ROSKILL'S IN-DEPTH STUDY ON ZIRCON: PRICES WILL GO ON INCREASING UNTIL NEW PROJECTS MAKE AN IMPACT

摘要

Zirconium is the twentieth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and it most often occurs in the form of silicate (as zircon), less often in the oxide form (as baddeleyite or caldesite). Historically, the world's production of zircon was entirely derived from mining and processing beach sands or heavy mineral sands that were being exploited primarily for their titanium content, ie to generate Ti02 feedstocks that would be used for making titanium pigments and, to a lesser extent, titanium metal. Zircon was then regarded as a by-product, with the sharply fluctuating prices typical of a commodity where the supply is essentially involuntary and not truly responsive to market demand. However, in recent years, zircon has shown considerable mining investment appeal in its own right. Projects have been planned - and some have already come to fruition -based mainly on the zircon potential of the deposit. Booming Chinese demand for zircon to meet the requirements of the ceramic and zirconium chemical sectors has been a major factor causing zircon prices to surge beyond $1000 per tonne at the end of 2010 and beyond $2000 per tonne as the year 2011 draws to a close.