_edited.png)
Mica
● The mica group represents 34 phyllosilicate minerals that exhibit a layered or platy structure. Commercially important mica minerals are muscovite (potash or white mica) and phlogopite (magnesium or amber mica).
● India produces about sixty-two percent of the world’s mica.
● Mica commonly occurs in flakes, scales or shreds. Sheet muscovite mica is used in electronic insulators, ground mica in paints as well as in joint-cement as a dusting agent. It is also used in the manufacture of plastics, in roofing and in welding rods
● Most important mica-bearing pegmatites occur in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra
and Rajasthan. Occurrences of mica pegmatites are also reported from Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
● Natural sheet mica is used in electrical and electronic industries in the form of blocks, splittings and films or built-up mica called “micanite".
● Dry-ground phlogopite mica is used in automotive brake linings and clutch plates to reduce noise and vibrations
● Wet-ground mica, which retains the brilliancy of its cleavage faces, is used primarily in pearlescent paints by the automotive industry.
● In the cosmetics industry, its reflective and refractive properties make mica an important ingredient in blushes, eyeliner, eye shadow, foundation, hair and body glitter, lipstick, lip gloss, mascara, moisturizing lotions, and nail polish. Mica is added to latex balloons to provide a colored shiny surface
● In the construction sector, mica scrap/ground mica is used in jointing cement for gypsum boards, asphaltic roofings and damp-proof seals, and insulation boards
● Muscovite and phlogopite splittings were fabricated into various built-up mica products.
● Only high-quality muscovite film mica, which is variously called India ruby mica or ruby muscovite mica, is used as a dielectric in capacitors
● Ground mica is used in the rubber industry as a dusting agent and as an inert filler in the production of rubber
● Mica and its products can be substituted to some extent by using alumina, ceramics, bentonite, glass, mylar polystyrene, fused quartz, silicon, talc, bakelite, teflon, nylon and
synthetic mica.
● Sheet mica prices vary with grade and can range from less than $1 per kilogram for low-quality mica to more than $2,000 per kilogram for the highest quality
● Consumption of mica splittings, which is the principal type of sheet mica consumed in the United States, has been in the range of 300 to 1,000 metric tons per year
● China and India supplied the United States with most of its worked sheet and paper-quality scrap micas.
● Germany is the key player within the European Union, accounting for almost 40% of all exports. Indian Mica Sheets are most sought after in the world markets. Paint Industry &
Electrical & Electronic Industries are the major consumers of these minerals