to acquire owing to undisclosed outputs and changing production levels at reduced rates, but see the accompanying table for a guide.

During 2016, Carbo’s overall total CP plant utilisation was as low as 18% of stated capacity (total capacity 1,900m lbs/yr, including the Kopeysk, Russian plant at 100m lbs/yr). The company does not expect any significant improvements to capacity utilisation in 2017.

The Millen plant remains mothballed, the “majority of production” at New Iberia idled, the Toomsboro plant is idled, and there is “very limited production primarily to supply pellets to the industrial market” at the McIntyre plant, initially mothballed in 2015. The majority of Carbo’s CP production is now from Eufaula, Alabama and Kopeysk, Russia.

Carbo has suspended completion of the second production line at Millen, Georgia, and also the second phase of the retrofit at New Iberia with its KRYPTOSPHERE® technology.

Carbo ceased operations at its Luoyang, China plant in early 2015, sold off inventories, and does not intend to resume operations in China.

During the Carbo Ceramics Q1 teleconference call there was revealed “an interest level in the market” for some of the company’s international assets. Presumably this includes the Chinese and Russian CP operations, and we shall have to await the outcome, if any, of this.

Another ramification of the CP market malaise for Carbo in Q1 2017 was an impairment charge of $1,065,000 on bauxite CP feedstock raw material inventories.

Carbo’s drive for diversification; less reliance on ceramic proppants

In its Q1 statement, CP world leader Carbo Ceramics Inc. admitted the oil price recovery had still not encouraged a move away from low cost completions, with their existing or target customers continuing to use more third party raw frac sand than CP or RCS as a percentage of overall proppant consumption. Carbo expects this trend to continue.

This trend, together with an oversupplied CP market that is liquidating imported inventory, directly impacted Carbo’s sales volumes for Q1 2017.

North American CP sales volume decreased 35% compared to the same period in 2016, while international CP sales volumes decreased 23%. The average selling price per pound of all proppant sold by Carbo was $0.06, compared to $0.14 for the same period in 2016, reflecting the drop in higher value CP sales.

As notable as the drop in CP sales volumes was the almost 400% increase in frac sand sales to 370m lbs during Q1 2017.

Carbo’s Marshfield, Wisconsin frac sand plant (raw sand is purchased) was idled in early 2016, but by the fourth quarter, sand volumes sold more than tripled on a sequential basis from 46m lbs to 149m lbs pounds. Carbo is in the process of bringing the plant to full utilisation during 2017 (1,500m lbs/year or 750,000 tpa).

Overall, Carbo was able to put on a brave face with a 19% sequential increase in revenue experienced in the first quarter of 2017 owing to an increase in technology product sales, the increase in frac sand sales, and an increase in environmental product sales.

Carbo is clearly accepting the situation with regard to CP demand and is focusing its efforts not only in frac sand production but in diversification into new product markets (ceramic grinding media, mineral processing, and foundry markets), partly using its idled CP plant assets.

Gary Kolstad, President and CEO, Carbo Ceramics, said: “Our strategy is to reduce our reliance on base ceramic proppant. We believe the worst of the industry down cycle is behind us. While imports of low quality Chinese ceramic have been virtually zero over the last eight quarters, it appears some competitors are still pricing below cost. However, this is not a sustainable strategy over the long term.”

“We are focusing on the foundry, the grinding, and the mineral processing industrial market segments because they are very large, they are less cyclical than the oilfield, and they fit our technology, people and asset base very well.”

“We expect to see continued expansion of our technology products, industrial ceramic media, frac sand, and environmental businesses. We believe our 2017 revenue will show strong double digit growth of at least 40% increase over 2016” said Kolstad.

Carbo is expanding its ceramic media product portfolio. With regard to mineral processing, the company is entering into agreements with other companies to produce products for them.

“Our strategy is to reduce our reliance on base ceramic proppant. We are focusing on the foundry, the grinding, and the mineral processing industrial market segments” Gary Kolstad, CEO, Carbo Ceramics.

Carbo is also looking to take advantage of the impending 2018 OSHA regulations on reducing the permissible exposure limit of silica in the foundry industry, by encouraging more use of ceramic media than silica sand.

The strength of this diversification would seem to suggest how Carbo recognises the future for CP – there maybe some recovery in demand, but not enough? Kolstad admitted that in Q1 2016 its base CP accounted for 70% of the company’s business, but in Q1 2017 this was reduced to 30%.

Perhaps it was most telling when in answer to an analyst’s question about the potential of refracking wells possibly recovering some CP demand (answer: not much, there is little refracking at present), Kolstad acknowledged: “Today, it’s lowest cost wins.”

Ceramic proppant demand beacons in the dark

Nevertheless, Carbo is to maintain its CP business ethos, or, as Kolstad put it: “We’ll still continue on with our religion of conductivity and worrying about EURs [Estimated Ultimate Recovery]. 50% of the wells in the US will have closure stress above 6,000 psi, the point at which the best white sand starts crushing.”

There is some light shining on its ultra-strength CP grades: KRYPTOSPHERE HD continues its adoption in use for the tough well conditions, while KRYPTOSPHERE LD sales have increased in recent quarters. Carbo believes sales of these grades will continue to grow in 2017 and the company expects another KRYPTOSPHERE HD contract in the second quarter.

Also, Carbo revealed that its clients had indicated that H2 2017 would see higher levels of CP consumption owing to initial use of frac sand in high stress formations having not worked out well, such as in the Utica.

There has also been more demand for CP in the SCOOP (South Central Oklahoma Oil Province) and STACK (Sooner Trend, Anadarko, Canadian and Kingfisher) plays of Oklahoma.

Overall, Carbo anticipates that its CP volume growth will likely be more modest as the focus on low cost completions is unlikely to change in the near term.

Imerys looking to “reboot at around $60/bbl”

Gilles Michel, Chairman and CEO of Imerys SA, in its Q1 2017 Earnings Call lamented the declining demand for its CP “which is at a very low level of consumption”.

However, in contrast to Carbo Ceramics, Michel appeared to be quite optimistic of a recovery for CP, particularly at an oil price around $60/bbl. “Once we reach those levels, then certainly, we will reboot this, because the profitability in these more costly operations will be warranted and will start again. We are convinced of this, we have evidence of this for over the last eight months in terms of the trend of that market.” said Michel.

Imerys, with its 2012 acquisition of Pyramax Ceramics’ brand new CP plant at Wrens, Georgia and development of a plant at its existing Andersonville, Georgia facility (C-E Minerals) in the same year, arrived somewhat late to the US proppants party, and is probably feeling the heat most from its relatively recent investments.

In 2015, Imerys idled the Andersonville plant and Wrens plant.

On the US proppant market, Michel referred to “a little bit of volume on sand-related proppants…these are the first explorations which start again when prices climb again.” While the latter is true, the former could be a little understated.

All the latest trends and outlook for frac sand demand

Network with the leading players in the oilfield minerals supply chain from supplier to consumers

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Full programme details here

Contact: Ismene ismene@imformed.com | +44 (0)7905 771 494

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, China has a strong influence over the global magnesia market.

But even by its normal, and frequently unpredictable standards, China has ensured that the magnesia industry will already remember 2017 as an extraordinary year even before we hit the halfway mark.

Right now, robust government anti-pollution measures reaching out across the country’s mining industry has prompted the closure of many magnesia calcination and fusion plants in Liaoning province, China’s centre of magnesia output.

This has led to a squeeze on material availability and concern over the future of China’s production capacity situation for magnesia supply.

A few operations are now just returning to production after having met environmental protection measures, Haicheng Magnesite Refractory General Factory Co. Ltd and Dashiqiao Huasheng Refractory Material Co. Ltd among those.

Magnesia mineral market trends and outlook
The only place to be: All you have to know, All you have to meet
Over 170 delegates already registered
MagForum 2017, Radisson Blu Hotel, Kraków, 11-14 June 2017
Visit to ZM Ropczyce’s refractory plant
Click here for programme | Register Now!
Contact Ismene +44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

The anti-pollution crackdown was always in the offing for the magnesia industry, and is not the first of its kind to hit Chinese refractory minerals.

Bauxite and fused alumina producers in Shanxi province suffered similar issues over a decade ago when they witnessed the government induced demise of the widespread and popular, but environmentally unfriendly, traditional shaft and round kilns (in favour of modern rotary kilns). Shanxi’s calcined bauxite sector is now undergoing another round of pollution inspections and closures.

However, the double whammy for the magnesia market this year was not just the environmental legislation, but the dropping of the export quota system and export taxes for magnesite and magnesia.

In utterly typical fashion, the Chinese mineral industry’s most significant gamechanger for export trade was shrouded in confusion, misinformation, and little, if any clarity. Plus ça change!

The initial upshot of this long-awaited and debated move, was an increase in magnesia export volumes and a lowering of prices at the start of 2017.

However, this was followed by the impact of pollution inspections and the resulting stoppages in supply has since firmed up some prices of dead burned and fused magnesia, and traders have reported some quite haphazard pricing.

Chinese magnesia exports: when Beijing took control

Since its inception in 1994, China’s Export Licence System for selected mineral commodities had dogged the lives of mineral traders and consumers across the globe.

Initiated on 1 April 1994, largely in response to falling foul of antidumping duties in Europe, to better control its exports, and claimed to help control exploitation of domestic resources, this was no April Fool as the Chinese government sought to administer exports of 13 minerals including magnesite and magnesia.

In addition to placing a total quota on the export volume, potential exporters were required to bid against each other for a licence to export, and if successful were required to pay the licence fee (RMB/t exported).

There were only a limited number of licences available and this was to be conducted twice a year for each half of the year’s total export volume.

Bayuquan Port, Liaoning is one of the main conduits for Chinese magnesia exports to global markets.

It was, in effect, a “mineral tax”, and craftily pitched the onus on exporters and traders to sort themselves out and play them off against each other.

In later years, further tax burdens followed such as the abolition of VAT rebate, a resource tax, and export tax.

The outcome, unsurprisingly, was chaotic, and not helped in successive years with irregular and confused tweaking of the system which stretched the nerves of the trading community as they awaited the latest evolution of the system, traditionally announced last minute on 31 December each year.

While laudable in an effort to avoid dumping mineral exports in the West, the Export Licence System served to frustrate export trade and prompted widespread issues:

• prices rose and became unpredictable
• some Chinese producers failed to secure licences and could not export
• those that failed in the 1st round then bid higher licence prices in the 2nd in order to win licences
• collusion between players, and an underground “horse-trading“ in licences emerged between the “haves” and “have-nots”
• traders were unable to guarantee prices and volumes to customers
• at the end of each half year period, unused licences were subject to a “fire sale” so as to avoid paying penalites for unfulfilled export quotas (plus prohibition to apply in next round), thus skewing price levels
• magnesia export smuggling through several methods became rife to avoid export licences and taxes

Since this author broke the news of the export licences in 1994, he has witnessed debate over its administration (by the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters) and possible cancellation (especially over the last few years) on an almost annual basis.

In 2016, the export volume quota for magnesite was 1.7m tonnes, and the export licence was quoted at RMB140-330(US$20-48)/tonne. Export tax was 5% for CCM, and 10% for DBM and FM.

Chinese magnesia exports: the Dragon turns

Things came to a head last year with the US and the EU filing separate cases with the WTO against Chinese export duties on several minerals and metals, including magnesia.

These were just the latest of several such cases over the years lobbying the WTO to pressure China to tidy up its trade practices, leading to the cancelling of export taxes on some commodities already: bauxite, fluorspar, silicon carbide in 2009; and rare earths in 2015.

Another factor which may have influenced the decision was goverment approval on 31 August 2016 for the establishment of seven new free trade zones (FTZs) in China in an effort to combat slowing economic growth.

These included, significantly, Liaoning, plus Chongqing, Zhejiang, Hubei, Henan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, bringing China’s total number of FTZs to 11.

The first clear indicator for magnesite (and talc and graphite) was on 30 October 2016, when Announcement No. 60 of the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on total export quotas of industrial products in 2017 was published on the MOFCOM website, and for the first time since 1994, magnesia and talc were absent from the listing (phosphate rock and silver remains among the minerals).

However, at the time, apart from this there were no official announcements specific to magnesia and its export administration, prompting almost two months of speculation and concern in the market.

It was not until late December 2016, when MOFCOM officially announced “tax adjustments“ to some of its exported commodities for 2017, effective 1 January 2017, including magnesite (and antimony, tin, indium, graphite, and talc), that it was deemed “official“.

The nature of the final confirmation of such a significant decision, after 23 years of market turmoil, came as somewhat of an anti-climax, with many in the market still grasping the import of it all.

However, there remains some confusion about the need and to whom to apply for export licences required nevertheless, albeit at no cost, for magnesia.

Some observers also have concerns over the threat of a potential “Resource Protection Tax“, which might be implemented by the government for magnesite in an effort to offset the cancellation of export taxes.

CCM shaft kilns smoking away in Haicheng, Liaoning province; a government pollution crackdown has paralysed most calcination plants in the district.

Magnesia plant closures: pollution crackdown

Pollution was stated as the “top enemy” among provincial lawmakers and political advisors at the plenary meetings across China earlier this year.

In Beijing, RMB18.2bn (US$2.6bn.) is to be spent to fight air pollution in 2017, aiming to limit the annual average density of hazardous (Particulate Matter)PM2.5 to around 60 micrograms per cubic meter this year.

This is a country-wide initiative whose ramifications will go further than just affecting magnesia production in Liaoning.

The third Central Inspection Team holding a mobilisation meeting on inspection in Liaoning in early May 2017: the team, stationed in Liaoning for about one month from 25 April, has just completed its tasks, including “a thorough check-up of the local effort in implementing the new development concepts and strengthening the ecological progress and environmental protection.” Courtesy Ministry of Environmental Protection.

On 5 April, China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) announced the largest national-level inspection on record. Some 5,600 environmental inspectors were sent to Beijing, Tianjin, and 26 smaller cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region – a major hub of mineral processors for export trade – to check on implementation of pollution control targets and emission standards.

They are also to inspect the investigation and closure of polluting businesses, the seasonal reduction or halting of production in certain industries, and the installation and operation of pollution monitoring and control devices.

Liaoning province saw a year-on-year 16.4% decrease in PM2.5 density last year, and 284 days with good air, 26 days more than 2015. Nevertheless, an aggressive provincial government crackdown has seen nearly 6,000 coal-fired boilers dismantled, and over 220,000 high-polluting vehicles phased out.

There is no doubt about the impact of the government’s environmental legislation drive. Since February this year there has been a steady stream of magnesia plants announcing closures and severe cutbacks in production which seemed to have come to a peak in May.

In late February, AsianMetal.com reported that 527 furnaces in 34 magnesia plants were forced to suspend production in Haicheng. In April, 46 plants operating 679 furnaces in Haicheng were closed owing to their not having environmental protection licences.

Workers feeding raw magnesite lumps to shaft kilns at Haicheng, Liaoning; some of the closed furnaces which have been approved to resume production with anti-pollution equipment installed are just starting to come back on line.

One trader commented to IMFORMED that up to 95% of magnesia production (CCM, DBM, FM) in Liaoning has been affected by inspection teams interrupting and stopping production, with few if any high purity DBM furnaces operating.

Another trader explained that cameras are being installed in some plants to monitor dust levels, and should pollution reach a certain level, then the plant is ordered to close its furnaces.

Work to upgrade production facilities with proper equipment meeting environmental standards is expected to take two to three months, although these are reported to mainly concern only dust emissions.

Producers must then conduct trials and apply to the Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau and local government for approval to resume full production. Apparently, all magnesia companies in Yingkou must comply with new environmental standards by 30 September 2017 or face threat of closure.

So it might be from mid-year to end of September before normal operating levels are resumed, if at all for some plants.

Compounding the supply shortage has been increased demand from both domestic and overseas consumers.

Of course, as well cleaning the environment, the pollution controls may well help the Liaoning government solve another of its longstanding issues in the magnesia and refractories manufacturing sector, that of winnowing out the many less efficient plants, and thus overall streamline the industry.

So what can we look out for over the next few months:

1. Which operations have been approved to resume production, and to what level of utilisation?
2. Which operations remain closed, and which are likely to stay that way?
3. Will there be another round of environmental inspections, perhaps to a higher degree, ie. more than dust control?
4. Will the upgrading of plants with anti-pollution equipment translate to rising operational costs and thus rising prices?
5. How long will it take for resumption of output to catch up with domestic and overseas demand, and then what will happen?
6. Prices may firm initially with short supply, then level off: is there another tax on the horizon (Resource Protection Tax?) to offset the export tax demise?
7. Should the demise of the export licence system, coupled with a streamlined, environmentally improved, and more efficient supply base in Liaoning stabilise Chinese magnesia availability and prices, what kind of impact will that have on magnesite project developers outside China? ie. one of the main drivers of developing magnesia sources outside China was the unpredictability of raw material supply and prices.

Come to Kraków and find out!

All these issues and more will be under examination and discussion at
MagForum 2017, Radisson Blu Hotel, Kraków, 11-14 June 2017
The only place to be: All you have to know, All you have to meet
Over 170 delegates already registered
Click here for programme |  Register Now!
Contact Ismene +44 (0)7905 771 494 | ismene@imformed.com

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, hydraulic fracturing of shale gas resources intensifies, and oil prices are looking just a little bit more healthy.

Certainly, the 130 attendees at IMFORMED’s Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017, 21-23 May, were in fine spirit and all contributed to a distinct fizz about the conference which engendered busy networking and discussion on the topics of the day.

“Another fantastic and well attended Forum – great work guys! Looking forward to the Middle East meeting”
Andres Marquez, Commercial Manager, CPC/CSM, USA

“Very well organised and had opportunity to meet everyone, excellent networking opportunity”
Vikram Akepati, CEO, Emprada Mines & Minerals, India

“Good cross-section of presenters, therefore a wealth of information provided; a good representation of participants from different countries seeking to do business”
Denise Tait, Market Development Consultant-Limestone, Jamaica Promotions Corp., Jamaica

For our Summary Slide Deck of the conference with programme, attendees, feedback, and pictures Click Here.

Outlook: oil and gas demand, minerals in drilling fluids

Uday Turaga, CEO, of ADI Analytics LLC, kicked off the Forum with his excellent “Outlook for oil and gas supply and demand”. He wanted the audience to get four messages which are shaping the outlook for oil and gas demand:

1. Unconventional oil and gas resources have expanded supply significantly while demand continues to struggle impacting oil prices in the near to medium term.
2. Similarly, gas supply has expanded and some production is independent of gas prices and nearly 1,500 Tcf can be produced economically at prices less than $4.
3. Shale gas drilling and completion improvements have cut breakeven costs in North American oil and gas plays, and are expected to further cut costs going forward.
4. North American demand for both oil and natural gas will, however, struggle to grow and exports will account for most growth in demand.

Turaga considered that oil prices will likely stay in the fifties through the next year or two while natural gas prices are anticipated to grow moderately, noting that a significant fraction of natural gas production growth is now coming from associated gas and is linked to oil economics.

On fracking, Turaga reported that rising costs have forced unconventional players to adopt numerous cost reducing initiatives across the value chain. “Going forward, the best opportunities for cost reduction are in completions across most plays” said Turaga.

Acknowledgement was also made to the advent of electric vehicles (EV) with is a global push toward reducing the carbon footprint of vehicles and transportation options. “Gasoline demand will fall by 1.8 to 2.9 million bpd by 2030”. said Turaga.

In “Boom, bust and beyond: oilfield chemicals & minerals”, Ray Will, Director, IHS Markit Specialty and Inorganic Chemical Consulting, reviewed the geography and applications of minerals and chemicals in the oilfield sector.

Will highlighted that conventional oil and gas production has a much lower intensity of demand for oilfield minerals and chemicals compared to hydraulic fracturing.

Also, that the extra expenses for minerals and chemicals plus additional specialised equipment and contract services typically makes hydraulic fracturing more expensive than conventional oil production.

“Hydraulic fracturing operations are more likely to suspend drilling when the price of oil and gas falls toward their higher cost of production. So expect the highest consumption of minerals and chemicals with a high oil/gas price.” said Will.

JJ Miller, Snr. Global Product Manager, Baroid Global Technical Services, Halliburton, provided a fine insight into the “Essential minerals for drilling fluids” commenting on trends in mineral consumption, drilling fluid formulas, and design.

Drilling fluids account for about 10% of the cost of drilling a well. Approximately half as much bentonite is required as barite, and calcium carbonate about 10% of barite volume.

Challenges in design were down to demand for faster drilling, higher density fluids, and operating at higher temperatures.

Barite is expected to remain long in use, with less bentonite used in fluids beyond surface intervals. Miller noted that increasing environmental restrictions for waste and other fluid additives would also play a significant part in the future.

Bentonite & calcium carbonate

Bill Miles, Miles Industrial Mineral Research, presented “US bentonite production and its supply to the drilling market”.

Miles explained the composition, properties and use of bentonite before outlining the oilfield industry’s specifications for the clay and application in drilling fluids.

Although the American Petroleum Institute (API) is due to review oilfield mineral specifications in 2018, on a five-year cycle, Miles does not expect any major change for bentonite.

Jarrod Massam, Manager Innovation & Technical Marketing Water & Energy, Omya International AG, gave a comprehensive review of the use of calcium carbonate in “Calcium carbonate for oilfield applications”, estimating the global market to be around 400-800,000 tpa.

Massam covered the requirements and applications of calcium carbonate, with a particularly detailed but clear review of the mineral functioning as a bridging agent in drilling fluids.

“Calcium carbonate is used in a large range of particle sizes as a key additive of drilling and completions fluids, to minimise risk and prevent formation damage, wellbore instability and non-productive time.” concluded Massam.

Hauling raw limestone for processing for oilfield market applications in Jamaica. Courtesy Dr Rainford

Jamaica is well known for its calcium carbonate resources, and Dr Oral Rainford, Principal Director, Ministry of Transport & Mining, gave a well illustrated talk on “Calcium carbonate resources of Jamaica: supply and investment possibilities.”

“Limestone deposits in general are at the surface, easy and fairly inexpensive to mine, with favourable geographical locations and close proximity and timely logistical access to Caribbean, North and South American markets.” said Rainford.

Rainford mentioned that Jamaican calcium carbonate was already finding use in oil well cements, developed by Lhoist.

Proppants: the “new normal”

Dave Frattaroli, ex-Chief Commercial Officer, Unimin, now consultant, prefaced his questions to Taylor Robinson, President, PLG Consulting and Joel Schneyer, Managing Director, Minerals Capital & Advisory Practice, Headwaters MB, with the words: “In my 30 years of working in the frac sand industry, that was the best presentation I have heard.”

He was referring to the duet’s quite brilliant 40-minute dissection of the frac sand industry: “The frac sand industry new normal: supply chain challenges and opportunities”.

Robinson and Schneyer together covered industry drivers, market expectations, and implications, with no stone (or frac grain!) unturned: including demand factors, grain sizes, logistics, economic margins, proppant volumes, frac sand resources, and concluding with winners and losers of the future.

Although acknowledging buoyant demand at present for frac sand, Robinson cautioned: “US proppant demand is set for a rebound, but the proppant forecasts seem too optimistic and do not appear to reflect the oil price, supply-demand feedback loop.”

It was therefore no surprise that the following Q&A session was bright, busy, and acceptably lengthy. Among the many discussion points was debate over merits of the “one-box” system of shipping frac sand, innovated by several companies.

A growing trend in the US proppant business has been the increased use of large volumes of frac sand at the expense of ceramic proppants. This was examined by Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FRAC PT FZE in “Why silica sand successfully substitutes bauxite in some shale fracs.”

“Crushed proppant helps keep slipped fractures open” Pickard Trepess, Managing Director, FracPT FZE, UAE

Trepess took us through fracturing history, principles, conductivity, and proppant selection, explaining how even though frac sand crushed under high pressure (unlike the superior crush resistant ceramic proppants): “Crushed proppant helps keep slipped fractures open and embeds into the rock face, maybe more than a half grain each side of the fracture.”

In “Screening the facts: the 40/70 & 100 mesh frac sand boom and its impact on silica sand supply and markets”, David Frattaroli, Executive Advisor, focused on the trend to finer mesh sizes and how this may affect the balance of industrial sand supply.

Frattaroli highlighted the competing markets for industrial sand, underlining the importance of grain sizing, the changing perceptions, marketing strategies, and requirements of frac sand colour, and logistics.

“Fine Northern White industrial grades can be converted to frac sand, but not always the reverse. 2017/2018 will see significant capacity improvements in Northern White, and in-basin sands – a more balanced negotiation ahead.” said Frattaroli.

“Fine Northern White industrial grades can be converted to frac sand, but not always the reverse.”, Dave Frattaroli, Executive Advisor, USA

He also warned that should ground silica demand take off for evolving completions technology, the fibre glass market needs to be beware.

Joe Roettle, Global Sales Manager, Ecutec Barcelona SL, gamely rounded off the day with “Unlocking diverse market opportunities through mineral processing.”

In essence, Roettle demonstrated how with good use and selection of appropriate grinding systems, oilfield mineral producers can supply a wider range of grades of their mineral in order to penetrate other markets, in other words, to diversify their outlets.

However, as delegates were to discover within the hour following his presentation, there is more to Joe Roettle than an advanced understanding of grinding technology – involving impact and friction of an altogether different variety! (see panel).

Congratulations to Joe Roettle, Global Sales Manager, Ecutec Barcelona SL, for winning the “Buckin’ Bronco” prize, presented by Tammy Oglesby, Logistics Analyst, Excalibar Minerals

 

 

Barite: global supply, demand, and shipping

“World barite supply and demand”, written by Peter Huxtable, Director, The Barytes Association, and presented by Chris Bosch, Category Manager, Halliburton, was a comprehensive overview of the global situation for barite, supply, demand, and trade.

Chris Bosch, Category Manager, Halliburton, presented on behalf of The Barytes Association on barite supply and demand.

With the contraction of drilling activity in 2016, it was seen that barite consumption in drilling last year had dropped to just under 70% (previously at levels of 85% or more).

Supply from China, Mexico, Morocco and the USA slipped, as India recovered and Europe remained steady. Also detected was a lesser reliance on China, with growing supply from Thailand, Laos, Bolivia, and new outputs from Malaysia, Mexico, N. Korea, and Bulgaria.

John Newcaster, Director Southwest Region, The Cumberland Group Inc., USA looked at “North American barite consumption trends and outlook” with his motto “understanding the past to better predict the future.”

John Newcaster, Director Southwest Region, The Cumberland Group Inc., USA, underlined the historical dependency of eastern hemisphere barite supply to the west.

Interestingly, Newcaster debated the best indicator of barite consumption: Was feet drilled per well better than simply the rig count? Actually, he concluded that oil price was perhaps the best: “Oil price is actually a more stable predictor than rigs or feet since the early 2000s. Oil price drives location and type of drilling, which drives barite demand.” opined Newcaster.

Newcaster underlined the historical dependency of eastern hemisphere barite supply to the west, which looks set to continue through 2017.

However, he also highlighted increasing low cost powder barite from northern Mexico processors supplying the Permian basin exploration in Texas and New Mexico. Newcaster concluded: “Any EH [eastern hemisphere] based barite import recovery will be driven by oil price. But trends of cheap local barite and lower barite per bbl. produced, make 2 million tonnes [imports for North American consumption] from the EH much less likely in any future year.”

In what is almost their now-customary appearance at the Oilfield Minerals Forum in Houston, Jesper Hoppe, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. A/S, and Morten Petersen, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. (Hong Kong) Ltd, again provided a lively review of the all-important shipping market.

Key trends covered included fleet supply versus cargo demand, deliveries versus scrapping, fleet owners, the BDI, key commodities, and new shipbuilding.

Global seaborne cargo volumes have doubled over the last seven years, a huge wave of new buildings were contracted, although deliveries are expected to be low from 2018 onwards.

Jesper Hoppe, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. A/S, and Morten Petersen, Managing Director, Viking Shipping Co. (Hong Kong) Ltd, again provided a lively review of the all-important shipping market.

Barite: China’s industry, exploration, and processing

The leading producer and export of barite is China, and a fine overview of the industry in China was provided in “China barite industry status in big data era” by Liao Ying, Managing Director, Baribright Co. Ltd.

Liao explained the diverse distribution and types of barite resources in China, pinpointing the main production centres and outlining the pattern of barite domestic consumption and export trade from China.

Since 2012, Baribright has been investigating and recording 253 barite mines in five south-west provinces. Some 93 mines delivered 1.95m tonnes of barite from 2012-2016.

It is clear that China’s barite industry has undergone a period of upgrading and modernisation: “Manpower input has decreased by 40% since 2012 due to more machines and equipment used in mining and processing. Many more processing production lines have been set up. In 2016, 85% of Guangxi production was processed.” said Liao.

“Chinese barite has advantages in the world market, and will continue to lead global barite supply.” Liao Ying, Managing Director, Baribright International, China.

Liao explained the use of using ferroalloy industry trucks bringing in iron ore from the southern ports as a backhaul option to take out barite for export.

Liao concluded: “Chinese barite has advantages in the world market, and will continue to lead global barite supply. China’s diverse reserves, small mines, short mining cycles, and various qualities mean that big data management must play a key role in industry operations.”

In an almost back-to-grad. school approach, “Using gravity geophysics for barite exploration and production” by Heath Inskip, Global Sales Manager, Guizhou Saboman Imp. & Exp. Co. Ltd was warmly welcomed by the audience.

Inskip explained the rudiments of gravity surveying in exploration, outlining the usage in reserve calculations and the cost savings in using this method. He also showed how it was applied to delineate the substantial barite reserves of Guizhou Saboman in China.

“When used in conjunction with existing data, gravity surveys can be accurately modelled into volumetric bodies with a high degree of confidence. Gravity surveys when used in this fashion are much more cost effective than traditional delineation drilling for ore body modelling.” said Inskip.

Frank Hrach, Vice President, Process Engineering, ST Equipment & Technology LLC, presented “Tribo-electric separation of barite for the oilfield drilling market.”

With conventional wet processing (ie. jigging, flotation) of barite being costly and unsuitable for arid regions, Hrach introduced a new approach – dry beneficiation by tribo-electrostatic separation.

In summary, when dry, discrete particles repeatedly collide, barite charges strongly positive and low-density silicates charge negative. After charging, particles can be separated using a strong electric field.

Hrach went on to extol the benefits of the process by demonstrating the recent installation of an STET M24 separator at Ramadas Minerals Pvt. Ltd’s barite grinding plant near Kodur, India.

With tribo-electric separation technology recently installed, Ramadas Minerals’ plant is now routinely producing 4.1 SG product barite from low grade 3.8 to 3.9 SG feed. Courtesy STET

Facility construction was completed in September 2016, the system checked out in October 2016, optimising took place November 2016-January 2017, and became fully operational in February 2017.

“The plant is now routinely producing 4.1 SG product barite from low grade 3.8 to 3.9 SG feed ore from APMDC’s Mangampet mine. There has also been successful testing for production for 4.4 SG chemical grade product.” said Hrach.

See you next time!

As ever we are indebted to the support and participation of all of our sponsors, speakers, and delegates for making Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017 such a success.

We very much appreciate all the completed feedback forms and please continue to provide us with your thoughts and suggestions.

Sponsor & exhibit enquiries: Ismene Clarke T: +44 (0)7905 771 494 ismene@imformed.com

Presentation & programme enquiries: Mike O’Driscoll T: +44 (0)7985 986255 mike@imformed.com

We shall keep you abreast with developments for the next Oilfield Minerals Forum and look forward to meeting you again soon.

For programme, feedback, attendees, and picture gallery, please go to:

Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017

Missed attending Oilfield Minerals & Markets Forum Houston 2017?

A set of presentations (as PDF) maybe purchased: Price £500 – please contact:

Ismene Clarke, T: +44 (0)208 224 0425; M: +44 (0)7905 771 494; E: ismene@imformed.com

Register now for

Fluorine Forum 2017

30 Oct-2 Nov Hilton Hotel San Luis Potosi

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 the UK.

Together with Alison Saxby, Director of Roskill Information Ltd, with 30 years’ research experience in industrial minerals including fluorspar, Peter was talking with Mike O’Driscoll, Director, IMFORMED on the outlook for the fluorspar market in advance of IMFORMED’s Fluorine Forum 2017, 30 Oct-2 Nov, San Luis Potosi, Mexico.

Supply and demand trends, the influence of China, environmental factors, and the threat of use of non-fluorine materials are all discussed.

Click here to watch and listen to the full discussion

Click here for Fluorine Market Briefing by Mike O’Driscoll

Click here for Ismene welcomes you to Fluorine Forum 2017

Click here for programme update

Fluorine Forum 2017

30 Oct-2 Nov Hilton Hotel San Luis Potosi