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IMOA continues to stride ahead despite global pandemic
23/09/2021
The International Molybdenum Association (IMOA) has published its Annual Review for 2020/2021, detailing the activities and achievements of the Association on behalf of its members over the last year.
Speaking after IMOA's 33rd AGM, held virtually for the second year, Eva Model, IMOA's new Secretary-General, said:
"As I begin my role as IMOA's Secretary-General we once again reflect on a year of Covid-19 and its far-reaching impact. The last year has certainly reaffirmed my long held belief that we live in a world where the only constant is change. Despite challenging market conditions, I am delighted to report that IMOA has continued to successfully deliver significant progress across its Market Development, Health, Safety and Environment and other program areas."
IMOA's ability to adapt and operate effectively online led to a significant expansion of our audience across our Market Development programs. Thousands of attendees accessed our webinars in China, hosted in partnership with domestic organizations such as the China Stainless Steel Council, AT (Architecture Technique) and New Steel. Elsewhere over 20 webinars, hosted with the Nickel Institute and local associations, were attended by thousands of engineers, architects and fabricators in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Vietnam. The recent development of AISC standards for structural stainless steel in North America, funded in conjunction with several partner organizations, will open up new opportunities for growth in building and construction, including large infrastructure projects such as bridges.
Eva commented "Facilitating the use of stainless and high strength steels is a key element of IMOA's market development work. The benefit of having a new AISC structural stainless steel design specification in the US will be far-reaching and is anticipated to expand the market potential for molybdenum-containing stainless steels globally. With relation to high strength steel (HSS), the Steel Construction Institute (SCI), with support from IMOA, published the High Strength Steel Design and Execution Guide, which explains the specification, design and fabrication of HSS in structures. This will support an increased use of HSS in building and construction projects. In another significant development, HSS developed in joint projects between IMOA and leading steel makers, are now being commercially produced and used in a number of industries."
The work of the HSE Committee, seeking to ensure that regulatory decisions are based on rigorous scientific evidence, remains as important as ever and there have been some notable successes this year. IMOA has provided its robust scientific datasets for use in several regulatory proposals on water quality standards in Canada and the USA. Focusing on human health, an IMOA authored chapter on molybdenum for Patty's Toxicology, a well-known, prestigious reference handbook for industrial hygienists and toxicologists was completed and accepted for publication. Eva commented "These developments underscore the importance of robust science in ensuring regulatory decisions are appropriate and we remain committed to developing and disseminating high-quality scientific data about molybdenum."
Reflecting on the retirement of outgoing Secretary-General, Tim Outteridge, Eva said "On behalf of the members I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Tim, who retired as IMOA's Secretary-General last month after 13 years at the helm. Throughout his leadership IMOA has had many successes. In the area of environment and human health, IMOA has built a vast and unrivaled repository of knowledge about the effects of molybdenum which has been successfully deployed by our IMOA Molybdenum Consortium for the registration of the 12 EU REACH substances and the continual diligent updating of the substance dossiers, as required by ECHA. The Association achieved the recognition and endorsement of its molybdate soluble salts database by the OECD and ensured that regulators around the world have access to the data through both direct engagement and the publication of peer-reviewed, scientific papers. The work in Market Development has contributed to the growth of molybdenum use across stainless and alloy steels, in architecture, building and construction, infrastructure, automotive, mechanical engineering, energy generation, processing industries and other sectors."
Eva concluded "I am very much looking forward to working with the experienced and well recognized IMOA team, our members, committees and our many industry stakeholders to ensure that IMOA continues to go from strength to strength. Over the next few years our key priority will be to deliver our strategic plan through a market development program that adapts to changing market needs, and an HSE program that maintains an effective radar, drawing on our extensive network of experts to proactively respond to emerging regulatory issues and embedding IMOA as the go-to body for robust scientific molybdenum data."
A copy of the Annual Review is available here.
General information for media
IMOA is a non profit trade association, representing the majority of the molybdenum industry worldwide. It works to raise awareness about the unique properties of molybdenum, its beneficial effects on materials performance, its safety in use and its contribution to sustainable development.
Molybdenum is added to alloy steels to improve strength, toughness, hardenability and weldability for numerous applications in the automotive, shipbuilding, construction, mining, chemical, oil & gas and energy generation industries. In stainless steels and superalloys, it improves corrosion resistance and high-temperature performance and finds uses in many industrial applications. It is also used in a variety of products from catalysts and lubricants to pigments and paint.
IMOA has a strict antitrust compliance policy which delegates of all meetings are required to observe. All such meetings are observed by legal counsel.
For more information please email the communications team at media@imoa.info.
For up-to-date information please follow IMOA on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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