Without a potential market, an industrial mineral deposit has no value as a resource. Industrial minerals are minerals and rocks that are mined and processed for their non-metallic properties and how they benefit products and processes. They are essential materials found in everyday items like toothpaste and paint. Industrial mineral mining occurs on various scales and provides opportunities at both local and global levels. Using New South Wales as a case study, we can examine what global and local markets exist for these minerals based on past usage and potential future applications.

1. Without a market, an Industrial Mineral deposit is merely a
geological curiosity. That is, without a potential market, there
can be no resource; without a good knowledge of the planned
market (volume, price and competition), there is no reserve.
Industrial minerals are essentially minerals and rocks mined
and processed for the value of their non-metallurgical
properties and for the benefits they impart to the products and
processes in which they are used. They are all around us, from
toothpaste to wallpaint, they are the silent hero of not just the
mining world, but also our every day world. Industrial mineral
mining and exploration takes place on various scales and
present opportunities on local and global scales. Using New
South Wales as a case study, we can see what global and local
markets exist for these minerals, peer into the past, as well as
predict what minerals might be useful into the future.
- Cameron Perks, Managing Principal at CPIM Consulting.
Minerals you didn't know you cared about - a
NSW perspective
May Meeting of the
Geological Society of NSW
When: Thursday 12th
May, 2016.
 Where: Barbarian Room, The Rugby Club, Rugby Place (off 31
Pitt Street), Sydney.
 Time: 5.30pm.
 Free Entry.
 Please join us for dinner following the meeting.