FLUORSPAR: RESOURCE NATIONALISM COMPLICATES MINING INVESTMENT IN MONGOLIA
Mongolian fluorspar production has rebounded in 2018 and 2019 with output being increased to supply markets affected by less readily available Chinese material. There is no domestic requirement for fluorspar, so all production is exported, mainly to China and Russia. Small shipments (typically totalling less than 20ktpy) are also sent sporadically to Japan, South Korea and Ukraine. Exports of acidspar to the USA previously averaged 15–30ktpy but now average less than 500tpy. By far the largest export market for Mongolian acidspar in 2018 was China. Exports of acidspar to China grew tenfold between 2016 and 2018, reaching an unprecedented 79kt, worth US$37M, in 2018.
Fluorspar miners and investors in the country have, however, been rattled by the attention focused this year by one of Mongolia’s parliamentary working groups on other mining projects.
Source: Roskill.com
2016.12.16
