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Asbestos
Asbestos is the common name given to six fibrous asbestos minerals:
chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, anthrophyllite, tremolite
and actinolite.
Chrysotile, also known as "white asbestos”, is the
only remaining commercial asbestos mineral. Production of crocidolite
("blue asbestos”) and amosite ("brown asbestos”)
has now ceased completely.
Fibre quality and length were used to determine applications
in:
a) asbestos cement for manufacture of corrugated sheets, roofing
slate, wall board, piping and conduits;
b) brake linings for automobiles, lorries and trains, heavy
industrial equipment and aircraft;
c) the textile industry and asbestos paper for fireproof clothing,
heat insulation, isolation and stuffing.
The asbestos market has undergone major modification since the
product was banned by most countries of the Western world as
a result of its link with serious illness caused by its fibrous
nature. Industrialists are studying substitute products and
specific methods for converting their production to comply with
current legislation.
Source : European Commission
D6 III : European Minerals Yearbook. Second edition 1996-7.
Luxembourg 1998.
Link:
-Index Mundi &
British Geological Survey, World Mineral Statistics 1998-2002
-The Asbestos Institute
Asbestos Production
Thousand Tonnes
| |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
| Europe |
|
|
|
|
|
| Bulgaria |
320 |
600 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Russia (Europe) |
632.000 |
588.000 |
600.000 |
616.000 |
720.000 |
| Serbia & Montenegro |
0 |
0 |
0 |
730 |
700 |
| Yugoslavia |
780 |
760 |
750 |
0 |
0 |
| total |
633.400 |
589.360 |
600.750 |
616.730 |
720.700 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Asia
|
|
|
|
|
|
| China |
260.000 |
300.000 |
360.000 |
500.000 |
510.000 |
| India |
16.000 |
15.000 |
20.000 |
19.000 |
18.500 |
| Iran |
67.200 |
75.000 |
70.000 |
25.000 |
25.000 |
| Kazakhstan |
172.7000 |
271.300 |
291.200 |
353.000 |
291.100 |
| Pakistan |
145 |
150 |
160 |
170 |
190 |
| Russia
(Asia) |
158.000 |
147.000 |
150.000 |
154.000 |
180.000 |
| total |
674.045 |
808.450 |
891.360 |
1.051.170 |
1.024.790 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| America |
|
|
|
|
|
| Brazil |
180.000 |
172.695 |
194.732 |
195.000 |
252.067 |
| Canada |
320.000 |
294.000 |
241.000 |
245.000 |
250.000 |
| Colombia |
14.500 |
14.700 |
8.000 |
7.000 |
6.900 |
| United States |
5.798 |
5.260 |
2.720 |
2.000 |
1.500 |
| total |
520.298 |
486.655 |
446.452 |
449.000 |
510.467 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Africa |
|
|
|
|
|
| Egypt |
1.154 |
365 |
350 |
340 |
330 |
| South Africa |
18.782 |
13.393 |
13.400 |
13.200 |
13.000 |
| Swaziland |
12.700 |
10.000 |
9.500 |
8.000 |
5.000 |
| Zimbabwe |
151.954 |
136.700 |
167.954 |
180.000 |
130.000 |
|
total |
184.590 |
160.458 |
191.204 |
201.540 |
148.330 |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| WORLD TOTAL
|
2.717.221 |
2.692.036 |
2.767.422 |
2.968.980 |
3.063.084 |
Source: Österreichisches Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft
und Arbeit (Federal Ministry for Economics and Labour of the
Republic of Austria), World Mining Data, April 2006
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