How did the Middle East become so important to industrial minerals?

• Autores: Siobhan Lismore-Scott
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 568, 2015 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Enero)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The region also saw an increase in demand for glass minerals such as soda ash, borates and silica sand, as well as those associated with a growing middle class and infrastructure, such as fluorspar, rare earths, graphite and of course minerals sands used to produce titanium dioxide (TiO[subscript]2 ).

    Both Algeria and Saudi Arabia are leading the pack in the region for shale gas development. In January this year, Halliburton opened a new R&D centre in Saudi Arabia, specifically to look at developing unconventional resources -- the latest in a line of similar R&D hubs in the region, established by oilfield services companies, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger.

    Making solar panels involves a number of industrial minerals, including quartz and silica sand, and Saudi Arabia's imports of these materials have soared as a result. It imported around 38,000 tonnes quartz in 2012, up 18 fold compared with the previous four years.