Fluorspar: New acid-grade fluorspar shipments by South Africa’s SepFluor

SepFluor, operator of the newly constructed Nokeng mine in South Africa, has confirmed that it has made its first shipment of fluorspar which meets the industry standard assay for acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar) of 97% CaF2. The 10kt shipment was dispatched in early December 2019 and was thought to be destined… Read more

Bauxite and alumina: Alunorte returns, once again, to normal production

Production at Hydro’s Paragominas bauxite mine returned to normal in late December 2019, following a closure of around 10 days—the result of a power supply failure caused by an overturned transmission tower. Production at the company’s associated Alunorte alumina refinery had also been reduced by 50–70%. This is not the… Read more

Salt: World production expected to hit new record of over 330Mt this year

Roskill’s Kerry Satterthwaite discusses the outlook for salt through to 2028. She says world production is expected to reach a new record of over 330Mt in 2019, beating the previous peak of around 325Mt in 2018 when output was driven by high consumption in the de-icing market following a cold… Watch now

Cobalt: ‘Significant’ demand growth expected over next decade with market likely to double

Roskill’s Ying Lu says a combination of expansions, re-starts, recycling and new projects will be required if cobalt supply is to meet demand over the next decade. She’s forecasting significant cobalt demand growth over the next decade with the market expected to roughly double in size. Roskill’s Cobalt: Outlook to… Watch now

Lithium: What can the market expect in the next 12 months?

Consultant Jake Fraser gives his view on what has been happening in the lithium market and what we can expect over the coming 12 months.