Sodium Cyanide Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Sodium Cyanide Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The sodium cyanide market was valued at 1,074 kiloton in 2020, and the market is projected to register a CAGR of more than 6% during the forecast period (2021-2026).

The impact of the COVID-19 on the global economy is evolving every minute. Owing to the several unknown elements to the outbreak and the situation continuing to disclose, it is challenging to evaluate the future. It has exposed several challenges for various industries. As the world apparently moved into lockdown to halt the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, the uncertainty and constraints have hindered the global markets in 2020. Countries, such as China, Australia, Canada, and the United States, among others, are the most affected. Thus, this impacted the global gold output.

Key Highlights

• Over the medium term, the major factors driving the growth of the market studied are the increasing mining activities in Canada and Mexico along with the demand from the gold mining industry.
• On the flip side, the toxicity of sodium cyanide hampers the growth of the market studied.
• The mining industry dominated the market and is likely to grow during the forecast period with the continuous growth in mining activities.
• The discovery of new mines and legalizing mining are likely to provide opportunities for the studied market during the forecast period.
• Due to the growing mining activities in the region, Asia-Pacific dominated the market, and robust demand from the end-user industry fuelled the growth.

Key Market TrendsMining Segment to Dominate the Market Demand

• A major portion of the sodium cyanide produced worldwide is used in mining and metallurgy, especially in extracting gold and silver. It is one of the most economically viable, easily processable, and environmentally sustainable technologies for gold processing.
• Typically, gold is extracted from its ore using sodium cyanide through leeching. In this process, the ore is crushed into a fine powder using industrial machinery. Then, the dust is added to a solution of sodium cyanide (NaCN) and allowed to process.
• During the process, the gold molecules form very strong bonds with the NaCN, becoming water-soluble. The application of zinc separates the cyanide molecules from the gold and turns the gold back into solid, preparing it for the smelting process.
• Canada is one of the global leaders in mining operations, with active production of more than 60 metals and minerals, and is the fifth-largest gold producer in the world.
• Various large mining companies are seeking exposure in Canada, and there are a number of advanced projects with feasibility studies taking place in the country for future investment. Moreover, the Government of Canada is taking various initiates to attract more investors to develop untapped mineral resources in the country. For instance, in January 2020, the federal government announced to spend around USD 500,000 to promote northern mining, especially in Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut.
• Apart from the North American region, Africa has an abundance of mineral sources, which makes it a hub for the global mining industry. Apart from South Africa, which has a major mining industry, countries like Ghana, Mali, and Burkina Faso, have rapidly growing mining industries.
• West Africa is a hot spot for gold exploration and has attracted major investments from companies across the world over the past few years, owing to the largely untouched mineral reserves present in the region. There has been major growth in the gold assets in West Africa, with around 367 assets in the exploration stage, 24 assets under economic assessment, and 61 assets in the production or construction stage.
• However, the impact of the pandemic, coupled with the restrictions imposed by governments, supply shortages, and a lack of transportation, have hiked costs at certain operations and reduced gold-mine supply, thus affecting the sodium cyanide market.
• Moreover, governments in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and South Africa have imposed temporary mine closures.
• All the above reasons were responsible for the decline in growth of the market studied over the short term. However, with the lifting of restrictions in 2020, the market is estimated to recover and grow substantially during the forecast period.

Asia-Pacific Region to Dominate the Market

• The Asia-Pacific region dominated the global market share. With the robust demand from the gold extraction and chemical industry, the demand for sodium cyanide in Asia-Pacific, primarily in China, has increased faster.
• China stands to be the richest in the world in terms of natural resources. The country holds the highest share in rare minerals production, followed by other major countries, such as Australia, the United States, and Russia. However, the COVID-19 has caused significant disruptions to the market. 90% of the country’s resources are coal and rare earth metals. China is a major producer of a diversified range of valuable minerals and metals, such as coal, gold, antimony, graphite, molybdenum, lead, phosphates, tungsten, tin, vanadium, and zinc.
• Furthermore, China is the largest producer of gold across the world, with a share of almost 11% of the total gold produced around the world. The country produced 383.2 tons of gold in 2019, which is a decrease of almost 5% over the previous year.
• This reason of this decrease is estimated primarily due to the increasing regulation by the government on cyanide usage in gold mining operations.
• The COVID-19 scenario has halted the mining activities for a good amount of time, but relatively less than other countries across the world. This is one of the major reasons why China still dominated the gold production market amidst lockdown. The majority of the gold mining activities were online by mid of Q2 2020.
• Besides, the country stands to be the second-largest producer of copper, bauxite, manganese, cobalt, and silver. It also produces gem diamond, chromium, and timber.
• For instance, a project was even restarted in mid of Q2 2020. The name of the company is Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining Co, which restarted its project after six and half years and plans to produce almost seven tons of gold in 2021.
• Such factors are likely to boost the demand for sodium cyanide in China during the forecast period.
• Australia is the second-largest producer of gold in Asia and the third-largest in the world. The gold production in the country increased by almost 2.5% in 2019 over 2018 and reached 325.1 tons. The company holds a share of almost 9.2% in terms of global gold production. This increase in production was mainly due to increasing production from companies such as Mount Morgans and Cadia Valley, among others. The country is estimated to overgrow China in terms of production in the near future, primarily due to the expansion plans.
• Moreover, as Indonesia holds immense mineral reserves, the government has been promoting investments by offering attractive opportunities for domestic and foreign investors. Some of the target minerals include gold, bauxite, copper, silver, tin, and, majorly, nickel (owing to its growing applications in battery technology). However, these investments were impacted to some extent during 2020, as the global countries were on lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak, owing to which manufacturing has been paused temporarily during 2020.
• Hence, with all such applications and robust demand in the region, the sodium cyanide market is expected to witness healthy growth during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

The sodium cyanide market is a consolidated market, with the top 10 players accounting for over 60% of the market share in terms of production capacities. Some of the noticeable players in the market include Cyanco International LLC, The Chemours Company, Orica, HeBei ChengXin, and Australian Gold Reagents Pty Ltd.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

Anhui Shuguang Group
Australian Gold Reagents Pty Ltd
Changsha Hekang Chemical Co. Ltd
The Chemours Company
Cyanco International LLC
CyPlus Idesa
Hebei Chengxin Group Co. Ltd
Orica Limited
Sasol
Taekwang Industrial Co. Ltd
Tongsuh Petrochemical Corp. Ltd

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