Apatite concentrate
The grade sells it. The cadmium is why it clears customs.
Igneous apatite concentrate for phosphoric acid, fertiliser and technical phosphates. Two numbers decide the trade — P₂O₅ and cadmium — and only one of them is what most sellers lead with.
The desk
Phosphate is the one bulk mineral where a trace element sets the market.
Phosphate rock is bought on P₂O₅ content, and every offer leads with it. It is the wrong number to lead with if the material is going into the European Union, because the constraint there is not how much phosphorus is in the rock. It is how much cadmium comes with it.
Cadmium substitutes for calcium in the apatite lattice, so it travels with the phosphorus through the acid plant and into the finished fertiliser and, eventually, into arable soil. The EU set a harmonised limit on it in 2019, and that limit is expressed per unit of P₂O₅ rather than per tonne of product — which means you cannot dilute your way underneath it. Blending a high-cadmium rock with a low-cadmium one moves both numbers together.
The consequence is a genuine split in the market. Cadmium content is set by geology, not by processing, so a low-cadmium concentrate is a structurally different product from a high-cadmium one at the same grade, and it prices accordingly. A seller quoting only P₂O₅ into a European buyer either has not read the regulation or is hoping the buyer has not.
Geology
Two rocks, two chemistries, and the difference is not negotiable.
This is the part of the phosphate trade that behaves like a metallurgy question rather than a commercial one. Where the rock formed decides what is in it, and no amount of beneficiation changes the class.
| Igneous apatite | Sedimentary phosphorite | |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | Crystallised from magma in carbonatite and alkaline intrusive complexes. Concentrated by flotation from a hard silicate host. | Deposited in marine sediments from seawater, as fine-grained francolite. Beneficiated by washing, screening and sometimes calcination. |
| Cadmium | Characteristically very low — typically low single-figure milligrams per kilogram of P₂O₅ and often below one. The commercial reason the material exists as a distinct product. | Variable and often high, because cadmium was co-deposited from seawater. Some sedimentary sources sit above the EU limit before any blending. |
| Other constraints | Magnesium and iron/aluminium oxides from the host rock, which affect wet-process acid filtration and gypsum handling. Sometimes carries rare earth elements, increasingly treated as a co-product rather than a nuisance. | Chloride, organics and carbonate, which drive acid consumption and foaming. Lower silicate content. |
| Grade | Higher after flotation — concentrates at 36–40 % P₂O₅ are ordinary, and around 39 % is the reference for a well-run igneous concentrate. | Widely spread. Beneficiated product commonly 28–34 % P₂O₅. |
| Physical form | A fine flotation concentrate. Which puts it in a different carriage category from crushed rock — the point most often missed on a first shipment. | Coarser washed rock or pellets. Generally a Group C cargo. |
Specification
Nine lines, and each of them lands somewhere in your plant.
These are the parameters we report per cargo. The grade is the price; the rest is what your acid plant, your gypsum stack and your compliance file have to live with.
| Parameter | Why it is in the contract |
|---|---|
| P₂O₅ | The pricing basis, reported on a dry basis. Igneous concentrates are commonly specified at a minimum in the 36–39 % range with a rejection limit below it. State the minimum, the tolerance and the penalty rate separately — three different things that often get written as one. |
| Cadmium | Expressed as mg Cd per kg P₂O₅, not mg per kg of product. Any other unit has to be converted before it means anything against the EU limit — see below. |
| Moisture | Weight you pay freight on, and the parameter that decides whether the cargo can be loaded at all. See carriage. |
| MgO | Magnesia raises phosphoric acid viscosity and interferes with filtration and with downstream crystallisation. A buyer with a wet-process plant has a hard ceiling here, and it is often tighter than the grade specification. |
| Fe₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ | Reported together as R₂O₃ and also separately. They consume acid, form sludge, and are the usual cause of a "good grade, bad cargo" complaint. |
| SiO₂ | Insolubles and abrasion. High silica is a materials-handling and equipment-wear question as much as a chemical one. |
| CaO / P₂O₅ ratio | Sets sulphuric acid consumption per tonne of P₂O₅. The single most useful number for estimating what a cargo will actually cost to convert. |
| Fluorine and chloride | Fluorine drives scrubbing duty and by-product recovery; chloride drives corrosion. Igneous material is generally low in chloride, which is worth verifying rather than assuming. |
| Size distribution | Full sieve analysis. On a flotation concentrate the fines fraction determines dust handling, flowability and the liquefaction assessment. |
The regulation
Regulation (EU) 2019/1009, and the number that decides market access.
The EU Fertilising Products Regulation replaced the old fertilisers directive and, for the first time, set a harmonised cadmium limit for phosphate fertilisers placed on the EU market. It is short, specific and easy to check.
- The limit
- 60 mg cadmium per kg P₂O₅. It applies to inorganic macronutrient fertilisers with a phosphorus content of at least 5 % P₂O₅ by mass — which is essentially every phosphate fertiliser of commercial interest.
- Why the unit matters
- Because it is per unit of nutrient, blending does not help. Mix a 90 mg/kg P₂O₅ rock with a 10 mg/kg P₂O₅ rock and you get roughly 50 — the phosphorus and the cadmium dilute in step. This is the design feature of the limit, and it is what makes low-cadmium rock structurally scarce rather than merely preferable.
- Stricter national limits exist
- Denmark holds an approved derogation at 48 mg/kg P₂O₅, valid until a harmonised Union limit equal to or lower than it applies. So "compliant with 2019/1009" is not the same as "saleable in every member state", and the destination country belongs in the specification alongside the limit.
- And it was always framed as a first step
- The Commission committed to reassessing the feasibility of a lower harmonised limit, with 2026 named in that commitment. A long-term offtake contract written against 60 mg without a mechanism for a change in the limit is carrying a risk that somebody will eventually own.
- What we do about it
- We report cadmium in mg/kg P₂O₅ on every cargo, from an independent assay, and we will tell you at enquiry stage if a material cannot meet your destination's limit. We do not offer material to an EU buyer on grade alone.
Downstream
Where the concentrate goes, and what each route cares about.
Wet-process phosphoric acid
The main route. Concentrate is digested in sulphuric acid to give phosphoric acid and phosphogypsum. Cares about CaO/P₂O₅ for acid consumption, MgO and R₂O₃ for filtration, and fluorine for scrubbing.
MAP, DAP and NPK
Ammoniated phosphates and compound fertilisers. This is where the cadmium limit bites, because the finished product is what is placed on the EU market.
Feed phosphates
Dicalcium and monocalcium phosphate for animal nutrition, where heavy-metal limits are tighter again and set by feed legislation rather than fertiliser legislation. A different compliance file from the same rock.
Technical and food grade
Purified phosphoric acid and phosphate salts. Purification cost scales with the impurity profile of the rock, so a clean igneous concentrate is worth a premium here that a fertiliser buyer would not pay.
Battery-grade phosphate
Lithium iron phosphate cathode material needs purified phosphoric acid, and that demand is growing from a small base. It is the strictest impurity specification in the phosphate chain and the newest, so the specifications are still moving — we write them by parameter, not by trade name.
Rare earths as a co-product
Igneous apatite often carries rare earth elements in the lattice. Whether they are recoverable depends on the process route, and where a buyer is interested we report the REE assay rather than leaving it out. It is not a headline we lead with.
Carriage
Concentrate is not rock. The IMSBC Code treats them differently.
This catches people on a first shipment, and it is worth being blunt about. There is no IMSBC schedule called "apatite". Which schedule your cargo travels under depends on what the material physically is.
- Phosphate rock is Group C
- Phosphate rock (uncalcined) and phosphate rock (calcined) both have Group C schedules — cargoes that neither liquefy nor present a chemical hazard. Coarse washed rock generally travels this way, and no moisture regime applies.
- A flotation concentrate is a mineral concentrate
- The mineral concentrates schedule is Group A — may liquefy. A fine apatite flotation concentrate fits that description, which means the transportable moisture limit and the actual moisture content have to be certified before loading, exactly as for iron ore fines: TML tested within six months of loading, moisture content within seven days, and re-checked after significant rain.
- Where nothing fits
- A cargo with no applicable schedule cannot simply be loaded under the closest-looking one. The Code provides for a tripartite agreement between the shipping, loading and, where relevant, unloading administrations, based on the cargo's tested characteristics. It takes time, and it is not something to discover during laycan.
- Our position
- We establish the schedule and the group at the offer stage and we say which one applies. Where the material is a Group A concentrate we treat the moisture certificates as a condition of shipment rather than as documentation to be produced later. This is a stability question, and it is not a term we soften.
Scope
Where our obligation ends.
- What we supply
- Apatite concentrate and phosphate rock in cargo lots, FOB or CFR, with independent sampling and assay at load and, where required, at discharge.
- What we do not do
- We do not mine or beneficiate, we do not operate concentrate storage or shiploading facilities, and we do not manufacture acid or fertiliser. We hold no equity in production.
- Regulatory compliance
- We report cadmium against the destination's limit and we will decline to offer material that cannot meet it. Placing a finished fertilising product on the EU market is the manufacturer's or importer's obligation under 2019/1009, and we do not represent that we carry it.
- Origin
- Low-cadmium igneous phosphate comes from a small number of geological provinces, and a small supply base is exactly the situation in which origin claims need checking. Origin, chain of title and sanctions status are screened per consignment. Where an origin cannot be cleared we decline at enquiry rather than at fixture, and we do not refer the cargo onward — see Compliance.
- Carriage
- We establish the IMSBC schedule and group before offering, and we will not load a Group A concentrate without valid moisture documentation.
How to specify
Six lines and we can price it.
If you are an EU buyer, the second line is the one that decides whether there is a trade at all.
Material and grade
Igneous concentrate or sedimentary rock, and the minimum P₂O₅ with its tolerance and rejection limit.
Cadmium ceiling and destination
In mg/kg P₂O₅, and the member state or country the finished product is going to. Denmark is not the same as the EU limit.
Impurity ceilings
MgO, Fe₂O₃, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, fluorine and chloride, plus your CaO/P₂O₅ working range.
Process route
Wet-process acid, ammoniated fertiliser, feed, technical or battery grade. It changes which parameters are binding.
Quantity, vessel and basis
Tonnes wet or dry, the vessel size your berth takes, load and discharge rates, and FOB or CFR.
Moisture and handling
Your maximum acceptable moisture, your discharge method, and whether you need the cargo dust-suppressed or covered.
Inspection
Two assays that have to be done properly, for different reasons.
Independent inspection by an agency appointed for the cargo — SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek — instructed jointly, with sampling under supervision. The grade assay decides the invoice; the cadmium assay decides whether the material can be used. They are not equally forgiving of a bad sample.
- Sampling
- Mechanical or stopped-belt sampling to the applicable ISO procedure, with increment number and mass, division and preparation recorded. Retained samples sealed and held by the inspector for the claim period. On a fine concentrate, segregation during stockpiling is real, so the sampling plan is not a formality.
- Grade
- P₂O₅ on a dry basis, with moisture reported separately and the conversion shown. Never a single wet-basis figure — that is how the same cargo produces two different invoices.
- Cadmium
- By ICP-MS or ICP-OES at a laboratory with a documented detection limit, reported in mg/kg P₂O₅ with the calculation shown. At the concentrations that matter in igneous material the detection limit is a real constraint, and a result reported as "not detected" without a stated limit is not a result.
- Full impurity suite
- MgO, Fe₂O₃, Al₂O₃, SiO₂, CaO, fluorine, chloride and the trace metals the destination regulates — not only cadmium. Where rare earths are of interest, the REE assay alongside.
- Moisture and TML
- Where the cargo is a Group A concentrate, moisture content within seven days of loading and TML within six months, both certified, both provided to the master before loading.
- Documentation per cargo
- Certificate of analysis with the full impurity suite, cadmium certificate stated per unit of P₂O₅, moisture and TML certificates where applicable, size analysis, draught survey reports, certificate of origin, the IMSBC cargo declaration, bill of lading and the inspection report.
Straight answer
What we will tell you before you ask.
- That you cannot blend your way under the cadmium limit
- The limit is per unit of P₂O₅, so the phosphorus and the cadmium dilute together. Anyone proposing a blend to solve a cadmium problem has not done the arithmetic.
- That cadmium is geology, not processing
- It sits in the lattice. Beneficiation raises the grade and takes the cadmium with it. A high-cadmium rock cannot be turned into a low-cadmium one, at any price.
- That a fine concentrate is probably a Group A cargo
- Under the mineral concentrates schedule, not the phosphate rock one. That means TML and moisture certificates before loading — and it is the single most common surprise on a first apatite shipment.
- That "compliant with 2019/1009" is not the whole answer
- Denmark's approved limit is 48 mg/kg P₂O₅, and the Commission has committed to reassessing the harmonised figure. Tell us the destination, and put a mechanism for a changed limit into any long contract.
- That low-cadmium supply is geographically narrow
- Which is exactly why origin claims here deserve checking rather than accepting. We screen origin and chain of title per consignment and decline where they cannot be cleared — see Compliance.
Enquiries
Every enquiry is answered by the desk that handles it.
Send the product, quantity, delivery basis, destination and timing. We revert with availability, an indication and the documentation that accompanies it. Specifications are released once we know who we are speaking with.