Sodium Cyanide Market Industry Insights Trends Outlook CMI Blog

Sodium cyanide is a white, water-soluble solid inorganic. Sodium cyanide is used for the isolation of precious metals, as it is an excellent reagent for mining. It has a high affinity for metals making it salt toxic. When it is treated with acid, it forms the toxic gas – hydrogen cyanide. Sodium cyanide is produced by the Andrussow method involving the use of ammonia, air, natural gas, and caustic soda. The reaction of ammonia with natural gas and air over platinum produces hydrogen cyanide gas, which is found to be toxic.

The sodium cyanide market is driven by the growing demand from the precious metals mining industry due to the demand for precious metals with escalating prices. However, stringent regulations due to its high toxicity are expected to hamper the market growth. Increasing delays and impediments in starting up large-scale projects are projected to impact consumption, as an investment in capital costs do. The high cost of extracting gold proves to be another major hindrance to the sodium cyanide market.

Sodium Cyanide Market Taxonomy:

On the basis of type, the global sodium cyanide market is classified into:

Solid Sodium Cyanide
Liquid Sodium Cyanide

On the basis of end-user, the global sodium cyanide market is classified into:

Mining Industry
- Gold
- Silver
- Others
Chemical Industry
Pharmaceuticals
Dye and Pigments Industry
Textile Industry
Others

Solid sodium cyanide is used as a white ‘cyanoid’. These cyanoids are extremely solvable. Sodium cyanide is also used as a chemical intermediary, especially at locations where there is a scarcity of hydrogen cyanide. Sodium cyanide can be easily transported and stored. It is used in the production of nitriles, which are used in various chemicals, including pharmaceuticals.

Gold mining | Sodium Cyanide Market

The growth of the sodium cyanide market is expected to continue due to the continuous mining of gold. People are looking to invest more in gold due to the fluctuating global financial conditions, thus creating high demands for gold. However, mining companies are experiencing difficulties in meeting global gold demands.

Sodium Cyanide Market Outlook

In North America, sodium cyanide is used on a large scale for gold extraction. The U.S. is a major gold market, makes use of sodium cyanide on a large-scale for gold production. In Europe, sodium cyanide is predominantly used in the chemical industry. Countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan, and Russia plan to build new plants to increase its sodium cyanide production in order to decrease its dependency on other countries. This region is projected to become a little less dependent on imports from South Korea and China, in the near future.
In Asia, India and China are major gold producing countries. Hence, the use of sodium cyanide is driven by these countries, due to growing the local and global demand for gold. Japan uses sodium cyanide mainly for its chemical purposes. Australia and South Korea are major sodium cyanide exporters. China is also likely to increase capacity over the next five years, by setting up new plants.
In Africa, gold is produced on a large scale, hence there is a great demand for sodium cyanide market in this region. In the Middle East, plans to build a new capacity sodium cyanide plant in Saudi Arabia are on hold, due to which the Middle East is still dependent on sodium cyanide imports.

Some major sodium cyanide producers include Cyanco, E. I. DuPont, Australian Gold Reagents, Orica, Evonik, Taekwang Industrial, Tongsuh Petrochemical, Anhui Shuguang Chemical, Korund, Yingkou Sanzheng, Sasol Polymers, Unique Chemical, Tiande Chemical, Lukoil, Hebei Chengxin, Sinopec, and DSM.