Eurometaux (European Association of Metals)
Metals Mining and Production
We all use metals in our everyday lives. But have you ever stopped to think where those metals come from? We'd like to show you how metals are made, and to explain the actions our industry takes to protect its people and the environment.
It all starts in the ground
The life of our metals begins with raw materials such as:
- Bauxite
- Galena
- Casseterite
- Sphalerite
- Chalcopyrite
- Pentlandite
Raw materials can contain several metals at once. When searching for copper, for example, mining firms find as many as 19 other important metals.
Metals such as gold, silver, platinum already exist in their elemental form. For others, the metal ores must first be separated from other materials. Some metal ores, such as zinc, or aluminium, are already treated at this stage, to change their chemical state before further refinement.
Responsible sourcing
'Conflict Minerals' are resources whose sales revenues may finance military and guerilla operations that contribute to human rights abuses. A primary concern of European metals producers is to ensure that so-called 'Conflict Minerals' do not end up in their supply chain.
For that reason, we work closely with the European legislators in their development of legislation to ensure supply chain transparency for minerals such as gold, tantalum, tin and tungsten.
This builds on voluntary industry schemes to guarantee conflict-free sourcing of minerals:
- Conflict-free sourcing inintiative
- ITRI Tin supply chain initiative
- Responsible Jewellery Council
- Tungsten Industry Conflict Minerals Council
These schemes have achieved real results. For example, 99% of cassiterite imports from Central African countries are now controlled through the Tin Supply Chain Initiative.
Sustainability in mining
The extraction of minerals demands high standards of sustainability, so we can:
- Conserve - bio-diversity and wildlife around quarries and mines
- Preserve - social and economic development of involved communities
- Promote - standards of good governance and transparency
The International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM) has developed a Sustainable Development Framework to ensure that high standards in these areas are upheld across their member operations.
Adding value in Europe
Primary and secondary raw materials are processed in European facilities, where they are eventually turned into the finished metals that will be essential to various sustainable and innovative products. Europe's metals industry is responsible for over a fifth of global metals production, this equates to 47m tonnes annual production. Additionally, Europe's metals industry directly employs 500,000 people (3m indirectly).
Making metal
Metal must first be separated from its ore. Different metals require different processes, depending on their chemical composition. Whatever the process, the aim is to refine the extracted raw metals into a purer form. Refined metals are produced from a combination of mined and recycled sources, and are cast in different forms, depending on their use (i.e. ingots, cathodes, pellets). In fact, over 52% of pure base metals and alloys now come from recycled sources.
What happens next
Once manufactured, refined metals are then:
- SOLD - Directly to end-users
- COMBINED - with other metals in alloys, to meet the performance requirements of their intended application
- The brass used in musical instruments is an alloy of copper and zinc.
- The stainless steel in your cutlery contains an alloy of steel, nickel, chromium and other metals.
- Aircraft turbines are made of 'nickel super-alloys' made up over 14 different metals to withstand 800°C
- PROCESSED - into "semi-finished" products, such as sheets, rods, extrusion.
Semi-finished products are then transformed into the final product, whether beverage can, car frame, wiring or roofing.
Source: https://eurometaux.eu/about-our-industry/the-metals-story/production/
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