Strattera, New Zealand’s voice of the minerals industry, keeps careful tabs on what’s happening globally in the industry, including reference to Deloitte’s “Tracking the Trends 2015” that identifies the top ten issues mining companies will face this year, some of which provide some useful insights for the New Zealand metals industry. One of these insights…
According to Matt Roberts, Executive Director of the Energy Storage Association in the USA, “markets are born at the intersection of policy, technology and opportunity.” This is a simple but fairly profound statement and highlights what should be obvious, which is that policy, technology and opportunity working together make things happen. It’s a bit like…
The New Zealand heavy metals-engineering industry had an outstanding year of growth. The 12 monthly rolling total for heavy steel usage to the end of September stood at 151,000 tonnes p.a., while a year earlier it was 130,000 tonnes p.a., an increase of close to 16%. However, the fact remains that the industry is still…
This year has been one of celebration at Steel & Tube. It has marked 60 years since the business began, and delivered on some of the most significant internal changes in our history. We organised a range of activities to commemorate the anniversary, providing opportunities for us to engage with long-standing customers, thank them personally…
The Tiwa Point aluminium smelter operates if they can buy energy they need cheaply enough. That’s what it comes down to in a world of global competition and it’s the same here in New Zealand as elsewhere. Industry operates where it gets the best deal and the price of energy is often part of the…
This month we describe some of the economic aspects of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in metals and make the case for competitive solutions compared with more traditional methods. It is often mentioned that AM or 3D printing technologies are only suitable for prototyping parts that will eventually be manufactured by more traditional means. This is not…
With the explosion of oil and gas exploration in the USA, demand for drilling steel and distribution pipeline has grown dramatically, and so too has the voice of domestic US steel suppliers as imports threaten closure of local mills. Some politicians are fighting back on behalf of industry and the employment it brings, such as…
Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Trade Minister Tim Groser just welcomed the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) decision on the terms for New Zealand’s accession to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) in Geneva. “A positive decision on the terms of New Zealand’s accession has been reached with GPA parties in Geneva overnight (NZ time),…