The Hindu : Bright scope seen for State in global barytes market

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 05, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Bright scope seen for State in global barytes market

By Our Staff Reporter

MANGAMPET (CUDDAPAH DT.), MARCH 4. The World Barytes Association president, Michael D. Key, said on Thursday that the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation could emerge a major player in the global barytes market.

A 10-member delegation of the association led by Mr. Michael Key of the United Kingdom, visited the Mangampet Barytes Project in Obulavaripalle mandal. The association's annual meeting was held at Chennai yesterday, where the APMDC Managing Director, Harpreet Singh, gave a presentation on the deposits, excavation and quality of barytes at the MBP, he said.

The association, formed in the year 2000, has barytes producers of 20 nations as members and the APMDC, Trimax Industries, Indian Barytes and Chemicals Ltd. and Gimpex, were enrolled now, he said. They said they visited Mangampet on an invitation by the APMDC and Trimax Industries. They inspected the barytes mines, where excavation was in progress and examined the sedimentary deposits of barytes ore.

The barytes ore at Mangampet had a high percentage (96 per cent) of barium sulphate and was in pure form without any toxic material, Mr. Key said. The ore in MBP was ideal for use in oil drilling, he said. The MBP had a deposit of an 68 million tonnes of barytes ore whereas the largest mine in China had a 14 million tonnes of ore and small deposits at several places, he said.

The United States lso had substantial barytes deposits, mostly in Nevada, but it was about 1,200 miles away from the harbour, he said. Mangampet Barytes Project was ideally located within 200 km of the Chennai port, making shipping convenient. Barytes deposits were non-hazardous to the environment and hence Norway decided to remove barytes from the list of hazardous substances, he added.

The association's vice-president, Peter Huxtable of the U.K., said China produced 2.5 to 3 million tonnes of barytes while the US produced 0.5 million tonnes, whereas MBP was producing around six lakh tonnes and all the producers in Europe together accounted for 0.5 million tonnes.

Mr. Key and Mr. Huxtable said the global price of higher grade barytes, used in oil drilling, was about US $ 70 to 75 per lump and the ore used for chemical purposes was fetching an additional US $ 20 to 25 per lump.

The APMDC Executive Director, Rajender Reddy, and the MBP Project Manager, H.D. Nagaraju, said the MBP's production was six lakh tonnes a year, of which about one lakh tonnes was domestic consumption. The MBP extended over a length of 1.20 km and was 900 metres wide, with an ore thickness ranging from 22 metres to 40 metres, said the senior geologist, Narasimha Reddy.

The surveyor, Ramachandra Reddy, explained cross sections, 2, 8 and 14. The association members who visited the mines included John W.H. Christie of MI International in Scotland, Reinhold R. Pigal of Deutsche Baryt Industrie in Nederlands, August Conesa Compte of Minerals Girona S.A. in Spain, Corina Hebestreit of EuroMines in Belgium, Cengiz Kaya of ADO Grubo of Turkey, Francis Tennaire of France, Fernando and Pavaleika of Spain.

The Chairman of Trimax Industries, Koneru Prasad, Managing Director of IBC, K. Rajamohana Reddy, the IBC chairman, K. Sankara Reddy, Binoy Chowdary, Managing Director of Gimpex Industries and barytes exporters were present.

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