Glossary

000's MT

Thousands of metric tonnes.

Alloy Steels

Alloy steels have enhanced properties due to the presence of one or more special elements, or to the presence of larger proportions of elements such as manganese and silicon that are present in carbon steels.

Apparent Consumption

Total shipments minus exports plus imports of steel.

Bar

A finished steel product, commonly in flat, square, round or hexagonal shapes. Rolled from billets, bars are produced in two major types, merchant and special.

Basic Oxygen Steelmaking

The process whereby hot metal and steel scrap are charged into a Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF). High purity oxygen is then blown into the metal bath, combining with carbon and other elements to reduce the impurities in the molten charge and convert it into steel.

Billet

A piece of semi-finished iron or steel that is nearly square and is longer than a bloom. Bars and rods are made from billets.

Blast Furnace

A large cylindrical structure into which iron ore is combined with coke and limestone to produce molten iron.

Bloom

A semi-finished product, large and mostly square in cross-section. Blooms are shaped into girders, beams, and other structural shapes.

Carbon Steels

The largest percentage of steel production. Common grades have a carbon content ranging from 0.06% to 1.0%.

Coal

The primary fuel used by integrated iron and steel producers.

Coil

A finished steel product such as sheet or strip which has been wound or coiled after rolling.

Coke

A form of carbonised coal burned in blast furnaces to reduce iron ore pellets or other iron-bearing materials to molten iron.

Coke Ovens

Ovens where coke is produced. Coal is usually dropped into the ovens through openings in the roof, and heated by gas burning in flues in the walls between ovens within the coke oven battery. After heating for about 18 hours, the end doors are removed and a ram pushes the coke into a quenching car for cooling before delivery to the blast furnace.

Cold Rolling

The passing of sheet or strip that has previously been hot rolled and pickled through cold rolls, i.e. below the softening temperature of the metal. Cold rolling makes a product that is thinner, smoother, and stronger than can be made by hot rolling alone.

Continuous Casting

A process for solidifying steel in the form of a continuous strand rather than individual ingots. Molten steel is poured into open bottomed, water-cooled moulds. As the molten steel passes through the mould, the outer shell solidifies.

CRC

Cold rolled coil (see Cold Rolling).

Crude Steel

Steel in the first solid state after melting, suitable for further processing or for sale. Synonymous to raw steel.

Direct Reduction

A family of processes for making iron from ore without exceeding the melting temperature. No blast furnace is needed.

Electrical Steels

Specially manufactured cold rolled sheet and strip containing silicon, processed to develop definite magnetic characteristics for use by the electrical industry.

Electric Arc Furnace

An electric furnace used to melt steel scrap or direct reduced iron.

€ or EUR

Euro.

Flat Products

A term referring to a class of products including sheet, strip and plate that are made from slabs.

Galvanised Steel

Produced when hot or cold rolled sheet or strip is coated with zinc either by the hot dipping or electrolytic deposition process. Zinc coating applied by the hot dip method is normally heavy enough to resist corrosion without additional protective coating. Materials electrolytically galvanised are not used for corrosion resistant applications without subsequent chemical treatment and painting, except in mild corrosive conditions, due to the thin coating of zinc. Galvanise is a pure zinc coating. A special heat-treating process converts the pure zinc coating to a zinc/iron alloy coating, and the product is known as Galvanneal.

HDG

Hot Dip Galvanised (see Galvanised Steel).

Hot Metal

Molten iron produced in the blast furnace.

Hot Rolling

Rolling semi-finished steel after it has been reheated.

HRC

Hot Rolled Coil (see Hot Rolling).

Inferred mineral resources

An inferred mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality can be estimated on the basis of geological evidence and limited sampling and reasonably assumed, but not verified, geological and grade continuity. The estimate is based on limited information and sampling through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes.

Integrated Steelmaker

A producer that converts iron ore into semi-finished or finished steel products. Traditionally, this process required coke ovens, blast furnaces, steelmaking furnaces, and rolling mills. A growing number of integrated mills use the direct reduction process to produce sponge iron without coke ovens and blast furnaces.

Iron Ore

The primary raw material in the manufacture of steel.

Ladle Metallurgy

The process whereby conditions (temperature, pressure and chemistry) are controlled within the ladle of the steelmaking furnace to improve productivity in preceding and subsequent steps and the quality of the final product.

Limestone

Used by the steel industry to remove impurities from the iron made in blast furnaces. Magnesium-containing limestone, called dolomite, is also sometimes used in the purifying process.

Line Pipe

Used for transportation of gas, oil or water generally in a pipeline or utility distribution system.

Mechanical Tubing

Welded or seamless tubing produced in a large number of shapes to closer tolerances than other pipe.

Mini-mill

A small non-integrated or semi-integrated steel plant, generally based on electric arc furnace steelmaking. Mini-mills produce rods, bars, small structural shapes and flat rolled products.

Net Debt

Net debt refers to long-term debt, plus short-term debt, less cash and cash equivalents.

Net Ton

See Ton.

Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG)

Pipe used in wells in oil and gas industries, consisting of casing, tubing, and drill pipe. Casing is the structural retainer for the walls; tubing is used within casing oil wells to convey oil to ground level; drill pipe is used to transmit power to a rotary drilling tool below ground level.

Open Hearth Process

A process for making steel from molten iron and scrap. The open-hearth process has been replaced by the basic oxygen process in most modern facilities.

Pellets

An enriched form of iron ore shaped into small balls.

Pig Iron

High carbon iron made by the reduction of iron ore in the blast furnace.

Plate

A flat rolled product rolled from slabs or ingots, of greater thickness than sheet or strip.

Rolling Mill

Equipment that reduces and transforms the shape of semi-finished or intermediate steel products by passing the material through a gap between rolls that is smaller than the entering materials.

Semi-Finished Products

Products such as slabs, billets, and blooms which must be rolled or otherwise processed to create usable steel shapes.

Sheet

A flat rolled product over 12 inches in width and of less thickness than plate.

Sheet Piling

Rolled sections with interlocking joints (continuous throughout the entire length of the piece) on each edge to permit being driven edge-to-edge to form continuous walls for retaining earth or water.

Sintering

A process which combines ores too fine for efficient blast furnace use with flux stone. The mixture is heated to form lumps, which allow better draft in the blast furnace.

Slab

A wide semi-finished product made from an ingot or by continuous casting. Flat rolled steel products are made from slabs.

Sponge Iron

The product of the direct reduction process. Also known as direct reduced iron (DRI).

Stainless Steels

Stainless steels offer a superior corrosion resistance due to the addition of chromium and/or nickel to the molten steel.

Standard Pipe

Used for low-pressure conveyance of air, steam, gas, water, oil or other fluids and for mechanical applications. Used primarily in machinery, buildings, sprinkler systems, irrigation systems, and water wells rather than in pipelines or distribution systems.

Strip

A flat rolled product customarily narrower in width than sheet, and often produced to more closely controlled thicknesses.

Structural Pipe And Tubing

Welded or seamless pipe and tubing generally used for structural or load-bearing purposes above ground by the construction industry, as well as for structural members in ships, trucks, and farm equipment.

Structural Shapes

Rolled flange sections, sections welded from plates, and special sections with at least one dimension of their cross-section three inches or greater. Included are angles, beams, channels, tees and zeds.

Tin Coated Steel

Cold rolled sheet, strip, or plate coated with tin or chromium.

Tonne (T)

A metric tonne, equivalent to 1,000 kilograms or 2,204.6 pounds or 1.1023 short ton.

Ton (t)

a) A unit of weight in the US Customary System equal to 2,240 pounds. Also known as long ton.
b) A unit of weight in the US Customary System equal to 2,000 pounds. Also known as short ton. Also known as net ton.

US$ or $

US Dollar.

Wet Recoverable

The quantity of iron ore or coal recovered after the material from the mine has gone through a preparation and/or concentration process excluding drying.

Wire: Drawn And/Or Rolled

The broad range of products produced by cold reducing hot rolled steel through a die, series of dies, or through rolls to improve surface finish, dimensional accuracy, and physical properties.

Wire Rods

Coiled bars of up to 18.5 millimetres in diameter, used mainly in the production of wire.