Nonferrous Department

Consumption of aluminum scrap in the United States totaled 694 million pounds during November 1996, increasing 16.1 percent over the November 1995 total of 598 million pounds, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, Washington. Metallic recovery from scrap, reported by USGS at 602 million pounds, increased 15.6 percent. Through the first 11 months of 1996, aluminum scrap consumption increased 7.5 percent over the same period in 1995.

Congress’ investigative arm, the General Accounting Office, has been directed to study and report on two key zinc issues: disposal of zinc from the stockpile and the future of the U.S. one-cent coin – the penny.

The American Zinc Association, Washington, contends that the Defense Department’s plan to sell excess zinc from the National Defense Stockpile could disrupt the usual markets for this material. But the GAO has recently supported the government’s position, saying that the practice was sound and that "the military has policies and procedures in place to avoid unduly disrupting the zinc market."

Specifically, the military has publicized its policy on the timing of the sales, amounts to be sold, and the relation of sales prices to market prices, and has actually sold less zinc than it was authorized to sell.

"The military has been selling off zinc from the national stockpile for years," says George Vary, executive director of AZA. "We don’t have a problem with them doing that, it is just that we feel that they have defined the market incorrectly. The government has estimated the zinc market as larger than we think it is, and our fear is that they will sell off an amount of zinc that will disrupt the market."

On another front, Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE) has asked GAO to report on the utility of the penny and to assess the environmental impact of mining zinc to produce it. The 98-percent-zinc penny uses approximately 35,000 metric tons of zinc annually.

In a September 1995 public-opinion poll, 76 percent of those surveyed favor keeping the penny, according to AZA. The poll also revealed that the poor and elderly were particularly supportive of retaining the penny because they make more small cash purchases. An earlier 1990 Gallup Survey showed only 62 percent opposed elimination of the penny.

CERRO ADDS 20 MILLION POUNDS IN TUBE CAPACITY

Cerro Copper Tube Co., St. Louis, is adding 20 million pounds of thin-wall copper tube manufacturing capacity in a capital investment project that is to be completed by the end of this year. The company will accomplish the increase by adding equipment and making modifications at its facilities in Missouri and Louisiana. With the completion of this expansion, Cerro’s capacity will be in excess of 100 million pounds.

INDIAN CONSUMPTION FUELS SILVER DEMAND

A surge in Indian silver demand during the second half of 1996 represents the year’s most dramatic increase in consumption and led to a drawdown in inventories as above-ground silver stocks were again required to meet escalating demand last year, according to preliminary data now being collected by Gold Fields Mineral Services for the Silver Institutes’s World Silver Survey 1997.

For the year as a whole, total imports through India’s two official channels amounted to a little more than 100 million ounces, representing a rise of more than 30 percent from the 1995 level.

"Indian demand has been a critical component of the world silver market throughout the 1990s," says Stewart Murray, chief executive of GFMS. "Indian’s current impact on the world market has been remarkable. After a generation in which it was essentially a dishoarder of the metal, it has imported more than 500 million ounces in the last seven years."

The increase is due to a number of factors, including the rising level of consumer demand for silverware coupled with good harvests, particularly in the Northern tribal belts where heavyweight silver jewelry remains the favored method of saving among rural populations.

The rise in demand was not simply a price-related phenomenon, according to Murray. In fact, the year’s average price rose by 6 percent. But falls in the price in the course of the year helped accelerate the pace of imports, which rose from 13 million ounces in the first quarter to a new record level of almost 35 million ounces in the fourth quarter.

In Thailand, it appears that a number of silver manufacturers have started to recover from the depressed conditions of 1995 when fabrication demand dropped more than 4 percent from the 1994 level. In spite of continued poor economic conditions in two of Thailand’s largest markets – Europe and Japan – exports of high-quality jewelry to the U.S. have increased significantly.

In the U.S., fabrication of silverware was stable in 1996, but jewelry demand continued to advance. Industrial use of silver was mixed.

DOT GRANTS ALUMINUM BY-PRODUCTS EXEMPTION

Members of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Washington, have been granted an extension to ship aluminum by-products in bulk by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington.

The extension allows processors to ship aluminum dross until April 30, 1998. The original exemption was to expire at the end of 1996. ISRI members who have already registered with DOT do not have to re-register for the exemption until the new date, according to ISRI officials. The exemption authorizes the transport of aluminum by-products, such as dross, that are shipped in closed sift-proof packaging.

For more information, contact ISRI at (202) 662-8508.

EVI IS SIGN OF TIMES AS ALUMINUM INTENSIVE VEHICLE

Aluminum intensive vehicles are being touted as significantly lighter than their mainly steel counterparts, and secondary aluminum is being used to make these vehicles.

General Motors’ new EV1 electric-powered vehicle, for example, has an all-aluminum body structure to save on weight and counter the heavy load of its lead-acid battery pack. Also, about one-third of the aluminum used in the body-in-white mainframe is secondary aluminum, according to engineers from Alcoa Automotive Structures, Northwood, Ohio.

"The scrap that we use comes from in-house generated material, and from purchased scrap," says Phil Morton of Alcoa.