Copying and distributing are prohibited without permission of the publisher

Pharma-minerals focus

July 27, 2010 - 00:00 GMT

KEYWORDS: Pharmaceuticals , non-met , clays , fluorspar , gypsum , talc , magnesia

The versatility of non-metallic minerals ensures they remain central to pharmaceuticals developments

While owing to its low volume, high value nature pharmaceuticals are never going to be the big business drivers for the world’s largest miners, for many they offer a significant bonus if the company can provide a pure, high grade product.

Minerals are used for two general areas: as a carrier and as a treatment.

Talc, calcium carbonate, and some clays like halloysite are used as a carrier for medicine in the form of tablets and pills. However a select few minerals are used as a treatment: lithium carbonate, for example, is used to treat bipolar disorder, while magnesia in the form of Milk of Magnesia cures an upset stomach.

As mentioned earlier, the volumes are low: in tablets, 3% loading of talc is used while 1,800mg is an average dose of lithium carbonate. The process to produce a grade suitable for consumption is...

All material subject to strictly enforced copyright laws. © Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.

Please log in using your online subscriber details.
Your username will be your registered email address with Metal Bulletin.

If you aren't a subscriber yet, feel free to take a seven day free trial, or subscribe using the instructions below.

A standard subscription include one year's worth of news and prices. You can also upgrade to the full archive and benefit from more than 13 years of intelligence. Start your subscription today.

Free trial

Taking a free trial will give you open access to Metal Bulletin online news, prices, archived content and email alert service for the next seven days. Start your free trial today.

Free trial

Already have an account?

Minor & Precious Metals

Feb 8, 2012 01:47 US silicon prices slip due to Brazilian imports
Feb 7, 2012 12:39 LME members force rethink on introduction of fee, short-dated carries may be excluded
Feb 7, 2012 10:52 MINING INDABA 2012: Gécamines targets 67kt cobalt output over five years
Feb 7, 2012 10:43 MINING INDABA 2012: Gécamines has investment interest from DBSA, AFD
Feb 7, 2012 10:06 MINING INDABA 2012: Norilsk could supply Chinese nickel ETF – Panov

Comment & analysis

LORD COPPER: Glencore-Xstrata will be a merger of more-than-equals

Glenstrata, X-Core, Davenberg, Mivan? Whatever the result of the Glencore-Xstrata merger is to be called, finding a name is an inevitable step after the IPO.
COMMENT: Glenstrata still has to break the mould

The news that Glencore and Xstrata are in merger talks would only come as a surprise to someone living under a rock, and only then if said rock did not contain any valuable minerals. But now that talks of a tie-up of the world’s largest metals trader and its fourth largest miner have finally moved into the boardroom, hypothetical questions have become real, and the answers are far from certain.
APEX FULL YEAR 2011: Base metal forecasts: astounding accuracy

Astounding upon astounding: that is how the 2011 leaderboard for Apex, the Metal Bulletin service that tracks the performance of over twenty top base metal price forecasters, appears when you consider it coldly.