Calling every swelling clay “bentonite” and asking for a price is how programmes stall. Drilling fluids and foundry sands do not share one performance sheet. NAGTAR runs them as separate commercial offers on the bentonite page.
Drilling bentonite
Oilfield buyers care about yield, viscosity and fluid-loss behaviour. Briefs often reference API Specification 13A viscosifier language. We confirm against the tests you name on the qualified lot — not against a website label.
Drilling bentonite sits next to API barite in oil and gas drilling programmes. The minerals are different. The cadence problem is similar: mud plants need materials that repeat.
Foundry bentonite
Foundries care about green strength and thermal behaviour in the mould. Those tests do not live in oilfield API language. A drilling clay that “looks fine” on a viscosity chart can still fail in the mould. We will not relabel one as the other to win a file.
Foundry use sits under foundry and metallurgy alongside industrial silica when the sand brief is open.
Filtration is a third door
Some filtration uses call for bentonite. That is not a default dump of drilling inventory. Say filtration, name the test, or start from filter-grade diatomite when the liquid process is really a filter-aid problem.
US competition is real
The United States produces high-quality bentonite. Import wins only in a defined segment after plant trials — timing, packing, or a performance window domestic supply does not fill this month. We say early when the brief looks better served locally.
Continuity
Algeria is primary. Partner producers abroad keep the same performance family available when one deposit, activation line or export window tightens. Geopolitics is part of how backup origins are designed — disclosed, not improvised after a missed loading.
What to send
- Drilling or foundry (or filtration).
- The performance tests the plant will run.
- Volume cadence and destination.
- Packing and moisture constraints.
Use the buyer inquiry. One clay name without a use is not enough.