Backgrounder on Chrysotile
(Prepared by Natural Resources Canada)

• The Mineral
• Uses
• Production
• Exports
• Socio-economic value to communities
  
  
• PDF Version

The Mineral

The name asbestos, a Greek word mistakenly thought to mean incombustible was given to fibrous minerals hundreds of years before the science of mineralogy evolved. It did not then, nor does it now, have scientific validity as a complete term in itself. As a collective term applying to members of two distinct silicate mineral groups, it cannot be simply defined mineralogically; the only common characteristic of these minerals is their asbestiform or fibrous habit. The term asbestos, however, has both commercial and health significance.

The term ‘asbestos’ is applied to six naturally occurring minerals. Some of these have been exploited commercially for their desirable physical properties, which are in part derived from their asbestiform habit. (Indeed, it has been estimated that some 150 minerals can demonstrate an asbestiform habit and some have even become substitutes for asbestos e.g. wollastonite.) The six minerals belong to two different silicates families and thus are defined under two mineral groups: the serpentine group and the amphibole group. Chrysotile, or white asbestos, of the phyllosilicates family, is the fibrous form of the mineral antigorite and is the sole member of the serpentine group. The five other forms of asbestos belong to the inosillicates family and are members of the amphibole group. These are: crocidolite or blue asbestos (the fibrous version of riebeckite), amosite or brown asbestos (the fibrous version of cummingtonite-grunerite), anthophyllite, actinolite and tremolite. Of all these, chrysotile is the only asbestos type commercially mined in Canada.

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Uses

Because of their chemical and physical properties, asbestos fibres are an extremely useful material that have been, and still are being (chrysotile), widely used throughout the world especially in the construction and manufacturing industries. Asbestos fibres, in general, are incombustible, resistant to acids (amphiboles) or to chemical bases (chrysotile), have very high tensile strength (stronger than steel) while being flexible (enabling knitting), resistant to the action of moisture (does not rot, thus very durable), and have very low thermal and acoustic conductivity coefficients making it a good insulation material.

In Canada, chrysotile fibres are classified according to their length. In decreasing length, chrysotile has been used in textiles, clothing, packings, woven brake linings, clutch facings, electrical insulation materials, high-pressure and marine insulation, asbestos-cement pipe, other asbestos-cement products (e.g., sheets and mouldings, shingles, extrusions), gaskets, paper products, vinyl sheet backings, and millboards. The shortest fibres are used in moulded brake linings and as a filler in cement, plastics, roof coatings and caulking compounds.

Up until the late 1970’s, an important portion of the asbestos produced was used in the manufacture of low-density and friable products such as heat and acoustic insulation products. Most of these products were discontinued because it was impossible to control exposures when using such products. One such application was the practice of sprayed-on asbestos insulation. This practice was voluntarily stopped by the industry in 1973 and later prohibited by Canada under the Hazardous Products Act. Currently in Canada, chrysotile asbestos is used mainly in Quebec and Ontario to produce friction materials, joint compounds, specialty papers and textile.

Currently, 90% of all chrysotile produced globally is used in asbestos-cement construction products, including water distribution and sewer pipes, corrugated roofing and building shingles, which are all products used in infrastructure development. Asbestos cement products are low-cost, high-quality infrastructure materials of particular benefit to rapidly industrializing countries. Chrysotile is also used in friction products such as brake linings and clutch facings (7% of global uses) and in textiles, clothing and various other uses (3% of global uses). For all of these applications, other than textiles, chrysotile fibres are encased in a hard matrix such as cement or resin from which the fibres cannot be readily released.

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Production

Chrysotile represents about 99% of the world’s current asbestos production, which is estimated at 1.97 million tonnes in 2002. This production occurs in Russia, China, Canada, Kazakhstan, Brazil and Zimbabwe, India, South Africa and others as reported in the adjoining table.

Since the closure of the Baie Verte, Newfoundland, operation in 1994, the Canadian chrysotile industry is concentrated in Quebec. Production comes from three mines: the Black Lake open pit and Bell underground mines operated by LAB Chrysotile, Inc. near Thetford Mines and the Jeffrey mine operated by Jeffrey Mine Inc. located on the outskirts of the town of Asbestos.

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Exports

Historically, after the Second World War, European countries were the most important users of asbestos fibre construction products, which were used to rebuild their destroyed infrastructures. The markets then shifted to the United States and Canada during the late 1960’s and the 1970’s where a demographic and industrial expansion was occurring, and then shifted to Japan in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Currently, the largest chrysotile asbestos consumers are the new economies and developing countries, rather than developed economies like Canada and the European countries, where most of the infrastructure is already in place.

Over the past decades, as with aluminum, nickel and potash - which we also produce in large quantities - Canada has roughly been exporting about 95% of its fibre production. Consequently, the volume of chrysotile asbestos consumed in Canada appears low compared with the volume exported. However, on a per-capita basis, Canadian consumption of chrysotile is about equal to other consuming countries. Asian countries are the greatest users on account of their large population.

As a result of fierce competition for market shares by other world producers and a contraction in demand following the adoption of regulatory restrictions by a number of countries, Canadian chrysotile production decreased by 13.1 % in 2002 compared to the previous year. Total production for 2002 is estimated at 240 500 tonnes and valued at $98.5 million, compared to 2001 shipment figures of 276 790 tonnes valued at $118.7 million.

On account of the liberalization of trade in Russia and the devaluation of the currencies of most of the chrysotile exporting countries, Canada’s competitiveness on international markets has been eroding over the past decade. It is still currently the world’s second largest exporter of chrysotile after Russia. However, Canada’s exports are now half of what they were in 1997. As a function of market share, Canada’s exports went down from 45% to 25% in the same time span. In 2002, Canadian exports of chrysotile fibres are estimated at 235 138 t, for a market value of $140.2 million. This represents a 13.7% decrease in volume from the previous year. Asian countries are still the main markets for Canadian fibres, accounting for about 77% of Canadian exports, the main clients being India, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, and South Korea. North and Latin American countries follow accounting for about 13% of exports, African countries 5% and European countries about 4%. The total value of asbestos containing products exported amounted to $247.0 million in 2002. Other than raw fibres, these exports were essentially made up of brake linings and pads shipped to the United States.

1 Table only includes countries that represent at least 1% of total Canadian exports of crude asbestos, asbestos milled fibres and asbestos shorts.

2 Total Canadian exports, which includes countries that are not listed.

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Socio-economic value to communities

The Canadian chrysotile asbestos industry provides nearly 4,000 direct and indirect jobs to the two producing communities: Thetford Mines and Asbestos. The asbestos product manufacturing industry (friction materials, gaskets, roofing products and textiles) is the source of an additional 1,000 jobs in 15 businesses. Some of these businesses are found in Ontario and Manitoba, but the majority are located in Quebec.

Of the two chrysotile producing communities Asbestos is the municipality most dependent on this industry. Roughly 10% of the active population of the area occupy jobs related to the mining sector. These workers in turn earned close to 20% of the salary mass, owing to the fact mining jobs are well remunerated. Of this sector, 83% of the workers are aged 40-54 (8% in the 40-44 bracket, 45% in the 45-49 bracket, and 30% in the 50-54 bracket). Compounding difficulties to re-orient the relatively aged workforce of this sector is the fact close to 50% of these workers did not complete their secondary school degree.

The Thetford Mines community is better diversified with about 7.5% of the active population working in the mining sector. Workers of this sector generally earn about 10% of the area’s total job revenues. Of this sector, 63% of the workers are aged 40-54 (18% in the 40-44 bracket, 30% in the 45-49 bracket, and 15% in the 50-54 bracket). Again, a compounding factor to re-orient the relatively aged workforce of this sector is the fact 41% of these workers did not complete their secondary school degree.

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