Since the main market of Iranian natural bitumen is China and the largest share of the Iranian bitumen market is from Chinese orders, the increase in demand in China leads to an increase in prices by workers in the Gilsonite mine in Iran. In this article from Nikan West gillsonite Company, we have explained the situation of Gilsonite in China.
What is Gilsonite or natural Bitumen?
Gilsonite is one of the very rare minerals, which has a high economic value. Natural bitumen is a common name for a group of solid bitumen minerals called grahamite, commonly known as natural bitumen.
This substance is basically a mineral bitumen that is classified by geologists as a soluble substance in oily solvents, such as CS2, TCE and CCL4.
Gilsonite in Iran
Gilsonite is one of the very rare minerals, which has a high economic value. This is a rare mineral in
Iran has been reported as natural bitumen mines only in the west of Kermanshah province and Qasrshirin and Gial-e-Gharb cities.
65% of Gilsonite’s resources are in the Americas, 45% of which are in the United States and 20% in Canada. Iran is in the third place with 15% of reserves, which is 15% in the cities of Kermanshah, Gilangharb, Somar, Ilam and East Lorestan. The remaining 20 percent of Gilsonite reserves are in Iraq, Russia, Venezuela, China, Australia, Mexico and the Philippines.
Gilsonite In China
(HS Code: 27150000) a total of 570,036,364 kg, an increase of 53.65%, while imports amounted to $ 335,961,631, an increase of 33.25 %. 2012 China’s imports of natural bitumen and other basic ingredients for asphalt mixture accumulated 2,195,685,688 kilograms, an increase of 109.8%, total imports amounted to $ 1,377,965,314, an increase of 123.56%. 2011 China’s imports of natural bitumen and other basic ingredients for asphalt mixture accumulated 1,046,558,428 kilograms, down 30.71 percent, total imports amounted to $ 616,380,400, down 15.06 percent. The table below.
During 2010-2012, China’s natural asphalt as the basic ingredient of asphalt mixture imports growth rate of about 13.28%. China industry research network monitoring data show that in 2013 China’s imports in January-March as the natural asphalt bitumen mixture of basic ingredients. China’s imports in January-March as the natural asphalt bitumen mixture of basic ingredients.