Industrial Minerals Sector Trends
Current Industrial Minerals Sector Contribution
Industrial minerals include all the non-fuel and non-metallic minerals and in the context of this web site, they exclude construction aggregates which are treated here as a separate sector.
Industrial minerals are generally the least understood sector of the mining industry in terms of identifying common economic, technical and marketing characteristics. There are over 200 minerals in this group and it is rare to find a single company producing more than four or five of these minerals. Markets for each of these minerals are often diverse, highly technical and require unique marketing and sales expertise. Industrial minerals are found in a wide diversity of industrial and consumer products and play key roles in many complex and sophisticated manufacturing and processing applications throughout the world.
Industrial minerals are used in a multitude of uses such as ornamental stone for building facings, specialized absorbents for oil spills, gemstones in the fashion industry, ceramic components in the aerospace industry and silicon in microchips. Companies vary in size from small "mom and pop" operations to large multi-national, chemical corporations. Many of the mineral products are critical to the industries where they are used as catalysts, blending constituents, extenders, fillers, etc. Industrial minerals are not only strategic to modern day manufacturing and processing, but also to developing new product and process applications, following research and development successes in advanced materials science.
Industrial mineral sales in British Columbia have ranged from C$40 to C$50 million over the last eight years. The industrial minerals sector currently employs about 500 people (see Figure 1). When the Cassiar Asbestos Mine operated in the 1980’s, the industrial minerals sector was substantially larger, with annual sales generally exceeding C$100 million and more than 500 people employed. In recent years, some of the more important industrial mineral products produced in British Columbia are asbestos, barite, gemstones, gypsum, limestone, dolomite, dimension stone, magnesite, pumice, silica, soapstone and talc, smelter gas and elemental sulphur, clay, pyrophyllite, diatomite and zeolites.
Figure 1.
As British Columbia's population increases and its economy and trade strengthen, develop and diversify, continuous long term growth in the province’s industrial mineral sector is anticipated. As the many other sectors of British Columbia’s economy evolve, a stronger and more sophisticated manufacturing and processing base is expected to develop which will generate greater opportunities for industrial minerals, for example, in industries such as chemical processing and high tech manufacturing.
The current local marketing and processing of these mineral products is the forerunner of other opportunities which will include value-added processing, exporting, toll processing and reduced import reliance.
For questions or more information on statistics and mineral economy in British Columbia contact Minerals, Oil and Gas Branch or call toll free 1 800 663-7867 (BC Residents only).
Last updated May 09, 2007
