Molycop’s 100+ year history: It’s only the beginning
Molycop’s century-long history of continuously investing in our capabilities and footprint is testament to our support of clients, partners and the communities we serve.
Molycop’s century-long history of continuously investing in our capabilities and footprint is testament to our support of clients, partners and the communities we serve.
Molycop’s Australian operations began with The Commonwealth Steel Company (Comsteel), which established its original facility on the Waratah site in Newcastle, Australia, in 1917. Molycop pioneered Electric Arc Furnace steel-making with the installation of the first EAF in the southern hemisphere on the site.
Development of the first grinding ball began in this decade. A plant manager for a local cement company began looking at ways to use punchings from the bolt and nut shop as grinding media for grinding cement clinker. Thus was developed the first automated ball forging equipment.
Further product development in this decade led to the first heat-treated grinding ball alloyed with molybdenum and copper. The new balls significantly improved wear performance relative to quality levels at the time. In 1940, this ball was patented and trademarked as Molycop.®
Molycop began to grow exponentially. During the next 40 years, it opened grinding ball plants all over the globe, in places such as Peru, Mexico, Canada and Indonesia, forming a network of facilities and relationships that still exist today.
Between 2002 and 2007, ownership changes took place when the Anglo-American subsidiary Scaw Metals (South Africa) purchased Molycop in 2002, while the original Kansas City ball plant had restarted as an independent company in 2003, which was then later acquired by OneSteel in 2007.
In January 2011, under OneSteel ownership, all of our grinding media manufacturing facilities merged into a common Molycop organisation, creating the largest grinding media company in the world.
As of 2017, now under the ownership of American Industrial Partners, Molycop comprised 12 manufacturing facilities spread across the globe, utilising the best-available technologies, strategically located to efficiently supply all major global mining regions with a strong commitment to social and environmental responsibility.
Acquired Donhad (Australia).