Increased growth forecast for mica

Consumption of mica in plastics increased strongly during the first half of the 1980s with the steady development of methods of using fillers to reduce costs and improve performance, Roskill Information Services says in an optimistic report on the mineral.

Surface modifiers and coupling agents — first used to permit higher loadings of low-cost fillers — are increasingly being used with platey minerals such as both mica and talc to improve the performance of polypropylenes and other filled thermoplastics.

In its report, Roskill details the wide variety of chemically-treated micas introduced in the mid-1980s and the growth in demand for these high-priced products in recent years. Further growth into the 1990s is anticipated.

All of which is good news for Lacana Mining of Toronto, whose wholly-owned subsidiary, Suzorite Mica Products, mines and processes the mineral in Quebec.

The applications of mica as a filler in paints, plastics and other markets outside the U.S. are relatively more important than the construction and drilling fluid industries which are the two main markets in that country, Roskill says.

Paints and plastics generally require more highly processed grades of ground mica, the report says, and provide the main markets for wet-ground micronized and specially treated micas. Filler application

The chief end-use for ground mica continues to be as a filler in gypsum plasterboard cements, a use which is more important in the U.S. than elsewhere, Roskill says. Consumption of mica in the U.S. closely follows consumption of gypsum in construction end-uses.

The growth in consumption of ground and flake mica in drilling fluids came to an end (for the time being) with the collapse of the price of oil in 1986 and the subsequent decline in drilling activity, Roskill says.

The report underlines the divergence between the trends in the sheet mica and ground mica industries, which Roskill says has been apparent for some years and which was strongly confirmed in the mid-1980s.

World production of mica, which was 251,000 tonnes in 1979, reached 308,000 tonnes in 1984 and an estimated 316,000 tonnes in 1987.

Roskill hinges its optimism on the strength of the continuing demand in tonnage terms and the steadily increasing demand for the higher-priced ground micas. Quebec deposit

Lacana’s deposit is north of Montreal, with its processing plant at Boucherville, near Montreal.

The company reports increased earnings in fiscal 1987 (year-end, Sept 30) of about 15% compared with the same 9-month period in 1986. During the year, a new mill system for finer grades of mica was installed, and a new warehouse was placed in service. Also, additional dust-control facilities were installed and the laboratory expanded.

Orders in 1987 jumped 5% over the previous year and exceeded plant capacity for several grades, Lacana says. An expansion of the plant is scheduled for completion late this year.

Sales demand in technical markets in Canada and Japan was up last year, Lacana says, with established business in the U.S. experiencing a modest rise, primarily in reinforced plastics and asbestos substitute products. Shipments to Europe for oil well drilling muds rose. Lacana is optimistic about the future of a nickel-coated mica product being developed in co-operation with Sherritt Gordon Mines.