Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Gypsum: Mineral Planning Factsheet
Gypsum: Mineral Planning Factsheet
Gypsum
This factsheet pro- ypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) and anhydrite Demand
vides an overview
of the gypsum sup-
G (CaSO4) are, respectively, the hydrated and
anhydrous forms of calcium sulphate. Gypsum Gypsum is used mainly in the manufacture of
ply in the UK. It is is economically the most important. In nature building products—plaster, plasterboard and
one of a series on they occur as beds or nodular masses up to a cement—and demand is principally driven by
economically few metres thick and are the products of the activity in the construction sector. The value of
important minerals evaporation of seawater. Gypsum is formed by construction output continues to increase in
that are extracted the hydration of anhydrite at or near surface, real terms. Demand for new housing is
in Britain and it is but usually passes into anhydrite below 40-50 increasing and in conjunction with the need
primarily intended m, although this varies according to local geo- for new schools, hospitals, offices and shops,
to inform the land- logical conditions. Anhydrite is, therefore, more there is likely to be increasing demand for
use planning extensive at depth than gypsum. gypsum building products for the foreseeable
process. future.
Synthetic gypsum (calcium sulphate) may also
January 2006 be derived as a by-product of certain industrial When gypsum (CaSO4.2H2O) is ground to a
processes. The most important is flue gas powder and heated at 150° to 165°C, three-
desulphurisation (FGD), a process that removes quarters of its combined water is removed
sulphur dioxide from the flue gases at coal- producing hemi-hydrate plaster (CaSO4.1/2
fired power stations. The product, known as H2O), commonly know as Plaster of Paris.
desulphogypsum, is now an important supple- When this powder is mixed with water the
ment to the supply of natural gypsum, both in resulting paste sets hard as the water recom-
the UK and elsewhere. This synthetic gypsum bines to produce gypsum again. This process
has a higher purity (gypsum content of 96%) can be repeated almost indefinitely with
Continuous miner, than most natural gypsum (80%) in England. important implications for recycling.
Barrow-upon-Soar However, some very high purity natural gyp-
Mine, Leicestershire. sum does occur in England. The most important applications of gypsum
are in the production of plaster and plaster-
board. The mineral forms the basis of a large
industry producing a wide range of building
products. However, synthetic gypsum is now
more widely used in the manufacture of plas-
terboard. Natural gypsum is especially suit-
able for the manufacture of building plasters
because it contains clays that improve the
workability of the plaster. High-purity natural
gypsum is also used to produce special plas-
ters, for example for use as plaster moulds in
the pottery industry and for surgical and den-
tal work. Small quantities of high-purity gyp-
sum are also used in confectionary, food, the
brewing industry, pharmaceuticals, in sugar
beet refining, as cat litter and as an oil
absorbent.
1 Gypsum
Mineral Planning Factsheet
Gypsum
gypsum/anhydrite has been the preferred tion is confined to England, with output in
material for cement manufacture. Synthetic Cumbria, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire,
gypsum is utilised, but its higher moisture Staffordshire and East Sussex. The East
content makes it more difficult to handle than Midlands is the most important region.
natural gypsum. In addition, anhydrite reacts Production will increase in the next year or so
more slowly, assisting concrete to achieve full due to increasing demand, notably to supply a
strength over 30 days. new bagged plaster plant being built at East
Leake in Nottinghamshire.
Anhydrite was formerly mined on a large scale
in England as a source of sulphur for the manu-
facture of the fertiliser ammonium sulphate Thousand tonnes
and sulphuric acid. The last anhydrite mine 4000 Natural Gypsum
devoted to sulphuric acid manufacture closed
Imports
in 1975. Anhydrite has a few minor specialist 3000
uses and demand in the UK is currently very
low. The Newbiggin anhydrite mine, in Cumbria FGD
closed in November 2005 due exhaustion of 2000
Gypsum
Demand for gypsum is being driven principally
0
by the plasterboard sector and plasterboard is 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004
now the preferred internal lining in most build-
ings. Recent changes in building regulations, Figure 1 UK production and imports of gyp-
requiring improved thermal and sound insula- sum, 1980–2004. Source: United Kingdom
tion, means that thicker plasterboard is now Minerals Yearbook, BGS.
required which in turn has increased demand
for both gypsum and plasterboard capacity. A
number of new plasterboard plants are cur-
rently being built or planned. Increasing quan- However, the amount of natural gypsum
tities of desulphogypsum will be used in this extracted in Britain has declined appreciably in
sector. In addition, there has also been an the last decade due to the availability, since
increase in demand for natural gypsum for 1994, of substantial amounts of desulphogyp-
bagged plasters. The bagged plaster market is sum. Output of desulphogypsum was a record
evolving rapidly due to changes in building 1 228 000 tonnes in 2004 and will increase fur-
practices. Plasterboard lining with a skim finish ther as new FGD plants come on stream.
of coating plaster is currently the preferred However, increasing reliance on imported
interior finish. As a result the demand for fin- lower sulphur coals and the use of biomass
ish coat plasters is increasing whilst demand fuels, which result in less desulphogypsum,
for base coat plasters remains steady. The mar- may offset some production from new plants.
ket demands pink coloured plaster of a consis- The gypsum industry does not view desulph-
tent colour, most easily obtained from natural ogypsum as a long-term source of supply due a
gypsum. lack of investment in coal powered electricity
generation.
Supply
Titanogypsum, a by-product of the manufac-
Production statistics on natural gypsum are ture of titanium dioxide pigment, is another
limited as there is only one UK producer (see source of synthetic gypsum. UK titanogypsum
below). The BGS has published estimates for production reduced by half in 2004 (to approx.
use in its United Kingdom Minerals Yearbook. 100 000 t/y) due to a reduction in plant capacity
These are shown in Figure 1 and output is cur- for titanium dioxide. The gypsum/anhydrite
rently thought to be about 1.7 Mt/y. UK produc- supply chain is represented in Figure 2.
Gypsum 2
Mineral Planning Factsheet
Gypsum
GYPSUM/ANHYDRITE SUPPLY 2004 Natural gypsum 1.7 Mt
Consumption
3 Gypsum
Mineral Planning Factsheet
Gypsum
Synthetic gypsum is also produced in substan-
Birkshead Mine
tial quantities. Desulphogypsum was produced Kirkby
Thore
at three coal-fired power stations in 2004. The
largest source (653 000 tonnes in 2004) is the
4000 MW Drax station in North Yorkshire, which
Key:
is owned by Drax Power Ltd. A further 350 000 Opencast site
Sherburn
Immingham
tonnes of desulphogypsum were produced at Underground mine
the 2000 MW Ratcliffe-on-Soar station in Desulphogypsum
Gypsum 4
Mineral Planning Factsheet
Gypsum
Leicestershire, the Marblaegis Mine in Mine. In Cumbria gypsum reserves are mainly
Nottinghamshire and the Fauld Mine in associated with the ‘A’ Bed and amount to 6 Mt.
Staffordshire. The large Barrow Mine supplies a Opencast reserves in the Newark area amount
co-located plant which supplies the majority of to some 10 Mt, although only half of these have
the UK’s bagged plasters. The latter two mines the benefit of planning permission for extrac-
supply the cement industry. However, output at tion. Increasing emphasis is being placed on
the Marblaegis Mine is to be expanded to sup- the production of higher purity gypsum,
ply a new bagged plaster plant, which is being although this may have a negative effect on
built at East Leake. Some of the gypsum is also reserves, as lower purity gypsum no longer
used in plasterboard. falls in the reserve category. Alternatively lower
quality gypsum can be blended with high puri-
Gypsum at the horizon of the Tutbury/Newark ty desulphogypsum, allowing material that
Gypsum has been traced from North Yorkshire would not have been mined in the past to be
to Somerset and is also identified in the Carlisle classified as reserves. Desulphogypsum is
Basin in Cumbria and in the Cheshire Basin. transported to the Barrow site for mixing with
The thickness and quality of the gypsum is lower quality natural gypsum.
mostly unknown. However, potential exists in
Leicestershire, which is likely to become a Relationship with environmental designations
focus for future gypsum exploration in the UK,
as is South-west England. The operations near Robertsbridge in East
Gypsum
5 Gypsum
Mineral Planning Factsheet
Gypsum
hydrate plaster. Emissions consist only of ▪ indigenous coal generally has a higher sul-
steam. There is, therefore, little or no waste phur content than imported material and the
associated with the extraction and processing latter is currently being consumed in prefer-
of natural gypsum. ence;
Gypsum
tion on a local, regional and national basis. ture of titanium dioxide pigment by the
Sulphate Process at a plant in Grimsby. Some
There are a number of FGD processes. The 100 000 t/y of high purity gypsum is produced
Limestone-Gypsum Process is the most com- and used at Immingham for plasterboard man-
monly employed worldwide and in the UK. It ufacture.
involves absorbing the acidic sulphur dioxide in
the flue gases into a water-based slurry of finely The EU Landfill Directive, which was recently
ground limestone. The amount of desulphogyp- introduced, is driving the issue of recycling. Waste
sum produced at FGD plants is dependent on separation has become a legal requirement and
two main factors, the electricity output of the landfill sites cannot accept waste containing more
station and the sulphur content of the coal. than 10% calcium sulphate. There is limited provi-
Production from both Drax and Ratcliffe has sion for the disposal of high sulphate waste in the
been lower than anticipated, because of the use UK. However, a major advantage of gypsum is
of lower sulphur coals and lower electricity out- that it is infinitely recyclable for use in plaster-
put, because of the increased cost of produc- board. Plasterboard has a long life in buildings
tion due to FGD. About 0.7 tonnes of high puri- and is not currently recycled from demolition
ty limestone are required for every tonne of sites in the UK, although some potential exists.
desulphogypsum produced. The high purity Waste plasterboard/plaster produced at new
limestone used at the Drax, Ratcliffe and West building developments accounts for about 20% of
Burton power stations is derived from Tunstead all waste filling skips at these sites. British
Quarry in Derbyshire. As other coal-fired plants Gypsum has introduced a service for returning
are retrofitted with FGD plant additional quanti- this waste to plasterboard plants for recycling
ties of desulphogypsum will become available. along with waste produced during manufactur-
ing. The plasterboard is broken down into a fine
Despite an increase in supply over the short powder which is then re-introduced, in a con-
term there remains a question about the longer trolled blend, into the manufacturing process.
term (+10 years) availability of desulphogyp- Tonnages derived from this source are increasing.
sum:
Transport Issues
▪ FGD is a parasitic load on electricity genera-
tion at coal-fired power plants, reducing Plaster and plasterboard plants are normally
their efficiency; located close to the mine site and thus only
Gypsum 6
Mineral Planning Factsheet
Gypsum
bagged plaster and plasterboard are transport- process. In effect, mineral produced by surface
ed by road. Gypsum/anhydrite for cement man- working (high-purity limestone) is replacing
ufacture is mostly transported by road. mineral normally won by underground mining
(natural gypsum).
Desulphogypsum from the Drax power station
is transferred in rail containers to Kirkby Thore, Authorship and acknowledgements
East Leake and, occasionally, Robertsbridge in
East Sussex. Rail shipments of desulphogysum This factsheet was produced by the British
have also recently started from West Burton Geological Survey for the Office of the Deputy
station. Desulphogysum from Ratcliffe power Prime Minster to support the research project
station is transported the 8 km by road to East ‘Review of Planning Issues Relevant to Some
Leake. Non-Energy Minerals other than Aggregates, in
England’ (2004). It was updated under the
Planning issues research project ‘ODPM-BGS Joint Minerals
Programme’.
The uncertainties surrounding the long-term
security of supply of desulphogypsum mean It was compiled by David Highley, Andrew
that future requirements for natural gypsum Bloodworth (British Geological Survey) and
are difficult to predict. Should the domestic Richard Bate (Green Balance Planning and
supply of desulphogypum decline significantly, Environmental Services), with the assistance of
Gypsum
the production of natural gypsum may need to Don Cameron, Fiona McEvoy, Paul Lusty and
be increased significantly (along with imports) Deborah Rayner (BGS)
in order to substitute for the synthetic material
currently used in plasterboard manufacture. The invaluable advice and assistance of the
The companies producing gypsum based prod- minerals industry in the preparation of this fact-
ucts are seeking greater control over the supply sheet is gratefully acknowledged.
of raw materials. With future uncertainties sur-
rounding synthetic gypsum supply and increas- Mineral Planning Factsheets for a range of
ing import costs the most effective way of other minerals produced in England are avail-
ensuring security of supply is through the dis- able for download from www.mineralsUK.com
covery and working of indigenous resources.
© Crown Copyright 2006.
If, however, supplies of desulphogypsum are
maintained, then questions remain regarding Unless otherwise stated all illustrations and
the need to supply large quantities of limestone photos used in this factsheet are BGS©NERC.
for use in the flue gas desulphurisation All rights reserved.
7 Gypsum