Resumen de Sourcing refractory raw materials

Industrial Minerals

• Capital uses WFA at four of its facilities, across the US, Europe and China, and this one material alone represents more than 50% of the group's raw material purchase, equating to over Pounds 6m ($9.4m*) per year. This high dependence on one material means it is essential that Capital develops intimate and strong relations with its suppliers to create stability, yet remains alert to the complexities and fluctuations of the global WFA market.

  Capital has chosen to follow a combined path, with a major supplier being'supported' by lesser ones who strive for the prize of that top position. All this is of course influenced by the group's own geographic locations. Clearly there would be expected considerable advantages for the indigenous producers within the countries or continents of Capital's requirements, yet it seems that'outsiders' can at times overcome these barriers and compete on a global scale.

  Capital's interests in refractory materials other than WFA encompass much of the full spectrum on offer; bauxite, brown fused alumina, calcined alumina, tabular alumina, alumino-silicates, silicon carbide, magnesia, silica, zircon, zirconia.