The region also saw an increase in demand for glass minerals such as soda ash, borates and silica sand, as well as those associated with a growing middle class and infrastructure, such as fluorspar, rare earths, graphite and of course minerals sands used to produce titanium dioxide (TiO[subscript]2 ).
Both Algeria and Saudi Arabia are leading the pack in the region for shale gas development. In January this year, Halliburton opened a new R&D centre in Saudi Arabia, specifically to look at developing unconventional resources -- the latest in a line of similar R&D hubs in the region, established by oilfield services companies, Baker Hughes and Schlumberger.
Making solar panels involves a number of industrial minerals, including quartz and silica sand, and Saudi Arabia's imports of these materials have soared as a result. It imported around 38,000 tonnes quartz in 2012, up 18 fold compared with the previous four years.
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