Innovative steelmaking technology to boost industry, demand for nickel

There could be a major breakthrough in the steel industry if the UK-based innovative center’s latest discovery successfully convinces industry giants that it is the real deal.

The Center or Process Innovation, or CPI, is an institution focused on using applied science and engineering to develop new industry technologies. According to its researchers, laser technology once used in space explorations could be utilised in detecting “cracks” or all sorts of “faults” in the initial stages of producing steel.

Professor Jan-Peter Muller, head of Imaging at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, suggested that it could help steelmakers cut costs and improve product quality. This could also double their production volume, as it could minimise the possibility of producing “rejected “and “not-market-ready” steels due to deficiencies.

CPI, in collaboration with various small and medium-sized firms in the UK, as well as with industry leaders MPI Limited and Tata Steel UK, plans to introduce the technology to several steel producers in the country. A pilot production-scale unit, for instance, is now being utilised in one of Tata Steel’s casting plants.

“We are delighted with the outcome of the HTP-Control project, a true collaboration where the individual partners have benefited enormously through the bringing together of the whole innovation value chain, from world class research to technology innovation through to industry drive. The technology developments achieved are significant for the UK and should benefit a number of high value manufacturing sectors,” Muller told Gazette Live UK.

Tata recently collaborated with the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, or RINL, and the National Metallurgical Laboratory, or NML, of India to further its research on the untapped potentials of CRGO (Cold Rolled Grain Oriented) steel technology.

The technology, according to The Times of India , “is a specialized form of steel that makes up the heart of the transformer [in steel-making machines] and remains available with only with a handful of producers in the world.”

Any development in the steel-making segment would certainly affect the global steel industry. It could also potentially help increase the demand for metal ores used in creating steel products, especially nickel.

On the global nickel market

Currently, the nickel market is suffering from weak global prices due to disappointing demand from China, precarious European market, cheaper oil prices, and stronger US currency.

Metal analysts are anxious about a possible supply glut if demand does not pick up, as it could put not just nickel, but the entire base metals segment, into extended bear market rallies.

On the other hand, the supply sector remains strong. Just recently, the Russian giant Norilsk Nickel has reported an increase in production for the first half of the year. The two percent increase came amid various economic crisis in the country and in the entire European region.

Market newcomer Amur Minerals (London AIM: AMC) , also from Russia, is expected to put its promising 90 million ore production on the global market anytime soon. The firm has recently transitioned to being an exploration firm to a full-blown mining company after obtaining pre-production license from the Russian government in May, a celebrated feat that resulted to soaring share prices and enhanced investor reputation.

The Philippine supply, amid segment concerns, also remains robust. The country’s overall metal production for the first quarter of 2015 increased by 7.17 percent from $483.25 million to $517.85 million. The Philippines, which became the largest producer of nickel in the world after Indonesia and decided to prohibit its ore from reaching foreign markets in 2014, was reportedly incapable of satisfying demands outside China.

One of the country’s largest miners once admitted that it could also fail to meet demands from China.

“NPI producers would be completely reliant on Philippine ore” after stockpiles of Indonesia ore run out, Samson said. “Chinese stainless steel producers will now have to source nickel elsewhere,” Manny Samson, chief financial officer of Nickel Asia Corp., told Bloomberg in April.

However, the latest improvements in the segment has forced the company to discard its early statements.

“The impact of El Niño on our operations is going to be positive. The dry weather means our mines can continue to be productive in October or November when the season of heavy rains usually starts.” Nickel Asia Corporation CFO Emmanuel L. Samson told BusinessWorld.

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