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IMOA Annual Review2013/2014

ContentsIMOA Annual ReviewOverview from the Secretary-General

Health, Safety and EnvironmentKey activities and achievements in 2013/2014

Market DevelopmentKey activities and achievements in 2013/2014

Financial Report 2013Income and expenditure account, balance sheet

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Images courtesy of New York Department of Environmental Protection (cover), iStockphoto.com/jeff giniewicz (pp. 2–3), Thorsten Schier – Fotolia.com (pp. 6–7),iStockphoto.com/compassandcamera (p. 11), Hardesty & Hanover, LLP (p. 17),Sandvik (p. 20 top), IDE Technologies (p. 21) and others and are used with kindpermission.

Tim OutteridgeSecretary-General

IMOA Annual ReviewOverview from the Secretary-General

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Welcome to IMOA’s Annual Review for 2013–2014. This hasbeen a busy year during which we have put together our new strategic plan. Members were polled on a range of issues prior to a two-day workshop in London where the ExecutiveCommittee discussed priorities for the Association over the nextfive years. A summary of the plan is available in the members’section of the website and as a printed copy.

Health, Safety and Environment

The award of Mutual Acceptance of Data (MAD) status forIMOA’s molybdate toxicological effects dataset is an outstandingachievement. Awarded by the OECD’s Cooperative Chemicals Assessment Programme, the dataset is now the key referencepoint for the development or review of any environmental orhuman health legislation concerning molybdenum in some 40countries around the world. IMOA is the first metal commodityassociation to secure MAD status for its REACH submitteddataset.

design guide for structural stainless steel by the American Institute of SteelConstruction (AISC). This much neededguidance will encourage the selectionand greater use of stainless steel instructural applications. We have been actively involved with the dissemination of the design guide since publication,sponsoring workshops, presentationsand webinars.

Alongside these activities, we continuedour program of engagement in the Architecture, Building and Construction(ABC) sector, delivering workshops andwebinars, and providing technical supportto some of the world’s most influential architectural design and engineeringfirms, mass transit authorities and otherlarge project decision makers.

China is an important focus for marketdevelopment. Three presentations onmolybdenum applications were given atnational conferences along with sector-specific seminars and workshops. IMOA, in partnership with other metal associations, founded the China StainlessCooperation and Promotion Group and is leading the Group’s first project to

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popularize stainless steel as the ‘greenest’metal for architectural applications.

IMOA has continued research efforts to discover and develop new or expanded uses and applications formolybdenum. A project to improve gearsteels concluded earlier this year andsuccessfully demonstrated that increasingmolybdenum content to 0.55% greatlyenhanced fatigue resistance, without increasing cost.

Several long-term projects are ongoing.The initial findings of a project examiningstainless steel rebar corrosion in concrete confirm that molybdenum has a protective effect at higher temperaturesand chloride concentrations. A secondproject is investigating the corrosion resistance synergies between molybdenumand nitrogen in stainless steels, so fardemonstrating positive results.

A further project is studying the effect ofmolybdenum on the toughness and hardness of welded, extra-low carbonsteel for pipelines. Early results suggestthat molybdenum is not detrimental toweldability, as is often claimed.

The Health and Safety Committee remains active in a wide range of otherproduct stewardship and responsiblecare activities to support the continueduse of molybdenum. The completion of an early life-stages fish study has successfully closed a U.S. data gap inIMOA’s marine dataset, enhancing theuse of the latter for risk assessment andenvironmental quality standard-settingpurposes. IMOA research continues tobe published in peer-reviewed journals. Italso forms the basis for dialogue – thisyear with authorities in the Netherlands,Germany, Slovenia and the U.S. – in support of appropriate regulation formolybdenum. Life cycle data has alsobeen a key focus, as we participated in a multi-metal project to harmonize LifeCycle Assessment methodologies and todevelop consistent life cycle messagingwithin the industry.

IMOA’s Molybdenum Consortium(MoCon) is scaling down its activities butcontinues work in a number of REACH-related areas. Twelve Lead Registrant technical dossiers have been updatedand the Secretariat continues to helpmembers with registration, compliancechecks, and ensuring that identified usesof substances are accurately recorded.

Market Development

In Market Development, we engage in projects and activities with the objectiveof raising the profile of molybdenumacross a range of applications. In carbonsteel, an ongoing program of engagementgenerated over 30 visits, events and follow-up meetings with steel producers.Trials with multiphase and press-hardening steels continued at a numberof European and Asian steel mills, resulting in the adoption of some newproduction methods based on molybdenum alloying.

An industry-wide effort initiated by IMOAculminated in the publication of a

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embedded in our overall communicationsstrategy. Four new case studies werepublished over the last year, highlightingmolybdenum’s contribution to sustainabledevelopment in subject areas ranging fromfossil fuel power stations and automotiveengineering design to desalinationplants and micronutrients in agriculture. A total of seven case studies are nowavailable to download from the sustainability section of the website. Wehave further studies in development and have completed, in association withPE International, a Life Cycle Assessmentevaluating the environmental benefits oflightweighting automotive componentswith molybdenum-alloyed high-strengthsteel. The study is available on the IMOA website. A presentation entitled‘Sustainable Industries and Molybdenum

Applications’ was given at the 29th

International Ferro-alloys Conference inBarcelona in November 2013, the latestin a series of opportunities to highlightmolybdenum’s contribution to sustainabledevelopment.

Two other projects are aiming to optimizethe design of long span structures withhigh-strength steel and the design of biogas tanks with stainless steel. Resultswill be available at the end of the three-year projects.

Finally, the stainless steel atmosphericcorrosion testing project that we embarked on with the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research (KISR) in early2013 is progressing. The first set of samples has been retrieved and is beinganalyzed. We expect intermediate results later this year.

Communications

The unique properties of molybdenumwere publicized in a number of targetpublications, including a paper on stainless steel façades, published in thepremier global publication for the designers of tall buildings. Our ongoingmedia activity and engagement programgenerated 14 news releases over theyear, raising the profile of molybdenumand reinforcing IMOA’s reputation as the voice of the industry. In addition,a contact program designed to buildstronger relationships with targeted publications has successfully placed articles focusing on the sustainabilitybenefits of molybdenum.

The duplex stainless steel brochure isnow available in Portuguese in additionto the existing seven languages and continues to be one of our most popularbrochures, with nearly 160,000 copiesdownloaded since the second edition.Downloads of the molybdenum metalbrochure have tripled since a completelyrevised and updated edition was published in September 2013.

Sustainability

IMOA’s sustainability program continuesto promote molybdenum’s contribution to sustainable development and is now

Statistics

IMOA publishes annual and quarterlystatistics of global molybdenum productionand use, which are released to membersand the media and serve to reinforceIMOA’s reputation as the most reliablesource of information about molybdenum.

Membership

We are a non-profit trade association,working to maintain and increase accessto markets for our members. Over the period of this report, we have developeda new five-year strategic plan which aims to guide our Executive Committee,Secretariat and membership as we buildon our strengths as a global community.In the next five-year period from 2014 to 2018, the Association will prioritize activities based on feedback from ourmembers, gathered as part of the strategicplanning process earlier this year.

We look forward to working with new and existing members, many of whomserve on our various committees andgive their time selflessly, as we work toimplement the actions from our newstrategic plan.

Health, Safety and Environment (HSE)

Sandra CareyIMOA HSE Executive

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“We have achieved a number of significant goals over the year. The award of Mutual Acceptance of Data (MAD) status for our molybdate effects dataset meansthat it will play a key role in the regulation of molybdenum in over 40 countries.IMOA’s marine dataset is now fully compliant with U.S. environmental qualitystandard-setting criteria, thanks to the completion of a key study in the U.S. andthe first updates of technical dossiers required under REACH have been completedby IMOA’s Molybdenum Consortium (MoCon).”

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IMOA HSE Committee

Research data

The most outstanding achievement by theHSE Committee over the last year hasbeen to secure OECD Mutual Acceptanceof Data (MAD) status for IMOA’s molybdate effects data. This substantiallyenhances the global relevance of ourmolybdate hazard dataset, originally generated for compliance with EU REACH.

MAD status is a data quality endorsement,awarded by the OECD’s CooperativeChemicals Assessment Programme(CoCAM). Scientific representatives fromOECD member countries worked togetherto assess the technical robustness of the data and conclusions. IMOA’s datasetwas reviewed by scientists from Australia,Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, theU.S., the UK and the CoCAM Secretariat.

The CoCAM process is effectively an independent scientific audit and its successful completion is particularlyvaluable as our EU REACH technicaldossiers – where the dataset is the central

component – are as yet unevaluated by the EU regulatory authorities. The coreof the OECD dataset is generated fromstudies using sodium molybdate dihydrate.We used this as the test substance for all our REACH research and as the basis for read-across to other molybdate compounds. Being the most readily soluble molybdenum compound (andtherefore the ‘worst-case’ test scenario), itprovides the most precautionary results,preferred by regulatory authorities.

A key benefit to industry is that MAD status means that the molybdate datasetis now the key reference point for anylegislation involving molybdenum relatingto environmental impact or human healthin each of the 34 OECD industrializedmember countries. Comprehensive hazarddata enables accurate substance/mixturerisk assessment by industry and nationalregulatory bodies. Other countries suchas Brazil and India, although outside the OECD, adhere to CoCAM MAD status

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Health, Safety and EnvironmentKey activities and achievements in 2013/2014

IMOA’s HSE representatives after the Washington OECD meeting. From left: Rodger Battersby, Sandra Carey, Kevin Klipsch and Dagobert Heijerick

outcomes, bringing the internationalreach of this process to some 40 countriesaround the world. Furthermore, othercountries automatically accept OECDMAD datasets into their chemicals management legislation – for exampleKorea, which is currently developingKOREA REACH/K-REACH.

Further applications for this data includeregulatory compliance, environmentalquality standards, and mine developmentimpact assessments. IMOA has alsoshared its CoCAM journey and lessonslearned with other metals associations,which are now following the same pathfor their substances.

The dataset is published under the auspices of the United Nations and ispublicly available on the OECD website at http://bit.ly/1pvtHpb. The OECD download, a SIDS Initial AssessmentProfile, is a 15-page overview documentcontaining the key data and hazard conclusions in the molybdate effectsdataset.

Aquatic data

We have also completed an early-lifestages study on the marine fish menidiaberyllina, closing a data gap and addingfurther value to the existing IMOA marinedataset. The completion of this studymeans that it can now be used in the U.S.for deriving Final Chronic Values (FCVs) –safe concentrations for molybdate in themarine environment, similar to PredictedNo Effect Concentration (PNEC) levels in the EU.

The graph above shows the study resultsituated mid-way between other marinetoxicity datapoints, enabling a U.S. FCV of1.29 mg Mo/L to be derived. Likewise, it lifted the EU PNEC marine value from1.91 mg Mo/L to 2.28 mg Mo/L, reflectingthe relatively low toxicity of molybdate tothe marine environment.

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new data point for M. beryllina:EC10 of 139 mg Mo/L

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mg Mo/L

Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) data

Life cycle inventory data

IMOA participated in a shared projectwith several other metal trade associations (aluminium, cobalt, copper,manganese, nickel, lead, zinc and steel)to harmonize Life Cycle Assessment(LCA) methodologies. The goal was togive guidance on how to align LCAmethodologies and to facilitate a moreconsistent approach to life cycle inventoryand assessment methodologies acrossthe industry.

The project facilitates comparison acrossdifferent studies and helps to establishcredibility for LCA databases across theindustry, encouraging consistent messaging. The guidance document andits accompanying Q&A are intended toact as a ‘common voice’ for the metals andminerals industry on LCA methodologieswhen engaging with various stakeholdersincluding regulators, life cycle database

providers, LCA practitioners, and industrygroups related to the metals and mineralssector. The top four issues included in the guidance document are systemboundaries; dealing with co-products; end-of-life recycling; and Life Cycle ImpactAssessment (LCIA) category choices.

IMOA was an early adopter of LCA disciplines, generating its first metallurgical LCI back in 1998, in response to a data request from the EUstainless steel industry. More informationabout IMOA’s three LCIs over the past 15 years (two for metallurgical productsand one for a host of molybdenum chemicals) are available from the LCI section of our website – recently enhanced with a new page about themethodologies guidance and Q&A documents.

Publishing research in peer-reviewed journals maximizes dissemination and encourages application of the data and its conclusions by regulatory authorities.

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It is important for IMOA to remain activein this area because LCA data is an increasing imperative for governmentand industry sustainability initiatives. For example, the European Commission released the Product EnvironmentalFootprint (PEF) guide in April 2013, alongwith the Organisational EnvironmentalFootprint (OEF) guide, under the ‘SingleMarket for Green Products Initiative’. The objective is to support a single metric for a single market, thus enhancingtransparency and fair competition. Theultimate aim is to provide incentives to report and reduce environmental impacts.

Environmental footprinting is gaining inpublic profile and becoming a more mainstream activity for products (PEFs)and organizations (OEFs), along withgreen building codes, EnvironmentalProduction Declarations (EPDs), Eco-labels and Health Product Declarations(HPDs) to name but a few. Inaccurate,absent or proxy data for molybdenum can translate into negative perceptionsabout molybdenum’s sustainability credentials. IMOA keeps working to ensure accurate information is available

for these data-hungry and perception-critical sustainability initiatives – ultimatelyhelping to maintain access to markets.

Data for GHS endpoints

IMOA commissioned the UN N4 self-heating substance test for molybdeniteconcentrates in 2013. The results confirm that hazard classification for thisendpoint is not required. IMOA is currentlytesting a range of concentrates for corrosivity to metals, another endpoint

under the Globally Harmonized Systemof Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The aim is to assesswhether specific characteristics of concentrates could be a predictor of corrosion potential, and then share thatinformation with the membership.

Regulatory activity

The HSE Committee maintains a technicaldialogue with the global regulatory community, sharing robust data and supporting appropriate legislation andregulation. We have engaged with regulators in the Netherlands, Germany,Slovenia and the U.S. (EPA Office ofWater, Colorado, Wisconsin and Texas)on molybdenum-specific issues in thelast year.

A current hot topic is the proposed0.03% EU Specific Concentration Limitfor reproductive toxicity for lead metaland the Commission’s intention to seekan EU-wide harmonized classification.Such a limit may have repercussions for some molybdenite and roasted molybdenite concentrates. IMOA is

therefore actively supporting Eurometauxin its outreach activities to highlight thedisproportionately negative downstreamconsequences for industry.

Focusing on future scientific research

In anticipation of the next five-year IMOAStrategic Plan (2014–2018), members ofthe HSE Committee and invited scientificexperts met in London in December 2013 for an HSE research brainstormingmeeting. The aim was to identify and

discuss regulatory-driven HSE issues and data gaps relating to molybdenum that are likely to require focused researchin the next few years. Six issues wereidentified and submitted for considerationby the Executive Committee.

Publications and workshops

We continue to pursue our policy of publishing research in peer-reviewedtechnical journals to maximize dissemination and the application of data and its conclusions by regulatoryauthorities. The current list of publishedresearch is now available on the IMOAwebsite at http://www.imoa.info/HSE/IMOA-HSE-research-publication.phpWe continue to issue ‘Moly News – HSEAlerts’ on topics of broad interest to the membership, and to disseminate theAmericas and Asia Reviews to our members, informing them about HSEregulatory developments on those continents.

This year, IMOA is a co-sponsor of a second workshop on soil criteria as a follow-up to an initial event in September2012. A primary aim of this workshop, to be held in Chicago with regulatory participation, is to encourage the movefrom ecological soil screening values to the development of soil clean-up criteria for metals that include enhanced consideration of bioavailability. In 2012, a case study used molybdenum data in a soil calculator under development byindustry to underline the importance ofbioavailability. The calculator demonstratedthe large effect that bioavailability corrections have on final values, and the much smaller effect choice has onprotection level. Building further on thisinitiative, IMOA is now participating in a multi-metal project that seeks to assessand validate whether existing EU soilstoxicity data is sufficiently representativeof North American and Canadian soils, orwhether there are data gaps to address.

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Where pertinent, IMOA chooses to participate in multi-metal projects such asthe LCI and soil projects as the mostcost-effective and knowledge-enrichingway to achieve project goals. To maximizebenefit for IMOA’s members, we shareknowledge and collaborate closely withour colleagues in other metal trade associations via our active participationin technical committees such as Eurometaux, ICMM, NAMC and ETAP, as shown in the table above.

REACH Molybdenum Consortium(MoCon)

In 2010, MoCon completed its initial mission to develop and submit technicaldossiers on hazard identification and risk assessment for 12 molybdenum substances. The European ChemicalsAgency (ECHA) requires the technicaldossiers to be ‘living documents’, meaningthat periodic updates are required when significant new science becomesavailable. This has indeed been the case for molybdenum, with two significantstudies published in peer-reviewed technical journals: a 90-day repeated dose

toxicity study and a prenatal developmentaltoxicity study.

During the second half of 2013, theMoCon Technical Working Group (TWG)forged ahead with updating all 12 Lead

Registrant (LR) technical dossiers. All butone of these First Updates was submittedto ECHA by early 2014. The remainingdossier, for calcium molybdate, will besubmitted shortly.

MoCon REACH Substance Portfolio

Substance Lead Registrant EINECS No.

Roasted Molybdenite Concentrate Sadaci NV 289-178-0(tech oxide)

Molybdenum Trioxide (pure) Climax Molybdenum BV 215-204-7

Molybdenum Metal Plansee Metall GmbH 231-107-2

Sodium Molybdate Climax Molybdenum BV 231-551-7

Ammonium Dimolybdate Climax Molybdenum BV 248-517-2

Ammonium Heptamolybdate Climax Molybdenum BV 234-722-4 & 234-320-9

Ammonium Octamolybdate Climax Molybdenum BV 235-650-6

Ferromolybdenum Slags Sadaci NV 282-217-2

Molybdenum Dioxide Chemiemetall AG 242-637-9

Calcium Molybdate 5NPlus Belgium 232-192-9

Iron Molybdate Clariant Prodotti Italia srl 237-389-3

Chemically-produced Molybdenum Grace GmbH 235-721-1Disulfide

All the Lead Registrants in this table were nominated and elected by each respective Substance InformationExchange Forum (SIEF). Ferromolybdenum is covered under REACH by separate registrations for Mo and Fe.

IMOA represented in

Sponsor Group and panel technical discussions

Environment, Health and Safety GroupRisk Assessment and Classification Group (RAC)HSE Sustainable Operations Group (SOG)Product Policy Group (PPG)REACH ForumExposure Scenario Task Force

Associations Coordination GroupChemicals Management Task ForceProduct Stewardship Group and roundtables

Steering CommitteeTechnical Issues Group

Trade Association/Grouping

ETAP (Environmental Toxicology Advisory Panel)

Eurometaux (European Association of Metals)

ICMM (International Council on Mining and Metals)

NAMC (North American Metals Council)

Participation in other metals associations and industry groups

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The ECHA registration deadline in the100–1000 tonnes band was 31 May 2013.The MoCon Secretariat helped a number of MoCon members and ‘Letterof Access’ purchasers to successfully submit their co-registrant dossiers forMoCon substances. It was a very busyperiod with some submitting registrationson the very last day.

Compliance check

Although the REACH evaluation process is the primary mechanism forassessing dossier contents, ECHA is increasingly using IT tools to conductcompliance checks. This means all LRsand co-registrants need to constantlycheck for any compliance communicationsin their REACH-IT inbox. Substanceidentity data is a key area of interest anda compliance check for FerromolybdenumSlags was received by Sadaci NV asLead Registrant in November 2013. Thereis a 30-day window in which to dialoguewith ECHA if necessary, and to fulfill thedata request to their satisfaction. Sadaciand the MoCon Secretariat duly compliedwith the deadline for the submission offurther information about substance identity and the manufacturing process.

An important lesson learned was that thecompliance check is not only on the Lead Registrant, but also on co-registrants.This can vastly extend the task if it is asubstance with numerous co-registrants,but thankfully this was not the case forFerromolybdenum Slags.

REACH evaluation

We remain vigilant in checking the annualECHA CoRAP (Community Rolling Action Plan) list featuring all substancesselected for evaluation by EU memberstate authorities. Happily, no MoCon substances have appeared on the list,now in its third year and with a total of201 entries.

Review of Identified Uses

In preparation for its Second Update of the technical dossiers, MoCon’s TWGis currently concluding a consultation exercise to ensure that all Substance Information Exchange Fora membershave the opportunity to check that their identified uses of substances areaccurately recorded with the correct usedescriptor codes. This due diligence exercise became necessary when

ECHA expanded the data requirementsafter the original 2010 LR dossier. Submissions now need to referencemanufacture and formulation as well asindustrial, professional and consumeruses. As a result, data additions havebeen made to eight of the 12 MoCon substances.

MoCon is aiming to ramp down its activities and conserve funds through theremaining period until after the last co-registrations for less than 100 tonnesubstances in May 2018. However, theTechnical Working Group remains on taskeach year to fulfill ECHA requirements and the Steering Committee continues its overall supervisory role of ensuring thefinancial, technical and administrativehealth of the IMOA REACH MolybdenumConsortium.

All IMOA HSE and MoCon technical activities are managed and driven forward by the corporate members of the respective HSE Committee andMoCon Technical Working Group, theHSE Executive staff member and ourconsultants. We express our sincere gratitude to all of them for their dedicationand professionalism.

MarketDevelopment

Dr. Nicole KinsmanIMOA Technical Director

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“This has been a busy year full of opportunities to raise the profile of molybdenum across the steel industry, including trials of multiphase andpress-hardening steels and the rollout of the AISC stainless steel designguide. China remains an important focus and we have co-founded a promotion group to popularize stainless steel. Our research program tofind new and expanded uses for molybdenum continues, with nine projectsactive in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.”

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Carbon steels

We continued our program of engagementwith the carbon steel industry. IMOA’sconsultant in this area supported steel millsand foundries with expert metallurgicaladvice on molybdenum-containing alloysteel with over 30 visits, events and follow-up meetings conducted during the year.

As well as direct support, we havehelped to increase the overall awarenessof the value of molybdenum alloying by contributing to published papers andacademic texts. We wrote a paper in cooperation with National Taiwan University and China Steel Corporation,which examines the effects of addingmolybdenum to high-strength hot-rolledsteels. The result, ‘Secondary hardenedbainite’, has been accepted for publicationin ‘Materials Science and Technology’,and details the microstructure effects ofadding 0.1–0.3% molybdenum.

At the invitation of the editors, we alsocontributed two chapters to ‘Green andSustainable Manufacturing of AdvancedMaterials’, a book being published thisfall. The chapters demonstrate how asmall amount of molybdenum can makea big difference to the sustainability ofpower generation and transport.

The proceedings of the IMOA-sponsoredhigh performance steel symposium heldin Taiwan in 2011 have been published.

‘Fundamentals and Applications of Mo and Nb Alloying in High PerformanceSteels – Volume1’ has been printed and distributed to interested companiesand metallurgical experts, and is availablefrom IMOA as hard copy and PDF.

Trials with multiphase steels continued at a number of European and Asian steelmills. Other ongoing trials have shownthat a new, molybdenum-containing alloy concept for dual phase DP800 steelcan solve the cracking problems that occurred during forming of the originalgrade. They are expected to result in thefurther deployment of molybdenum alloying where it was not previously used.

We continue to support projects and research on press-hardening steel (PHS) with strengths between 1500 and 2000 MPa. This material represents an important growth market as it is expected to comprise up to 30% of thestructural weight of a car body in future.Two different projects have assessed 1900 MPa PHS grade steel in laboratorytrials and both found that 0.15 wt%molybdenum alloying had the positive effect of obstructing intergranular crackingalong grain boundaries, often observed in such high-strength steels. This potentially opens up further opportunitiesfor commercial applications.

The same effect is relevant to directquench (DQ) steels that are being optimized in an IMOA-sponsored project with a European steelmaker.Other alloying elements which improve hardenability appear to promote intergranular cracking, so molybdenummay become the first choice for use inthese steels.

Another IMOA-sponsored project to develop better carburizing steels for gears,conducted with the German Institute for Machine Elements (FZG) in Munichand Buderus concluded earlier this year.One of the investigated alloys (20MnCr5mod. with 0.55% molybdenum) clearlyoutperformed all common gear steels, intwo DIN standard benchmark tests, without adding to the cost. It is likely that

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Market DevelopmentKey activities and achievements in 2013/2014

gears of this new material could supporteither higher torque, or for equivalentloads, could be built smaller and lighter.

The conclusions of an earlier researchproject on high-strength line pipe steel, inassociation with Salzgitter MannesmannForschung, have been independentlyconfirmed by a large Chinese steelmakerwho has developed a plate alloy designfor heavy gauge X80 grade steel. Allspecified properties of X80 were safelymet with this alloy design for plates up to 34 mm gauge. The general conclusionis that the addition of 0.1% molybdenumallows more flexible processing and stabilizes mechanical properties.

We are already planning for the ‘International symposium of Nb and Moalloyed iron and steel materials for the mining and minerals processing industry’, to be held in May 2015 in SaoPaolo, Brazil. In view of the event, severalresearch activities, most of them inChina, have been initiated to investigatethe effect of molybdenum in plate, sheet and cast materials for use in themining industry.

Architecture, Building and Construction (ABC)

Stainless steel: Structural

AISC Design Guide 27 The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) Steel Design Guide27 – Structural Stainless Steel (DG 27)was published in September 2013. An industry-wide effort taking several years,production of the guide was initiated by IMOA and involved several stainlesssteel producers and industry associationswho jointly funded it. AISC members candownload a free PDF of the guide.

DG 27 was authored by the UK-basedSteel Construction Institute (SCI) andprovides much needed design guidancefor structural sections over 3 mm in

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thickness. As an AISC publication, itsguidance should be accepted by buildingcode officials, facilitating selection ofstainless steels for structural applications.The funding organizations are hopefulthat it will be the precursor to a finalspecification recognized by the International Building Code (IBC).

Since its release, IMOA has helped todisseminate the guide by co-sponsoringa one-day roll-out workshop in New York, a two-part AISC live webinar which drew over 1,000 participants, and a presentation and booth at AISC’s AnnualConvention in Toronto earlier in 2014. A presentation was given at the NACEConference in San Antonio, U.S. and in-house workshops were run at sixstructural engineering firms.

Eurocode 3: Part 1.4Eurocode 3: Part 1.4 is the European design standard for structural stainlesssteel. Since the standard was published

in 2006, a huge amount of research intothe structural performance of stainlesssteel has been carried out. With fundingfrom Euro Inox, IMOA and the Nickel Institute (NI), significant amendments tothe code were written to better reflect current usage and enable more economicdesign. Unlike other parts of the Eurocode, which will not be updated forseveral years, these amendments will be published in early 2015.

Reinforcing barThe United States Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sponsors one-dayworkshops on corrosion resistant materialsat the transportation departments of different U.S. states. IMOA’s 30-minuterebar presentation was revised this yearand presented to about 250 decisionmakers in five states at the U.S. FHWA’srequest. Molybdenum-containing Type316LN and duplex stainless steels 2304and 2205 make up a significant share ofthis market.

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the need for corrosion resistant materialsin severe environments, encourages use of molybdenum-containing stainlesssteels and primarily references IMOA andNI publications.

Our consultant also gave a joint presentation with Goettsch at the AmericanInstitute of Architects (AIA) annual convention in Chicago in June 2014. Boththis presentation and the CTBUH annualconference paper cover all common architectural metals but conclude thathigh-alloyed stainless steels are the mostcost-effective, long-term choice for locations with salt and pollution exposure.

Stainless steel: Decision maker education

We have developed an internationaldatabase of ABC contacts and use it todisseminate monthly, topic-specific bulletins, providing answers to commonstainless steel questions. The bulletinreaches a growing number of global decision makers and raises our profile in the technical community. We haveadded a sign-up button to the ABC pagesof the IMOA website to enable new readers to easily subscribe.

Stainless steel: Architecture and building

We ran four workshops for architects and fabricators and held meetings in association with the NI in September2013, attracting 155 participants. Architect workshops were given in Beijing,Shenyang, Shenzhen and Shanghai.A separate meeting with a prominent Beijing architect explored possible stainless steel industry involvement inChina’s ‘Three Star’ green building ratingsystem.

Knowledgeable stainless steel fabricatorsare important for market expansion. A workshop was held with the prominentcurtain wall contractor Shenyang YuandaCompany. Technical meetings were also held with key design groups at theroofing company Beijing Kaiser.

In-house workshops, webinars and project meetings were held with 32 firmsand organizations in New York, Chicagoand San Francisco – attracting some 540 attendees. Over the last year, wehave also provided technical support for arange of high profile projects in planningaround the globe. Most of these activitieswere jointly funded with the NI.

While individual interaction is critical, effective marketing requires disseminationof information on stainless steel designand sustainability to large numbers of decision makers. In September 2013,our paper on stainless steel secondaryfaçades was published in the ‘Council onTall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)Journal’, the premier global publicationfor designers of tall buildings. We alsoprovided significant editorial support to aPrincipal at Goettsch Partners’ Chicago office in the development of a paperwhich will be given at the CTBUH annualconference in Shanghai in September2014. Goettsch ranks among the largestglobal architecture firms designing tallbuildings and 80% of their work is in Asiaand the Middle East. The paper stresses

Market development in China

China continues to be an important focusfor market development, with a Shanghai-based consultant representing IMOAsince 2012. Presentations were given atfive events including the ‘China Iron andSteel Association (CISA) InternationalStainless Congress’ in September 2013and the ‘China Stainless Steel Council(CSSC) Annual Conference’ in June 2013and May 2014.

IMOA is a co-founder of the China Stainless CooperativePromotion Group (CSCPG), which encourages the greateruse of stainless steel in China

A number of sector-specific seminars andworkshops were also run in conjunctionwith the NI. In addition to the in-houseworkshops on ABC already mentioned,pharmaceutical industry seminars wereheld in Tianjin, Shangyu and Shanghai –attracting 380 participants from 50 keycompanies.

CSSC, NI, the International ChromiumDevelopment Association (ICDA), IMOA and CITIC Metal Co. Ltd jointly established the China Stainless Cooperative Promotion Group (CSCPG)to encourage the appropriate use ofstainless steel in China. An industryround table meeting on green buildingand stainless steel solutions will be heldin September 2014 and a dedicated symposium is planned for 2015. IMOA will also deliver a presentation on behalf of CSCPG at the Yangzi ValleyGreen Building Conference in Wuhan in October 2014.

In the area of curtain walls and façades (building envelopes), we aresupporting a number of ongoing projectsincluding the Ping An Finance Centerand the Museum of Contemporary Art

and Planning Exhibition (MOCAPE) in Shenzhen, Guangdong. Using theseprojects as models, we aim to encouragegreater use of stainless steel façades.

We are also engaging with China’s national preeminent iron and steel research institute, CISRI, to develop aperformance atlas for stainless steel. Thiswill be published in Chinese and will give tangible data to architects on theperformance of existing stainless steel

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installations in a variety of climates and environments within eight Chinesecities. The project is due to begin in September 2014.

Duplex stainless steel

The duplex stainless steel brochure continues to be the most popular document on the IMOA website, withsome 40,000 copies downloaded overthe year. In early 2014, we added a Portuguese version to the seven otherlanguages available: English, Chinese,German, Japanese, French, Italian and Spanish. As well as English, theJapanese version is currently the mostpopular followed by the French version.Nearly 160,000 copies have been downloaded from our website since thesecond edition was published.

IMOA chaired the ‘Recent experienceswith austenitic and duplex stainless steels’symposium at the NACE Corrosion 2014 conference in San Antonio, USA inMarch 2014. A total of 18 papers werepresented during this day-long eventwhich proved highly popular amongstthe 150 delegates. IMOA also continuedto chair the well-attended meeting of the NACE 114X technical exchange groupon duplex and ferritic stainless steels.

Research and Development

We sponsor research to discover and develop new or expanded uses andapplications for molybdenum. The following long-term projects are active:

The corrosion of stainless steel rebar inconcrete is being studied by Ugitech and the French Institute of Science andTechnology for Transport, Developmentand Network (IFSTTAR) in Paris. Preliminary experiments in mortar showevidence that molybdenum has a protective effect at higher temperaturesand chloride concentrations. IFSTTARhas started aging real concrete slabscontaminated with 8% chloride in climatic chambers. The eventual goal is todetermine the critical chloride content forcorrosion at 25° and 40°C for stainlesssteels and carbon steel.

A project with Ugitech and the Universityof Grenoble is designed to enhance ourunderstanding of the corrosion resistancesynergies between molybdenum and nitrogen in austenitic stainless steels. Sofar we have confirmed and quantified

a significant increase in the protective effects of molybdenum and nitrogenwhen added together compared to theirindividual effects when added alone overa wide range of pH.

We are also studying the effect of molybdenum and other alloying elementson welded extra-low carbon line pipesteel in a project in association withVoestalpine. Early results suggest thatmolybdenum does not have a role in thedeteriorating toughness in heat affectedweld zones, as it is often claimed, butthat the amount of silicon may be muchmore important. We are working with SCI in the UK and others on the HILONGproject, looking at ways to increase the utility of high-strength steel in longspan structures, for example in stadia.We are also working with SCI and otherpartners to develop guidance on the design and fabrication of stainless steelbiogas and other tanks in the BIOGASSproject. Both three-year projects are majority-EU funded.

The stainless steel atmospheric corrosiontesting project that we embarked on

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in early 2013 with the Kuwait Institute ofScientific Research (KISR) continuedduring the year. Half of the samples ofdifferent grades and finishes have beenretrieved after one year of exposure and are now being analyzed. The otherswill be checked after the second year.

Team Stainless

IMOA is a member of Team Stainless,formed from the trade associations of thestainless and alloying element industriesto promote the benefits of stainless steel. The Team Stainless partners jointlysponsor carefully selected projects which are of mutual interest. The following projects have been completed or areunder way in the current year:

SCI has created materials for two one-hour university lectures on structuralstainless steel design, providing professors and lecturers with a ready-

made package to introduce stainless steelto their students, which would otherwisenot be covered. SCI also completed modelspecifications based on Eurocode 3 toguide structural engineers to correctlyspecify stainless steel. The topics coveredinclude procurement, specification, cutting, bending, welding, bolting and installation.

Team Stainless is supporting two researchprojects. The first, carried out by the RoyalInstitute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden,examines metal release of stainless steelin food contact. The second, undertakenby the Paris Institute of Technology forLife, Food and Environmental Sciences inFrance and Manchester MetropolitanUniversity in the UK, looks at best practicein cleaning stainless steel surfaces for hygienic applications. Both projects underline the utility of stainless steel andsupport confidence in its selection forsuch applications.

Other efforts

Relaunched in August 2013, the brochure‘Applications of molybdenum metal andits alloys’ has been widely disseminatedand is currently one of the top threedownloads from the IMOA website.

A short brochure was created for use at a water conference in Italy in 2013. ‘Water – our most valuable resource’ is asummary of previously published articlesand is available to download from theIMOA website.

The market research company SMR carried out an in-depth study of the oiland gas market for molybdenum-containing alloy steels, stainless steelsand nickel-based alloys in 2012. ‘Corrosion resistant steels and alloys inthe oil and gas industry’, found thatmolybdenum use in this sector is greaterthan previously assumed.

IMOA/Molybdenum Consortium2013 2012

$ $

Turnover 3,481,542 3,146,394Operating and administrative expenses 3,406,215 3,022,961

Operating surplus/(deficit) 75,327 (123,433)

Other interest receivable and similar income 4,014 8,728

Surplus/(deficit) on ordinary activities before taxation 79,341 (132,161)

Tax on surplus/(deficit) on ordinary activities 1,157 1,309

Surplus/(deficit) on ordinary activities after taxation 78,184 (130,852)

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Financial Report 2013Income and expenditure accountFor the year ended 31 December 2013

Financial Commentary

The 2013 audited accounts presented here are consolidatedfigures for IMOA and the Molybdenum Consortium and aresubject to approval at the 2014 AGM. Income from subscriptionsand levies amounted to US$3,481,542. After expenses ofUS$3,406,215, a sum of US$75,327 was carried forward bringingthe combined accumulated funds to US$4,570,632. Of thisUS$3,153,517 is attributable to IMOA and US$1,417,115 to theConsortium.

In the case of IMOA, the year-end balance was consistent withthe Executive Committee’s policy of maintaining a buffer approximately equal to one year’s expenditure. This mitigatesthe effect of fluctuating income and ensures that the obligationsof the Association can be met. The Molybdenum Consortiumreserves will contribute to the funding of the Consortium until 2018.

IMOA/Molybdenum Consortium2013 2012

$ $ $ $

Fixed assetsTangible assets 16,530 22,370Current assetsDebtors 340,699 80,084Cash at bank and in hand 5,089,412 5,277,955

5,430,111 5,358,039

Creditors – amounts falling due within one year (876,009) (887,961)

Net current assets 4,554,102 4,470,078

Total assets less current liabilities 4,570,632 4,492,448

ReservesProfit and loss account 4,570,632 4,492,448

Accumulated funds 4,570,632 4,492,448

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Balance sheetFor the year ended 31 December 2013

International Molybdenum Association454-458 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5TTPhone: +44 20 8747 6120 Fax: +44 20 8742 0128Website: www.imoa.info Email: info@imoa.infoMolybdenum Consortium website: www.molybdenumconsortium.org

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