revoked the antidumping order on Russia in early February. Members of the domestic magnesium casting industry have expressed hope that this could lead to improvements in the market for their products.
What’s a Caster to Do? Cobett would rather talk about the
solution to a shortage of iron units than the problem. “I looked at it and said, ‘someone needs to fill in the void,’” he said. “My take is to look at large piles that nobody wants that contain metal.” Such piles can be found in several
places. Most importantly, Cobett says millions of tons of unused iron units are produced as a waste material from blast furnaces at steel mills, both active and defunct. “Tere are probably 50 sites around the country, a dozen of which are still running,” he said. “Te other sites have legacy piles. I am trying to prove that it is good for castings.” Te mills’ furnaces produce metal
oxides that can be transformed back into castable iron, according to Cobett, and much of the material is currently being exported. “Why don’t we keep it ourselves
and convert it back?” he said. “It is not difficult if you know what you are doing.” Iron oxides also are produced in the copper mining process, Cobett said, and low grade iron ore is in abundant supply in Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, just waiting to be mined and sold to metalcasters. If the metalcaster wants to take his fate into his own hands, Cobett sug- gested cutting out the middleman. In the current market arrangement, most metalcasters purchase scrap from a scrap dealer, who in turn has purchased it from the source. Tis practice results in a 25-30% upcharge, Cobett said. “[Scrap companies] aren’t add-
ing any value,” he said. “More and more foundries are becoming smart enough and big enough that they are going to the manufacturing compa- nies directly.” Cobett suggests skirting the scrap
dealers by going directly to steel mills, for example, or pulling aside the representative who delivers the mate- rial to your facility to see where the material originates. Another strategy is to convert obsolete machinery into scrap in-house, finding exhausted equipment and removing the valuable metal components. According to Muratore, while fer-
Many in the metalcasting industry believe copper prices have been driven up more by speculators than due to an actual increase in demand.
rous casters are constrained to using certain typical charge makeups by metallurgical and economic forces, iron casters can vary their charge makeup slightly to include more or less pig iron or steel scrap depending on the markets they serve and where they are in the country. “You have to look at [freight costs]…and regional availability,” Muratore said. As for nonferrous material pur-
chasers, Henning said he has seen his customers make some slight changes, but for the most part, everyone is at the mercy of a volatile market. “As you can imagine, customers
The price of magnesium is set by Chinese producers, which account for a vast majority of the world’s processors. The material’s cost is now rising again after a recovery from 2008 highs.
don’t like price increases,” he said. “In some cases, they buy less when prices are higher. And they pass on what they can to their customers. You can’t pass on all the increases you would like to, but you try to do the best you can.”
September 2011 MODERN CASTING | 23
Data courtesy of
MetalPrices.com
Data courtesy of
MetalPrices.com
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