Both Asia Pacific and the United States dominate the global mining chemicals industry with explosives and drilling application represents the fastest mining chemicals market, globally in 2011. The strong demand for explosives and drilling related chemicals is particularly being driven by the coal mining industry which at present is the largest end user of explosives within the mining sector.

By 2017, the global mining chemicals market is forecast to be valued at US$25 billion due to the continued growth in demand from the emerging markets and the resurgence of feasibility studies which during the recession were cancelled.

Coal mining still remains the most important source of energy in the World despite the continued focus towards investing in renewable energy sources and more efficient and less polluting energy resources. Coal accounts for 30% share of the total energy produced globally.

In addition, to coal mining, the precious metals industry such as copper mining are also expected to drive increases in the demand for mining chemicals particularly due to the importance of leaching and flotation. The mining chemicals sector is also forecast to experience increased investment in developing chemicals which are safer and more environmentally friendly due to increased legislation and regulatory laws.

The depletion of high-grade ores within the mining sector is resulting in companies mining lower-grade ore deposits, placing a greater emphasis on the need to use mining chemicals to extract and process the ore deposits. The mining sector was particularly hit hard by the recession, with a number of mines closing and operations being scaled back during the period 2007 to 2009 as a consequence of lower demand. Lower commodity prices combined with the lack of available finance resulted in a number of mines and capex programmes stopping.

A slight recovery was reported in 2010 despite a drop in mining production in Australia due to the flooding. The developing countries located in the Pacific Rim, Latin America, Russia and Africa are all forecast to report increased mining activity in the near future, which in turn is expected to drive growth in the mining chemicals market.

The leading players in the mining chemicals sector are AkzoNobel Cellulosic Specialties, Amcol International Corp, BASF, Cheminova A/S, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, Dyno Nobel, Inc, FMC Industrial Chemicals, Nalco Company, Orica Limited, Sasol North America and Shell Chemical.

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