Download INDUSTRY REPORT //Borates

INDUSTRY REPORT
//Borates
INITIATING SECTOR COVERAGE
STORMCROW
April 21, 2015
Borates – Essential and Increasingly Hard to Get
 Essential and Critical: Boron is a rare element necessary for the production
of E-glass and other borosilicate glasses used to make fiberglass mats and
insulation, and labware or cookware that is resistant to thermal shock.
Without boron, sourced primarily from four minerals, our modern world
would be meaningfully different.
 At First Glance, There is Plenty: Annual production levels currently mean that
Jon Hykawy, PhD
President
[email protected]
Tom Chudnovsky
Managing Partner
[email protected]
there is a global reserve of borates totaling many decades. But at the same
time as demand is trending higher due to increasing levels of disposable
income in countries such as China and India, tighter environmental laws are
incenting the use of increasingly clean borate deposits, especially those
containing minimal amounts of arsenic. These clean deposits are harder to
come by, but there are examples of what would otherwise have been strong
borate deposits that have been bypassed for development due to arsenic
content.
 All Minerals are Not Equal: Of the four main minerals harvested to produce
boron chemicals, only one of them contains minimal amounts of sodium.
When making borosilicon glass, the level of sodium must be kept low, or the
glass will lose its ability to tolerate thermal shock.
 Clean Colemanite is Cool: Our conclusion is that while demand will increase
in coming years to the point that at least one additional mine equivalent to
the largest in the world will be required, it would be advantageous for this
supply to be composed primarily of low-arsenic colemanite, from a high grade
and consequently low-cost source. Whether such a supply can be identified
is something that we will discuss in later reports.
See the end of report for important disclosures
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BORATES INDUSTRY REPORT
Borates – Essential and Increasingly Hard to Get
Boron is a light metal that very few outside the chemical industry recognize, but
one that is essential in our modern society. Truly rare within the Earth’s crust, at
the same time that demand for its products is rising, the bulk of supply comes
from only two geopolitical regions, and one of those will arguably become
increasingly unstable in years to come. The largest use, globally, for boron is for
glass. Boron is a critical and irreplaceable component in the fiberglass used in
insulation and composites, and is also essential to making borosilicate glass that
is resistant to thermal shock and high temperatures. Demand increases are due
to growing global use of refrigeration, residential and commercial climate
control, and consumer goods such as cookware. We will present an analysis of
the borate industry, and our best estimates for the prices of basic materials such
as minerals containing boron and boric acid.
Boron – Definitely Not Boring
If you are a scientist, then boron is not boring. Boron is a rare element, one that
is produced in a very unusual fashion. Many of the light elements, like hydrogen
and helium, were products of our early universe, condensing out of the
primordial soup of basic particles as the very early universe cooled following the
Big Bang. Other heavier elements were produced after stars completed their
cycle of burning and some exploded into novae and supernovae, seeding their
galaxies with elements like iron and gold. Boron has no simple way to be
produced via these mechanisms.
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Exhibit 1 – Elemental Abundance on Earth
Source: USGS
Instead, boron is produced mainly through a mechanism called cosmic ray
spallation. Helium nuclei, for example, are accelerated to very high speeds by
certain stellar processes and a few of these alpha particles eventually crash into
another heavier nucleus here on Earth. The resulting collision can spall off pieces
of the heavy nucleus, some of these eventually becoming stable isotopes of
boron. Boron is essentially a byproduct of collisions between nuclei that
resemble those conducted in particle accelerators here on Earth.
And if you are an investor, then boron should not bore you, either. Boron is used
in a wide variety of products, demand for many of which are growing rapidly as
societies become more affluent and demand larger amounts of simple products
such as insulation and glassware.
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Exhibit 2 – Boron End Uses (2012)
Source: ETi Mine Works
Detergents and bleaches are perhaps the oldest and the most pedestrian of
modern boron applications, exemplified by the iconic “20 Mule Team Borax”.
There are significant numbers of substitute chemicals and chemistries available
to achieve similar results. This is perhaps the most sensitive end-use market with
respect to boron price; if boron prices markedly rise, then substitutes will replace
boron.
Agriculture composes some 14% of use, and involves boron being added to
fertilizers as an essential micronutrient. All major crop types, globally, are
susceptible to boron deficiency, and all fertilization programs, of necessity,
involve boron. There is no substitute. The alternative is to allow yield per
hectare to fall as a result of boron deficiency in the crop. Avoidance of boron
use thus involves a calculation that incorporates price being paid for the final
crop and the loss that can be suffered before treatment is economically
preferable.
Numerous ceramics contain boron. Two of the hardest and most resilient
materials in the modern engineering arsenal are boron nitride and boron
carbide. The softest type of boron nitride is its hexagonal form, and this material
is used as a graphite replacement in lubricants (especially where the chemical
and thermal stability of graphite is insufficient) and in cosmetics. Cubic boron
nitride is only slightly softer than diamond, but with better thermal and electrical
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properties. In fact, cubic boron nitride is used as a grinding medium for steels
and other ferrous metals, because using diamond for the same task would result
in carbon being dissolved into the metal and changing its properties. Boron
nitride, on the other hand, is insoluble in steels and ferrous alloys. Boron carbide
is slightly softer than either diamond or cubic boron nitride, but much easier and
less expensive to manufacture than cubic boron nitride, and so is widely used in
many applications including abrasives and even ballistic armor.
Boron has a strong ability to absorb thermal neutrons within a nuclear reactor.
In fact, the propensity of materials used in nuclear reactors to absorb neutrons
is usually compared to boron, as boron equivalency in parts per million. Boron
carbide is often used as a material within nuclear reactors, because it is hard and
strong and capable of withstanding extreme temperatures. When boron does
absorb a neutron, the 7B (since 7B is the only natural isotope of boron)
momentarily becomes 8B, and then the 8B decays to an excited state of 8Be which
then quickly falls apart into two He nuclei. There are no long-lived radioactive
byproducts that result from neutrons being absorbed by boron, so not only is the
reaction very clean but boron acts as a “neutron poison” and thus provides a
mechanism to shut down a reactor rapidly, should this become necessary.
Whether used as a structural material within the reactor or as a “neutron
poison”, these uses of boron would be contained within the “Other” category in
the figure above.
However, by far the largest use of boron is in glass, either as a part of the making
of glass fiber, or, to a lesser degree, the manufacture of borosilicate glass. The
two are not equivalent. When making glass fibers, a small amount of either
boron oxide or borax pentahydrate is added to the melt to control certain
properties. The most common glass fiber in use today, E-glass, contains a
substantial amount of boron. E-glass (named because it was originally developed
for applications in electronics) is commonly used as the glass fibers in glass fiberreinforced polymers, or fiberglass composites.
According to
glassproperties.com, a typical E-glass contains about 55% SiO2 by mass, and 7%
B2O3. There are a variety of other types of glass fiber produced, for specialty
applications, but E-glass is the bulk of modern glass fiber production and is the
largest source of demand for boron, worldwide.
A typical borosilicate glass contains 12-15% B2O3, 80% SiO2 and the balance other
oxides, primarily Al2O3. Boron is an essential component of the final product,
giving the borosilicate glass its famed strength and its ability to resist thermal
shock. A commonly known brand name for borosilicate is PYREX® by Corning.
While there has been some controversy recently regarding the current
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formulation of PYREX® and its present ability to withstand thermal shocks, many
other manufacturers continue to produce borosilicate for both laboratory and
home use. This demand for borosilicate is growing at rates much higher than
GDP, as disposable incomes in developing economies such as China and India
serve to allow the purchase of luxury items by a burgeoning middle class.
A further growth area, encompassed within the category of borosilicate glass, is
the use of borosilicates as flat panel display glass. While newer materials such
as Dow’s Gorilla Glass (which contains no meaningful amount of boron) are used
as the front surface for touchscreens and displays, Corning has also previously
announced Willow Glass, a borosilicate formulation that can be made to be very
thin and flexible and is used as a backplane material in displays. Corning has also
stated that Willow Glass is targeted at lighting and solar photovoltaic
applications.
Boron Demand – Rare Material Meets Growing Demand
We believe that we can fairly readily predict demand for boron by evaluating
each of the demand segments for the element. All things equal, most especially
price, we believe that the growth in boron demand from detergents is best
described by global GDP. At present, the latest data from the World Bank
predicts the following:
Exhibit 3 – Global GDP Results and Forecasts
Year
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Growth
2.5%
2.6%
3.0%
3.2%
3.2%
Source: World Bank
Agriculture use should scale with global agricultural output. Boron is a nonsubstitutable micronutrient in all crop types, so there is no danger of boron use
in this application declining markedly if, say, the world were suddenly to shift
more heavily to rice production, as an example. The OECD and the FAO of the
United Nations publish their forecasts for various agricultural commodities. The
growth they forecast through 2023 regarding total agricultural outputs (including
all cereals and oilseeds) is as below:
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Exhibit 4 – Global Agricultural Crop Output Growth, by year
Year
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Growth 7.68%
0.16%
0.77%
1.16%
1.51%
1.57%
1.58%
1.48%
1.32%
1.33%
1.36%
Source: OECD and FAO
We believe that the above data should allow us to estimate boron demand for
agriculture and detergents fairly well.
Ceramics containing boron are largely used in abrasives and cutting tools, and
the manufacturing of steel. It would seem to us that growth in steel output is
the best proxy for growth in ceramic demand, especially ceramics containing
boron. The World Steel Association published data showing that growth in steel
output in 2013 was 5.8% higher than 2012, but 2014 output was only 1.2% higher
than 2013 levels. Forecasts for 2015 call for 2% growth, but the WSA does not
publish longer term forecasts. We will assume a much cooler demand picture
for steel in China, and use 1.5% as our CAGR beyond 2015
Finally, we need to consider growth in glass demand for boron. Glass demand
arises from two sources, namely E-glass (and similar fibers) used for fiberglass
that is predominantly used in making composite materials such as fiberglassreinforced plastics, and borosilicate glass used in making labware and cookware.
Rio Tinto has published data that suggest the firm believes that about 18% of
demand for boron in glassmaking is due to borosilicate glass, the balance from
making fiber.
The growth in the fiberglass sector is easier for us to estimate. Firms such as
Lucintel (with a February 2015 report) and Research and Markets (with a report
dated 2012) variously estimate growth rates for fiberglass consumption in the
range of 4.7% to 6.3% CAGR, with end points of 2019. We will assume the lower
range of 4.7% and extend that CAGR to 2023 for our purposes.
We believe that global borosilicate glass consumption is going to be related more
closely to the rise in disposable income. Trading Economics maintains an
ongoing database of ARIMA-modelled forecasts for disposable personal income
across a broad swath of nations, globally. By using existing data from 2013 and
2014 as well as forecasts to 2020, we have calculated an average growth rate for
global disposable income of some 6.9%. This is far healthier than GDP levels, and
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supports the levels of growth seen in such markets as electronics and fashion
goods.
To summarize then, we take the breakdown in boron demand shown graphically
in Exhibit 2, and apply the market size as estimated by data from ETi Mine Works,
the USGS and Rio Tinto for 2012, namely 1.92 million tonnes of B2O3 equivalent,
and we can calculate the relevant usage of boron in each of the categories in
2012. We then apply growth rates, such as global GDP to the “Other” and
“Detergents” category, global agricultural growth to the “Agricultural” category,
and global disposable income to the subcategory of borosilicate glass, and we
determine future demand for boron.
Exhibit 5 – Calculated Boron Demand Forecasts (in B2O3 tonnes)
Source: Stormcrow
Boron Supply – Oligopoly, Meet Pending Scarcity
The current market in boron is supplied by essentially two firms. Rio Tinto,
mainly through its Boron Mine located near, perhaps unsurprisingly, Borax, CA.
The Boron Mine is the single largest mine source for boron minerals and, in fact,
is the largest open-pit mine in California. The boron in this project is of such high
grade and quality that it was originally mistaken for a gypsum mine. Roughly
25% of global boron production, primarily in the form of borax and kernite, came
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from this one production source in 2012, according to data from Rio Tinto and
ETi Mine Works.
The bulk of remaining global boron comes from the ETi Mine Works, a Turkish
state-owned company with the exclusive, nation-wide mining rights to boroncontaining minerals. With Turkey having roughly 72% of global boron reserves,
there is little question that ETi will remain the leader in the industry. ETi
produced just less than half of global boron output from 2012 to 2014, according
to data from Rio Tinto, ETi and the USGS.
The balance of production is from various suppliers in China, South America
(predominantly Argentina and Chile) and Russia. None of these suppliers is
capable of dramatic expansions in production capacity, none of these various
suppliers is particularly large or maintains a dramatically lower cost base than
others, most especially compared to Rio Tinto.
Because the processing of a borate concentrate is relatively simple, if should be
unsurprising that grade is a consistently important feature among producing
mines. In the minor metals, especially those that are either higher priced or that
require more extensive processing, it is not unusual to see deposits of lower
grade enter the market. This can be because of a need to diversify sources of
supply or because a particular mineral may allow for less expensive processing,
in spite of lower grade. However, in the case of borates, the emphasis has always
been on grade within the more commonly available minerals, all of which are
roughly equivalent in terms of processing requirements.
Exhibit 6 – Boron Producers (2010)
Source: Roskill “Boron: Global Industry Markets and Outlook”, 12th Edition, 2010
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Along with its producing properties, Rio Tinto does possess one other interesting
asset in the space. The company holds claim over a project in Serbia, located
near the town of Loznica, which is itself about 100 km from Belgrade. The project
contains a lithium-boron mineral they called jadarite. In a strange coincidence,
the chemical formula for jadarite, LiNaSiB3O7(OH), is very close to that of the
fictional material kryptonite, the bane of Superman! That aside, jadarite could
prove to be a useful source for both lithium and boron in years to come.
However, at present, the project is at the pre-feasibility stage, and Rio Tinto
projects that it would take six years to move it to production, post any decision
to do so. The deposit, at present, contains some 2.25 million tonnes of Li 2O and
16.3 million tonnes of B2O3. Needless to say, we are not likely to run out of either
lithium or boron soon, given this is only for one zone in the overall deposit area.
Almost all global boron production comes from four minerals. These four are:
1. Colemanite (Ca2B6O11·5 H2O), which is an alteration product of ulexite
2. Ulexite ((NaCaB5O6(OH)6·5(H2O)), also known as “TV stone” for its optical
properties
3. Tincal/borax (Na2[B4O5(OH)4]·8H2O)
4. Kernite (Na2B4O6(OH)2·3(H2O))
All of the mineral forms can be used commercially, and many of them can appear
in a single deposit, as their formation can depend on local conditions and
alteration effects. However, the above presents an interesting opportunity.
With kernite and borax strongly dominating the production from the Boron
Mine, and with Turkish production spread across all minerals, there is a
preponderance of sodium borates in production today. However, the production
of both E-glass and borosilcate glass requires low levels of sodium, so that
additional colemanite production would be advantageous. Of course, this new
colemanite production also needs to have low arsenic levels, or the lower cost of
producing E-glass from colemanite will be offset by higher tailings disposal costs.
In 2012, various sources (the USGS, ETi Mine Works, Rio Tinto) estimated that
global production capacity for borates, in B2O3 equivalent form, was some 2.2
million tonnes per year, up from just under 2.0 million tonnes per year in 2008
(Roskill). ETi Mine Works planned expansion of its own production capacity by
only 3,000-4,000 tonnes in 2013, while Rio Tinto has previously described the
potential to increase production from its Boron Mine by at least 200,000 tpa by
2017, if required. Along with other production increases from other global
players, it seems feasible that global production could rise as high as 2.6 million
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tonnes per year in the medium term (by 2018), solely due to production
expansion of existing projects.
A major limiting factor in greater potential production growth is a contaminant
commonly found in boron deposits, arsenic. Arsenic is, obviously, toxic to
humans and animals, and is subject to increasingly stringent regulation regarding
its emission and long-term disposal. Those processing boron-containing minerals
and making boric acid or other chemicals now need to concern themselves with
increasing costs owing to the arsenic in their feedstock supply. Naturally, if
possible, they would rather obtain boron-bearing minerals that have as low an
arsenic content as possible. Failing that, many chemical manufacturers in
developed areas of the world would rather receive a chemical feedstock, rather
than minerals. In effect, they have transferred the arsenic problem to the entity
producing those chemicals. As an example, US Borax co-owned a colemanite
property near Magdalena, Mexico, with Vitro, the largest glassmaker in Mexico
at the time. Mine construction at this high-grade property has been postponed
repeatedly, owing to high arsenic content.
Thus, there is little concern regarding global boron supply until about 2019, in
our view. However, with major projects such as Rio Tinto’s Jadar Mine requiring
at least six years of development, there may well prove to be a gap in supply and
demand, for at least a few years. Bridging this gap is not being assisted by the
current poor junior mining market, which is making it increasingly difficult for
new deposits to be developed.
As far as potential investors in this space are concerned, however, they should
note that a good boron project is not merely one with high grades or strong
existing infrastructure. A good project requires those, plus either a relative
scarcity of arsenic in their ore or the ability to deal with the arsenic issue locally
and inexpensively.
Price Projections – Oligopoly Now and Into the Future
The market for boron minerals is a hard one to study. Even most paid sources
for industrial minerals pricing do not carry data regarding minerals such as
colemanite or kernite. The boron market is not huge, albeit it is critical to various
industries including fiberglass and agriculture. Splitting that small market into
multiple minerals makes for a very difficult study.
However, one common feedstock chemical for industry is boric acid. Substantial
amounts of borates are converted to boric acid, largely through the application
of either sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid, and heat in the form of recycled
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production liquor that already contains some boric acid. The products include
sulfates as waste.
We have obtained data regarding boric acid pricing over the last six years:
Exhibit 6 – Boric Acid Pricing
Year
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Price (US$/t)
660
640
960
920
790
730
Source: Borax Argentina/Orocobre
The other major contributor to boric acid cost is sulfuric acid. These prices have
tracked as follows:
Exhibit 7 – Sulfuric Acid Pricing
Year
Price (US$/t)
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
20
91
191
195
174
159
Source: US Department of Labor
These two prices have a correlation coefficient of 0.816. That is, roughly 67% of
their price movement over the years is related to the price movement of the
other. We examined offset correlations between boric and sulfuric acid prices
(that is, we examined, for example, whether boric acid prices were better
explained by sulfuric acid prices for the preceding year), but were unable to
improve the correlation.
Sulfuric acid’s contribution to the cost of boric acid is meaningful, so a correlation
makes sense. For example, when producing boric acid from colemanite,
stoichiometrically, or in perfect chemical ratio, each tonne of boric acid produced
requires 529 kg of sulfuric acid, as the formula for making boric acid is:
Ca2B6O11 · 5 H2O + 2 H2SO4 + 6 H2O → 2 CaSO4 · 2 H2O + 6 H3BO3
There will, naturally, be some waste, so the amount of sulfuric acid is likely
marginally larger than indicated. Nevertheless, in 2014 only about US$84/t of
the price paid for boric acid of US$730/t was consumed by sulfuric acid costs.
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As well, based on the chemical formulae of the anhydrous boron minerals, each
tonne of boric acid requires:

1.01 tonnes of colemanite

1.02 tonnes of ulexite

0.96 tonnes of tincal

0.89 tonnes of kernite
The best projections that we can develop on boric acid pricing are based on the
correlation to sulfuric acid. In plotting the prices of sulfuric and boric acid against
one another, we note that the appearance of the two resembles a power curve.
Thus, we performed a least-squares regression between the two, fitting a curve
of the form:
𝐵
𝑃𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑐 = 𝐴 (𝑃𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑐 ) + 𝐶
Fitting the data from Exhibits 6 and 7 to the above equation yields A = 2.05x10-8,
B = 4.438 and C = 634.1. These data give a strong fit to the existing data through
the late global recession and to the present day.
Exhibit 7 – Actual (bue) versus Fitted (orange) Data, Boric vs. Sulfuric Acid Prices
Source: Stormcrow
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If we now apply the above formula to future estimates of sulfuric acid pricing,
we can derive our projections for future boric acid pricing. Because sulfuric acid
is such an important chemical commodity, there are a number of long-term
forecasts available. We have chosen one such, produced by Nexant for their
client, Tenaska Taylorville. The forecast we apply is corrected to give the same
historical results as reported by the US Department of Labor figures, above. The
resulting Nexant forecast for sulfuric acid prices is thus:
Exhibit 8 – Projections for Sulfuric Acid Pricing
Year
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Price (US$/t)
134
137
140
144
147
150
154
157
161
Source: Nexant, Stormcrow
Applying the above formula to the sulfuric acid price projections above yields the
following price projections for boric acid:
Exhibit 9 – Stormcrow Projections for Boric Acid Pricing
Year
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Price (US4/t)
691
696
703
712
719
727
739
748
762
Source: Stormcrow
These data also allow us to calculate boron mineral prices, if we so wish. For
example, let us calculate the pricing of one of the more commonly used boronbearing minerals, colemanite. We have previously determined that making a
tonne of boric acid requires 0.53 tonnes of sulfuric acid. We also know that
making a tonne of boric acid requires at least 1.01 tonnes of colemanite. Without
allowing for any profit margin to the boric acid maker, then, the allowed margin
available to buy colemanite is given by:
𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑖𝑛 =
𝑃𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑐 − 0.53 𝑃𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑓𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑐
1.01
It should be clear that we are likely underestimating the price that can be paid
for colemanite using this method. Anyone making boric acid by this route is likely
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making their own sulfuric acid from sulfur, or perhaps even has excess sulfuric
acid from another process or source. However, this process may show us a useful
trend in what is likely to occur to colemanite, and to the other boron minerals.
Exhibit 10 – Trend for Available Colemanite Pricing due to Margin
Year
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Sulfuric (US$/t)
134
137
140
144
147
150
154
157
161
Boric (US$/t)
691
696
703
712
719
727
739
748
762
Margin (US$/t)
614
618
622
629
635
642
651
659
670
Source: Stormcrow
In order to correct for the problem that boric acid manufacturers may be making
their own sulfuric acid at much lower cost, and thus freeing up margin that can
pay for scarce arsenic-free colemanite or other boron minerals, we can look at
past colemanite pricing, and scale those values accordingly. Obviously, boric acid
prices vary from region to region, since both sulfuric acid and boric acid are
regional commodities that are not shipped huge distances owing to their
relatively low prices. The Indian website www.zauba.com quotes values for 40%
B2O3 content colemanite from Turkey at averages of US$496/t in 2013 and
US$497/t in 2014. Once again, we must scale our units properly, as 40% B2O3 is
the equivalent of 60% colemanite concentrate, but we believe that this suggests
that pure colemanite concentrate would have been priced at US$826/t in these
two years. Local technical grade boric acid pricing was US$839/t in 2014 and
US$828/t in 2013, both according to www.zauba.com.
To us, this means that we can simply scale the colemanite pricing of 2014 and
2015 with the change in margin available from Exhibit 10, above. Thus, our
medium-term forecast for boric acid and colemanite is:
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Exhibit 11 – Medium-Term
Colemanite (40% B2O3)
Forecasts,
Boric
Acid
(99.9+%)
and
Year
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
Boric (US$/t)
691
696
703
712
719
727
739
748
762
Colemanite (US$/t)
505
509
512
519
524
531
539
547
558
Source: Stormcrow
Conclusion – Borates Boast Bountiful Bottom-line
It would appear clear to us, from our examination of the industry, that the entry
of one or even a few smaller players into the boron market, to break the effective
Rio Tinto/ETi oligopoly, would be welcome, both to buyers and to the financial
markets. In most commodity markets, having at least four or five suppliers is
desirable, but at present in the boron space the number of truly meaningful
suppliers has been limited to just two.
On the other hand, the market pricing we have determined above describes a
space that is well supplied, but not one in which excessive supply is trying to find
a home. It would appear that the borate market will require additional supply
by 2019 or 2020, and will require new supply of at least 300,000 tonnes per year
by 2023. There is ample room for new suppliers to enter the market, each with
output of 5-10% of current global production, within the next several years.
However, any new entrants to the market must contend with a pricing
environment which is unlikely to rocket higher, and they must produce a product
that is increasingly clean of arsenic and other toxins. This means that either the
new producing deposit must be arsenic free, a rare beast in the boron space, or
the junior company must possess technology that allows them to remove arsenic
efficiently and inexpensively.
It is clear, at prices of more than US$500/t, that a junior miner producing high
quality and clean boron mineral concentrates from a high-grade deposit,
preferably in the form of calcium borates such as colemanite due to its
applicability in the manufacturing of E-glass, and in quantities of 100,000 to
200,000 tpa, can make money. The trick for investors, and for us in our future
work, will be to identify the companies that can meet this fairly rigorous set of
requirements.
STORMCROW.CA | PAGE 16
Keywords
Industry
Boron, Borates, Critical Materials, Mining, Industrial Minerals, Borosilicate
Relevant
Rio Tinto plc – RIO:LON
Companies
Eti Mine Works – Private
Orocobe Minerals – ORL:TSX
Erin Ventures – EV:TSXV
Bacanora Minerals Ltd – BCN:TSXV
Why do we use
keywords?
We feel people who could stand to benefit from the contents of this report, are not solely ones who already follow the
specific company or sector discussed herein. As such, we hope to provide this free service to as wide an audience as
possible—and keywords help to this end.
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