|
|
|
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
| |
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008 |
| Europe |
|
|
|
|
|
| Bosnia- Herzegovina |
500
|
500
|
300
|
0
|
0 |
| Bulgaria |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0 |
| Russia (Europe) |
720.000
|
700.000
|
680.000
|
820.000
|
813.600 |
| Serbia & Montenegro |
110
|
143
|
157
|
0
|
0 |
| Yugoslavia |
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0 |
| total |
720.610
|
700.643
|
680.457
|
820.000
|
812.600
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Asia
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
China
|
438.962
|
332.407
|
458.000
|
460.000
|
380.000 |
|
India
|
6.392
|
2.323
|
415
|
261
|
325 |
|
Iran
|
82.018
|
40.000
|
40.000
|
45.000
|
45.000 |
|
Kazakhstan
|
346.500
|
305.500
|
314.700
|
292.600
|
230.100 |
|
Pakistan
|
380
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0 |
|
Russia (Asia)
|
180.000
|
175.000
|
170.000
|
205.000
|
203.400 |
| total |
1.054.252
|
855.230
|
983.115
|
1.002.861
|
858.825
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| America |
|
|
|
|
|
| Brazil |
252.067
|
236.047
|
227.304
|
254.204
|
255.000 |
| Canada |
250.000
|
260.000
|
184.000
|
185.000
|
180.000 |
| Colombia |
60.000
|
60.000
|
60.000
|
60.000
|
60.000 |
| United States |
1.500
|
900
|
0
|
0
|
0 |
| total |
563.567
|
556.947
|
471.304
|
499.204
|
495.000
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Africa |
|
|
|
|
|
| Egypt |
330
|
200
|
0
|
0
|
0 |
| South
Africa |
13.000
|
12.900
|
0
|
0
|
0 |
| Swaziland |
5.000
|
4.900
|
4.600
|
0
|
0 |
| Zimbabwe |
130.000
|
122.041
|
96.956
|
97.000
|
50.000 |
|
total |
148.330
|
140.041
|
101.556
|
97.000
|
50.000
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| WORLD TOTAL |
3.198.656
|
2.949.849
|
2.809.292
|
2.419.065
|
2.217.425
|
Source: Österreichisches Bundesministerium für
Wirtschaft und Arbeit (Federal Ministry for Economics and Labour of the
Republic of Austria), World Mining Data, April 2006
|
|
|
