Specialty Alloy Products

Asarco's century-long experience of refining high-purity metals, including bismuth, is currently being applied to a number of innovative applications.

Bismuth is a "friendly" metal widely used in pharmaceuticals, including a popular over-the-counter stomach remedy. Bismuth selenide (Envirolloy)^Ó, a compound of bismuth and selenium, is a popular substitute for lead in free-machining brasses. Since lead in brass pipes and plumbing fixtures is believed to affect drinking water quality, regulators are mandating removal of lead from some plumbing applications, prompting increasing use of bismuth alloys as a replacement. Bismuth pellets, shot, and powders are used as metallurgical alloying agents.

Many of these uses are the result of research and development at Asarco's Globe plant, a high-purity metals facility in Denver, Colorado. Asarco holds patents for the production of bismuth oxide, bismuth selenide, and bismuth shot.

Asarco quantifies the purity of its specialty alloys through the use of wet chemistry, spectrographic and other analytical techniques. Reports summarizing the results of these analyses accompany each shipment. Asarco's specialty alloys are monitored and controlled, assuring compliance with the world’s highest production standards.