Industrial Minerals

Industrial minerals are bought on a specification sheet, not on a tonnage. Titanium feedstocks are graded on TiO₂, from sulphate ilmenite at 45–58% and chloride ilmenite at 58–65% to chloride slag around 85% and natural and synthetic rutile above 90%, with calcium and magnesium held down for chloride plants. Zircon is graded on ZrO₂+HfO₂, with premium zircon at 66.5% ZrO₂ minimum, TiO₂ at or below 0.15% and Fe₂O₃ at or below 0.05%, and a radioactivity certificate stating uranium plus thorium. Drilling barite is tested to API Specification 13A at 4.20 or 4.10 specific gravity, with residue above 75 microns capped at 3.0%. Silica sand is graded on iron and grain: float glass generally needs Fe₂O₃ below 0.03%, foundries buy on AFS grain fineness, and frac sand is tested to API RP 19C. Kaolin is bought on brightness and the share of particles below 2 microns, ball clay on plasticity and fired whiteness, and feldspar and nepheline syenite on Na₂O, K₂O, Al₂O₃ and Fe₂O₃. The 2024 export declarations across the reporters in each pull put titanium ores (HS 2614.00) at USD 1.96 billion led by South Africa and Mozambique, zircon (HS 2615.10) at USD 1.40 billion led by South Africa (43.5%), barite (HS 2511.10) at USD 670 million led by India, China and Morocco, silica sand (HS 2505.10) at USD 1.60 billion led by the USA (55.1%), kaolin (HS 2507.00) at USD 1.69 billion led by the USA and the UK, and feldspar (HS 2529.10) at USD 629 million led by Türkiye (41.4%).

CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers industrial minerals between miners, processors, distributors and trader allocations on one side and ceramic tile, sanitaryware and glass plants, foundries, pigment and paint makers, drilling-fluid companies, refractory producers and traders on the other. Minerals move in bulk vessel lots, 25 kg bags or 1–1.5 MT jumbo bags in containers, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, against an SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek certificate of analysis, a certificate of origin, a safety data sheet, a radioactivity certificate for zircon, and any export authorisation the origin requires: Indian beach-sand minerals are exported through Indian Rare Earths Limited, Indian baryte of 4.10 specific gravity and above is Restricted and needs DGFT authorisation since April 2026, and several Southeast Asian origins restrict sand exports. Price is negotiated per grade and cargo, with Fastmarkets assessments as reference where one exists for the grade. Send the mineral, the specification, the form and the discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.