Knowledge base
Glossary
Abbreviations and names from the metal profiles – from RIR and EoL-RR to LME, CBAM and CRMA – with a short explanation.
Abbreviations and names that appear in the metal profiles. In the profile texts they are underlined – the explanation appears when you point at or press them.
- 3TGConflict minerals: tin, tantalum, tungsten, gold
- Tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold; EU importers must apply supply-chain due diligence (Regulation (EU) 2017/821).
Metal profile: Tin → - BayerBayer process
- The refining of bauxite into aluminium oxide (alumina) by leaching with sodium hydroxide – the first stage of aluminium production.
Metal profile: Aluminium → - CBAMCarbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
- An EU charge on emissions embedded in imported goods, including aluminium, steel and cement (Regulation (EU) 2023/956); the definitive phase began on 1 January 2026.
Metal profile: Aluminium → - COMEXNew York metals futures market (COMEX)
- Part of CME Group where futures on copper, silver and gold, among others, are traded.
- ComextEurostat's international trade database
- Eurostat's database on EU countries' trade by CN and HS codes – the source of the import and export data in the profiles.
- CRMACritical Raw Materials Act
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1252; by 2030 the EU is to meet at least 10% of its strategic raw material needs from its own extraction, 40% from processing and 25% from recycling.
- EAFElectric Arc Furnace
- A furnace in which steel is melted, mainly from scrap, by an electric arc; its dust contains zinc from galvanized steel and is an important feedstock for zinc recycling.
Metal profile: Zinc → - EoL-RREnd-of-Life Recycling Rate
- The share of metal contained in end-of-life products that is collected, processed and returned to production.
- EU ETSEU Emissions Trading System
- The system under which industrial and power installations in the EU must surrender allowances for every tonne of CO₂ emitted; it covers non-ferrous metal production, among others.
- Hall-HéroultHall-Héroult process
- Electrolysis of alumina dissolved in molten cryolite, developed in 1886 – the industrial method of producing primary aluminium.
Metal profile: Aluminium → - HS / CNHarmonized System (HS) and Combined Nomenclature (CN)
- Goods classifications used in trade: the World Customs Organization's six-digit HS and the EU's eight-digit CN built on it.
- IACSInternational Annealed Copper Standard
- The 1913 electrical conductivity standard: 100% IACS is the conductivity of standard annealed copper, 58.0 MS/m at 20 °C.
Metal profile: Copper → - IAIInternational Aluminium Institute
- The international association of primary aluminium producers; it publishes statistics on production, energy use and emissions.
Metal profile: Aluminium → - ICSGInternational Copper Study Group
- An intergovernmental organisation based in Lisbon that publishes world copper market statistics, including The World Copper Factbook.
Metal profile: Copper → - ILZSGInternational Lead and Zinc Study Group
- An intergovernmental organisation based in Lisbon that publishes world lead and zinc market statistics.
- ISPImperial Smelting Process
- A pyrometallurgical method in which zinc and lead are produced simultaneously in a shaft furnace from mixed zinc-lead feed.
Metal profile: Zinc → - IWCCInternational Wrought Copper Council
- The international association of copper and copper-alloy semi-fabricators; it provides data on the first use of copper.
Metal profile: Copper → - IZAInternational Zinc Association
- The international zinc industry association, which publishes data on zinc uses and recycling, among others.
Metal profile: Zinc → - LBMALondon Bullion Market Association
- The association of the London precious metals market; it sets benchmark silver and gold prices and bar standards.
Metal profile: Silver → - LGOMLegnica-Głogów Copper Basin
- The copper deposit area in Lower Silesia mined by KGHM Polska Miedź (the Lubin, Polkowice-Sieroszowice and Rudna mines).
Metal profile: Copper → - LMELondon Metal Exchange
- The London exchange whose prices are the global benchmark for non-ferrous metals, including copper, aluminium, zinc, lead and tin.
- PVPhotovoltaics
- Generating electricity from sunlight in semiconductor cells; a major user of silver (cell paste), tin (solder) and aluminium (frames).
Metal profile: Silver → - REACHRegistration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)
- Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 governing chemicals in the EU; it is the basis for restrictions on uses of lead, among others.
Metal profile: Lead → - RIRRecycling Input Rate
- The share of metal from recycling (post-consumer and pre-consumer scrap) in total metal input to production or use in a given year.
- SHFEShanghai Futures Exchange
- China's commodity exchange; its non-ferrous metal prices reflect conditions in the largest consuming market.
- SLIStarting, Lighting, Ignition batteries
- Lead-acid batteries that power the starter, lights and ignition of vehicles – the largest segment of lead use.
Metal profile: Lead → - SX-EWSolvent Extraction – Electrowinning
- A hydrometallurgical route to copper cathode: ore leaching, solution purification by solvent extraction and copper recovery by electrolysis – without a smelting step.
Metal profile: Copper → - USGSU.S. Geological Survey
- A US government agency; its annual Mineral Commodity Summaries give world mine production and reserves by country.
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