IMnI News

IMnI is hosting its 7th EPD Conference in Nanning, China on Tuesday, March 23, with the same 4 Chinese industry organizations it partnered with last year. We are expecting an equally successful event, with over 200 delegates in attendance.

For full program and registration please go to our Upcoming IMnI Events section.

Sign up today!

There is a growing need to store and manage technical data at the IMnI, mainly for REACH obligations in the short term, but also for ongoing and longer-term OHES activities. Aiming to be a central repository for all Mn related publications, the IMnI and the Mn Consortium have set up an electronic library using the bibliographic software Reference Manager. This software is used by researchers worldwide and is regarded as the only reference management software with a true multi-user network.

IMnI has already referenced 1500 studies and the library continues to grow. In the ever-evolving global market where stringent regulatory requirements are increasingly coming to the fore in a growing number of countries, this tool will allow IMnI and Mn Consortium members to have access to references and related files anytime, anywhere.

Members will have access to the library by this coming March.

For further information, please contact OHES Manager Dr. Doreen McGough at ohes@manganese.org

Sinosteel Raw Materials Co. Ltd. has applied for Ordinary Membership. Established in 1988, the company now belongs to Chinese state-owned Sinosteel Corporation, abbreviated to Sinosteel.

As the subsidiary of Sinosteel, Sinosteel Raw Materials is currently in charge of the global marketing of products such as chrome ore, Mn ore, nickel ore, ferroalloy ferrochrome, ferronickel, silicomanganese, Electrolytic Mn, ferrosilicon, ferrovanadium, ferromolybdenum, ferroniobium, ferrotitanium and ferrotungsten, scrap（HBI, pig iron, coke, coal, electrode and other carbon products, refractory raw materials, non-ferrous metals (copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel plate) sand petroleum products, etc.

The company has appointed Managing Director, Mr. Yuanzhong Li to represent them at the IMnI.

IMnI was well-represented on the program of Metal Bulletin’s 25^th Ferro-Alloys Conference held in Monaco, November 8-10. The Institute’s Chairman Alastair Stalker introduced and presided the opening session, entitled “International Steel and Ferro-Alloys Markets”. Panellists included Rod Beddows, CEO of Hatch Corporate Finance, and Keven Fowkes, Business Manager Steel & Ferroalloys at Integer – both well-known to IMnI members for having presented at our Annual Conferences.

Later in the day, Secretary General Anne Tremblay chaired a session dedicated to “Manganese Ore & Ferro-Mn”. Speakers on the panel included Helen O’Malley, Senior Consultant of CRU Analysis, Manish Sarda, Commercial Director of Sarda Energy & Minerals and member of our M&C Committee, and Keven Harlow, Manager of the Mn REACH Consortium.

The IMnI Board met for its third and final meeting of the year in Monte-Carlo last week. Major announcements made and decisions taken during the meeting included:

• Peter Allen (ConsMin Trade) stepped down as Chairman of the Marketing & Communications (M&C) Committee. He will be replaced by Brett Suann, formerly of BHP Billiton and recently recruited by ConsMin Trade.
• The results of the first phase of the IMnI’s Life Cycle Assessment for Environmental Performance will be presented at next year’s February Board meeting. This project led by BHP Billiton, involves providing a first set of metrics on energy consumption in all smelters operated by the 6 participating companies: BHP Billiton, Eramet, Ferroatlantica, OM Holdings, Ore & Metal and Vale.
• Plans are underway to hire an India representative. The job description and candidate profile will be developed by the Marketing & Communications Committee and the Secretary General, before being vetted by the Executive Committee.
• A safety workshop will be held at BHP Billiton’s TEMCO alloy plant in Tasmania during the 1^st half of 2010. The plant boasts a new, cutting-edge technology for detecting water leakage in furnaces. The 2-day workshop will also feature presentations on other safety issues, to be made by participating companies.
• The IMnI’s newly redesigned website presented to the Board is increasingly user-friendly, with the market research area now housing a database query facility. 
•  The 7^th EPD China Conference will take place at the end of March 2010, in Nanning. 
•  The IMnI Draft Budget for 2010 was approved.

The IMnI is proud to announce its re-designed website. The overarching aim of the redesign is to offer members a user-friendly platform with easy access to all of our services and constant updates that attract regular visits.  The website also intends to portray clearly to visitors IMnIs mission and objectives.

On the IMnI homepage, there are two key features of the website. On the left-hand side of the page is a box named Latest Releases, this shows the last five reports or publications, and includes a link at the bottom, which goes to a list of all IMnIs releases. Latest Releases includes:

• Mn Matters Newsletters
• China Weekly Reports
• Market Research Reports
• Monthly Trade Reports
• Extra Reports (including a new monthly Steel Production Report)

In addition, on the right-hand side of the homepage is an IMnI News box. This displays the last five IMnI related news articles. These articles include updates on new members, pertinent news about past or upcoming conferences, as well as other IMnI activities. Visitors can also select the link at the bottom to see all news.

We truly hope you enjoy using the new website, find it a more valuable tool and a worthy representative of your industry association. Any feedback on the site, and suggestions for improvement, are most welcome.

IMnI’s Board has accepted two applications for membership this month, one affiliate member from Canada, Baja Mining Corp, and an ordinary member from India, Indsil Hydro Power and Manganese. IMnI would like to welcome them both to the Institute. The additions bring total membership to 85. Below are brief descriptions of our new member companies.

• Canadian prospector Baja Mining Corp. engages in the exploration and development of mineral properties in Mexico. It holds interest in the El Boleo copper-cobalt-zinc-manganese deposit located in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The Boleo Project consists of 12,000 hectares of mineral concessions and 7,000 hectares of surface occupancy rights. It is headquartered in Vancouver.

• Indsil Hydro Power and Manganese Limited’s, a producer of SiMn, is a public limited company established in 1990 and headquartered in Coimbatore, in India’s Talminadu District.  Indsil has an associate company named Indsil Energy & Electrochemicals Limited based in Raipur (Chattisgarh State), which also produces SiMn.

An additional two companies have joined the IMnI since the last issue of Manganese Matters (released on Sept. 25).

They are:

• Rusmetali Ltd., a Georgian SiMn producer, comes in as an Ordinary Member. Based in Rustavi, Rusmetali is a private company and was established in 2005. General Director Mr. Temur Miminoshvili has been appointed as the companys representative to the IMnI
• Erdos Xijin Kuangye Co. Ltd. has taken out Ordinary Membership. (Not to be confused with Erdos EJM, the joint venture between Mitsui and JFE.) Erdos Xijin Kuangye Co. Ltd. only recently started production (HC FeMn & SiMn). A private company established in May 2005 and based in Ordos City (Inner Mongolia), ERDOS XIJIN KUANGYE will be represented at IMnI by Mn Purchasing Manager Zhou Xiafeng.

The company had announced its decision to join at IMnIs Ore & Alloy Banquet in Xian last month. 

Total IMnI membership now stands at 83.

IMnIs Secretary General Anne Tremblay and Market Analyst Mark Camaj recently conducted an Asia tour, during which they participated in 4 events.  The overall aim of the tour was to reinforce Chinese and Indian membership and recruit new members in these two countries.

The EPD Division Workshop was held on Sunday, September 13 in Chongqing.  The date was chosen to coincide with a conference organized by the National Friendship Association of Electrolytic Manganese Metal Factory, Presided by Mr Tan Zhuzhong, and which was held the previous day.

Objective of the workshop: To Present IMnIs Value Proposition to the Major EMM Producers & EMD Producers and get their Feedback.  EPD Chairman Buks Botes (MMC) opened the meeting, with Vice-Chairman Li Weijian (CITIC Dameng) wrapping up.

There were 4 presentations: IMnIs SG & Market Analyst presented the Institutes Value Proposition; Johan Kriek (United Mn of Kalahari) talked about current demand and uses for Mn and then introduced his companys Mn mine; Ben Cohen (ConsMin Trade) gave an overview of his companys mines and products; and Madelein Todd (MMC) spoke about sharing best practice and use technology to comply with OHES regulations. 

Besides IMnI participants, representatives from 11 Chinese companies were in attendance.  IMnI had prepared a short (3 question) survey, which 8 companies filled in.  The results of the survey were used to launch the feedback session, which followed the presentations. Of note: 2 of the respondents said they would join the IMnI; 5 answered maybe and one no. 

The India Workshop and Lunch were held on Monday, September 14 in Mumbai.  The date was selected in conjunction with IFAPAs Annual Assembly, which took place the following day.

Objective: To Present IMnIs Value Proposition to Indian Members and Discuss How They Can Contribute to and Benefit from IMnIs Services.

The workshop was chaired by Marketing & Communications (M&C) Committee Chairman Peter Allen, and 6 of IMnIs 8 Indian members were represented.  

After the SG and Market Analyst presented an overview of IMnIs services and current projects, the meeting continued with an open discussion highlighting the needs and wishes of Indian members.

The discussion was extremely fruitful and the proposals made by the members from India will be discussed at the next Board meeting on November 8.

The Manganese Health Research Program (MHRP), an IMnI-driven 5 year research program totalling over $5M US, and designed to better understand the effects of Mn on human health and fill in knowledge gaps, is coming to completion.  By the time the MHRP comes to an end on January 31, 2010, it will have generated 17 separate studies, involving a total of over 100 scientists from the USA, Europe, Russia and China. 

The MHRP Showcase Conference held outside Washington, D.C, at the end of June, showcased the results of many of the studies.

The research presentations were closely followed by a panel discussion of experts (from academia, regulatory bodies and industry), with the aim of proposing new directions for Mn research. 

Professor Len Levy, Consultant to the IMnI, and Dr Doreen McGough, IMnIs OHES Manager, are currently writing an overview of the MHRP with two distinct aims:

1.                               Highlight outcomes of those projects of short-term relevance to industry;

2.                               Propose future directions for Mn research.

Their overview will be made available to members in the second week of September.

New Board Member & Vice-Chairman chosen…

Peter Toth, CEO of OM Holdings, has been nominated to the IMnIs Board and named as a Vice-Chairman. This is Peters second time on the IMnI Board. Previously he served as John Raubenheimers second, when John was IMnI Chairman and while they both worked for BHP Billiton. We expect Peters contributions will have a positive impact for the IMnI and we welcome him aboard.

IMnI Chairman stays on…

Due to the unfortunate and unforeseen tragedy involving Marco Mendonça, who had been chosen to take over as IMnI Chairman at the conference, current Chairman Alastair Stalker has agreed to stay on for an undefined period of time (not to exceed one year) until a suitable replacement is chosen. We thank Alastair for his continued leadership; Alastair has served as IMnI Chairman for the past two years.

Presentations were extremely well received…

Delegates expressed their satisfaction with the speakers and their presentations. A few noteworthy speakers were David Rhodes of Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) covering the world economy, Patrick McCormick of World Steel Dynamics (WSD) looking at the outlook for the steel industry and Dominique Courné of Barry Rogliano Salles (BRS) presenting on the shipping industry and its effects on commodities. Many other great papers were given; please follow this link to retrieve all papers in both English and Chinese: IMnI 2009 AC Dubai Presentations

The delegation was much larger than expected…

Due to the economic recession and subsequent cost cutting on travel by firms across the globe, uncertainty about attendance loomed. Fortunately delegates recognized the importance of the conference and supported it in numbers. There were 120 delegates in attendance. To see the delegate list please follow this link: IMnI 2009 AC Dubai Delegate List

Finally, IMnI extends its thanks to our Exhibitors and Sponsors…

The IMnI would like to thank the three companies which took out exhibition stands at the event. They were two industry suppliers, Promtechnologii and Hatch, as well as IMnI member Simpac. To learn more about what these exhibitors have to offer your company, please visit our industry partners and suppliers page by following this link: Mn Industry Partners and Suppliers Page

IMnI would also like to thank its members companies that supported the event by sponsoring part of the social program. Thanks to Mogale Alloys (Pty) Ltd for sponsoring our Welcome Cocktail, Vale for sponsoring Lunch on the first day, Oreport (Pty) Ltd for sponsoring Lunch on the second day and to AML for sponsoring the Safari Outing and Desert Dinner.

The conference will open on Sunday, June 7^th with the Welcome Cocktail and close on Tuesday, June 9^th with a Desert Safari Dinner.

The Conference theme is: The Role of the Greater Middle East in the Global Steel Industry.  The main topics to be covered are:

• What has the 2008 Financial Crisis Changed?
• The Steel & Mn Industries in the Greater Middle East (GME)
• Health, Safety & Environment Issues

Sunday, March 29th, 2009 Guangzhou, China

The Electrolytic Products Division (EPD) hosted its 6th EPD China Conference in Guangzhou on March 29th. The one day conference saw the collaboration of the IMnI and 4 major partners from China, including Huacheng Metals Exchange (HME), the National Friendship Association of Electrolytic Manganese Metal, the National Manganese Industry Technology Committee and the newly created National Friendship Association of Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide. The Event didn't upset expectations, with an estimated 140 delegates in attendance and outstanding papers from expert speakers. It truly was the major international event for Electrolytic Manganese Products in 2009. To see the presentations, please click here.

The Board of the IMnI has nominated another new Board Member, following the recent appointment of James Choi from Simpac. New Board Member, Sergiy Maxymenko (Privat Intertrading) will be representing the Ukrainian Ferroalloys and Other Electrometallurgy Products Manufacturers (UKrFA), an association of Mn plants with Mn alloy capacities well over 1 million mtpy. This includes the Nikopol Mn alloy plant, the largest in the world. The IMnI is confident that Sergiy will play an integral part in further improving the Institutes knowledge of the Ukraine and its surrounding region.

The OHES Committee has enlisted the help of Hatch Consultancy to help build a Manganese Sustainability Strategy for the IMnI. Hatch will feedback the findings from their benchmarking survey and regulatory review and will facilitate strategy development during the workshop.

IMnI members are invited to help build the Manganese Sustainability Strategy for the International Manganese Institute by participating in the workshop.

Draft program and registration form are available at: http://www.manganese.org/index.php