Products
AMG is a global critical materials company at the forefront of CO2 reduction trends. AMG produces highly engineered specialty metals and mineral products and provides vacuum furnace systems and services to the transportation, infrastructure, energy, and specialty metals and chemicals end markets. AMG continues to meet the growing global demand for innovative new products that are lighter, stronger, and resistant to higher temperatures. We develop innovative, high-quality products to help our customers meet their performance and CO2 reduction goals.
Creating products that enable our customers to reduce their environmental impacts is the very tenet upon which AMG was built. In our formation documents, AMG defines critical materials as materials that are critical or have become critical primarily as a result of the search for material-science-based solutions to reduce CO2 emissions. Throughout its history, AMG’s predecessor companies have advanced metallurgical-based technologies to provide innovative solutions for industrial challenges. AMG continues that proud tradition today, developing solutions that reduce carbon emissions and minimize the negative environmental effects of energy production and use.
AMG evaluates the performance of our products in this area primarily through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). LCA is a technique for evaluating the environmental impacts associated with a product or service. LCA is a standardized method, allowing the tracing of resources consumed as well as all the emissions to air, water, and land at each stage in the manufacture, use, and disposal of products across the value chain.
We have commissioned Environmental Resources Management (ERM), a leading sustainability consulting firm, to sharpen our in-house methodology for the measurement of “enabling” CO2 reductions using our energy-saving materials and technologies. AMG’s ECO2RP concept that has been developed and operational since 2018 does not necessarily align with the EU Taxonomy framework that was first introduced in 2020. AMG began working with ERM to conduct streamlined LCAs in 2018 to understand and quantify the impact of their lightweighting and enabling properties on CO2 emissions avoided by their use. At the end of 2021, we have completed LCAs for 11 of AMG’s products, further quantifying the CO2 emissions reduction enabling benefits of our portfolio.
The LCAs performed for AMG are ‘streamlined’ LCAs in that the scope is limited to account for the impact of GHG emissions only. These can also be referred to as carbon footprints and are consistent with the international standards on LCA (ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006) and the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Life Cycle and Accounting Standard.
ECO2RP is a portfolio of 11 AMG products that enable CO2 reduction and verified by third-party LCAs. In 2021, these products enabled our customers to avoid 79.0 million metric tons of CO2 emissions. AMG currently has three additional LCA candidates in the pipeline to be added to the ECO2RP portfolio that will enable even more emission reductions in the future.
AMG also relies upon an internal methodology to measure how certain AMG product offerings enable CO2 reduction when used by our customers. For example, the enabling of higher operating temperatures in jet engines through titanium aluminides and through ceramic coatings of turbine blades for jet engines increases fuel efficiency and therefore reduces CO2 emissions versus the next-best solution. As another example, adding natural graphite to insulation enables energy saving in buildings, leading to the reduction of energy use and associated CO2 emissions. These and other AMG material science solutions provide lighter, stronger, and more heat-resistant products and deliver environmental benefits compared to alternatives. Using our CO2 enabled reduction methodology, we enabled our customers to save a cumulative 79.0 million metric tons of CO2 in 2021.
Specialty metals are essential to the world’s infrastructure. We work with the world’s builders to ensure we provide them with exactly what they need to create and innovate. True innovation in the metals industry is rare, given that fundamental metallurgical principles do not often change. However, AMG demonstrates leadership in taking those fundamentals and creating artisanal products for our clients. We invest in innovation in every one of our business units to develop technologies that are more efficient, more effective, and better for our environment.
AMG cultivates innovation throughout our Company by hiring experts in metallurgical engineering and providing them with the tools to create technology aligning with our carbon abatement strategy and our clients’ needs. As ideas for new technologies emerge, we evaluate the capital and overall investments required to pursue the technology at the highest levels of our Company. We manage this process through conservative capital control. Investments of $100,000 or more require senior levels of approval to ensure our investments are creating the best possible returns and that the results are in line with AMG’s mission. Our Engineering Group holds numerous patents and continues to patent additional technologies each year with sustainability at their core.
AMG enables our customers to drive sustainable development. Through our intimate understanding of our customers’ needs, investment in research and development, and continuous creation of innovative materials and solutions, our customers bring greater efficiency to transportation, building, and other industries.
AMG Brasil – Innovation
AMG Brasil was awarded the 23rd Excellence Award of Metallurgic Mining Industry by Revista Minerios & Minerales with the project “increase metallurgic recovery in concentration by spodumene flotation process through residence time in cleaner circuit”. The innovation has been implemented and shows satisfactory outcomes as cost reduction and optimization in the spodumene plant.
Product quality and safety are core to our business. The quality of our products and our culture of innovation, driven by our customers’ needs, differentiates AMG from its competitors. Providing consistent products of the highest purity and quality enables our customers to build products that perform better and more efficiently.
Product quality and safety is a focus throughout all levels of AMG’s business. AMG’s products are used in various applications including mission critical components. Our customers trust AMG and our products because of the rigorous systems and inspections that we have in place. Each of our 25 production facilities has at least one Quality Manager whose responsibility is to ensure the safety of our processes and to ensure our production activities are primed for precision and consistency. Our research and development teams prevent any deviation and correct any issue before it affects our product quality.
AMG’s Management Board and CEO send a clear message to each of our business units that product quality is of critical importance to our business. Any fluctuations or risks that could influence product quality are quickly brought to the attention of AMG’s leadership. Product quality and safety is also a significant component of our quarterly risk review.
We recognize that the experts at our different sites know their processes and materials best, which is why we require production facilities to maintain a site-specific quality management system and encourage them to become ISO 9001 certified. We have 23 ISO 9001 certified sites.
To help ensure the safety of AMG products, AMG complies with REACH and GHS requirements and monitors the industry landscape for safety trends and innovations. REACH obligations guide proper labeling and evaluation processes. AMG developed a REACH application, coordinating with our regulatory agents and other supplier trade groups. In addition to keeping product safety data sheets updated, we maintain strong customer relationships and communicate any product safety implications, such as exposure risks, clearly and often.
To assess our product quality and safety performance, AMG considers several metrics, including customer satisfaction, on-time shipments, returned products, and our quality management systems. AMG also measures our product quality and safety performance though customer feedback. We frequently engage with our customers to foster an active dialogue, providing us with feedback to support their needs. Our customers trust us to supply increasing percentages of their business needs. AMG supplies leading companies with the materials they need to produce their critical end-products, and we proudly continue creating value for them in this way.
Sustainability linked loans are any type of loan instrument which incentivizes borrower’s achievement of ambitious, predetermined sustainability performance objectives. In November 2021, further strengthening our commitment to ESG, AMG entered into a new $200 million, 5-year senior secured sustainability linked revolving credit facility (“RCF”).
AMG developed a key performance indicator (“KPI”) framework aligned with internationally recognized Sustainability Linked Loan Principles, the Company’s overall sustainability strategy and issues that are important to our business. The interest rate reduces if two KPIs are achieved and increases if both KPIs are not met.
KPI 1: Carbon Intensity. AMG aims to reduce its CO2 emissions through investments in renewable energy and further reducing intensity by increasing production of products with a lower carbon footprint. This metric is measured as the sum of Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 equivalent emissions (as calculated in a manner reasonably consistent with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) divided by AMG production (in metric tons) for Lithium Hydroxide, Spodumene, Ferrovanadium, Titanium Alloys, Graphite, and Silicon.
KPI 2: Emissions Avoided. AMG seeks to increase energy savings enabled by the products included in our ECO2RP portfolio. This metric is measured as the total CO2 equivalent reduction (in metric tons) enabled by AMG’s sustainable product (ECO2RP portfolio). The enabled CO2 reduction effect has been established by a “life cycle assessment” performed by ERM.
These metrics and the progress toward the applicable KPIs are highlighted in the tables below:
| KPI 1: Carbon Intensity | UNITS | AMG GROUP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Baseline | 2021 kpi target | 2021 actual | 2021 status | ||
| Production of critical materials1 | mt | 153,664 | – | 193,700 | – |
| Scope 1 and Scope 2 CO2 equivalent emissions | mt | 663,590 | – | 554,442 | – |
| Carbon Intensity Metric | 4.32 | 4.25 | 2.86 | KPI Target Achieved | |
- Represents production of critical materials associated with relatively high emissions, with limited reduction potential. Includes Lithium Hydroxide, Spodumene, Ferrovanadium, Titanium Alloys, Graphite, and Silicon.
| KPI 2: Emissions avoided | UNITS | AMG GROUP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Baseline | 2021 kpi target | 2021 actual | 2021 status | ||
| Emissions Avoided Metric | mt | 57 | 65 | 79 | KPI Target Achieved |
AMG has achieved both KPI targets for 2021 and, as such, an interest rate reduction will be applied to its RCF.