Revamping the vermiculite industry

• Autores: Davide Ghilotti
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 584, 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Junio)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The trend line of global production for the past 15 years shows a slow but notable decline. Back in 2000, output stood at 521,000 tonnes. This fluctuated to a peak of 537,000 tonnes in 2008. Since then, it has progressively gone down to a 15-year low in 2014 (381,000 tonnes), then edging up somewhat last year. The entire period marked a 22% drop.

    What has changed, however, is the weight that each producer carries on the market today compared with before. In 2000, South Africa alone supplied 41% of global output (equivalent to 208,835 tonnes), and the US a further 29% (150,000 tonnes). The two origins accounted for 70% of the world's vermiculite availability, dwarfing all other countries.

    Brazilian production rose by 20,000 tonnes in six years to 70,000 tonnes in 2015. Zimbabwe saw its volumes increase four-fold in the same time frame, to 40,000 tonnes. Other countries such as India, Japan, Australia, Russia or Uganda remained more stable.