White paper 03 · Annex B

Glossary

The glossary explains the technical terms and abbreviations used in this paper, in plain language.

Reading: 4 min
Length: 867 words
Edition of: 10 October 2026

Term	Meaning
Agt	Total elongation at maximum force: how far a reinforcing bar stretches, in per cent, before it starts to neck in a tensile test. A key measure of ductility.
ANOR	Agence des Normes et de la Qualité, Cameroon’s standards and quality agency, which certifies conformity with national standards such as NC 236.
Basic oxygen furnace (BOF)	A converter in which pure oxygen is blown onto liquid hot metal to remove carbon and impurities. Paired with the blast furnace.
bcf, Mscf	Billion cubic feet and thousand cubic feet of natural gas, at standard conditions.
Billet	A semi-finished cast steel bar, usually of square section, rolled into rebar, wire rod or light sections.
Blast furnace (BF)	A tall shaft furnace that reduces iron ore with coke and produces liquid hot metal.
Bloom, beam blank	Larger semi-finished sections used to roll heavy sections and beams.
CBAM	The EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which charges importers for the CO₂ embedded in covered goods, including iron and steel.
Concentrate	Ore that has been ground and separated to raise its iron content and remove gangue.
Continuous caster	Plant that solidifies liquid steel continuously into billets, blooms or slabs.
Direct reduction (DR)	Removal of oxygen from iron ore in the solid state, usually with a gas rich in hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
DRI	Direct-reduced iron, the porous metallic iron produced by direct reduction. Also called sponge iron.
DR grade	Ore or pellets rich enough in iron and low enough in gangue for direct reduction; typically 67 to 68% iron in traded pellets.
DSO	Direct-shipping ore: ore that can be sold after crushing and screening, without concentration.
EAF	Electric arc furnace, which melts scrap, DRI, HBI or pig iron with electric arcs from graphite electrodes.
EAF dust	Fine dust collected from furnace fume, rich in zinc and lead and classified as hazardous waste.
Flicker (Pst, Plt)	Rapid voltage fluctuations visible as flickering light, measured as short-term (Pst) and long-term (Plt) severity indices.
Gangue	The non-iron minerals in ore, mostly silica and alumina, which end up as slag.
HBI	Hot-briquetted iron: DRI compacted while hot into dense briquettes that are safer to ship and store.
Hot charging	Sending billets from the caster to the mill’s heating stage while still hot, to save energy.
Hot metal	Liquid iron from a blast furnace, with about 4% carbon.
Induction furnace	A furnace that melts metal in a crucible by electromagnetic induction; simple but limited in refining.
Induction heater	Equipment that heats billets electrically by induction before rolling.
Iron units, metallics	All iron-bearing materials charged to a steel furnace: scrap, DRI, HBI, pig iron.
ISA-95	International standard (also IEC 62264) defining the levels of manufacturing control, from sensors (Level 0) to enterprise planning and logistics (Level 4).
Itabirite	A banded iron formation of fine iron oxides interlayered with silica, which must be ground and concentrated.
JORC Code	The Australasian code for reporting mineral resources and ore reserves.
Ladle furnace (LF)	A secondary-metallurgy station that reheats steel in the ladle and adjusts its chemistry.
Merchant billet	A billet sold to another mill for rolling, rather than rolled by the plant that cast it.
Metallisation	The share of iron in DRI or HBI that is metallic rather than oxide.
MES	Manufacturing execution system (ISA-95 Level 3): schedules, quality records, traceability.
NC 236	Cameroon’s mandatory national standard for concrete reinforcing steel.
Pellet	A hardened ball of iron-ore concentrate and binder, the usual feed of a shaft furnace.
Pig iron	Solidified hot metal, with 3.5 to 4.5% carbon, used as a clean iron unit in EAFs.
QST, TEMPCORE	Quenching and self-tempering: in-line water quenching of rebar after the last stand, giving a hard rim and ductile core.
RC-1	Cameroon Steel’s reference configuration, a Class 5 planning basis for the Kribi steelworks (edition 10 October 2026).
Re-roller	A rolling mill without a melt shop, which buys billets (imported or merchant) and rolls them into bars, rod or sections.
Rm/Re	Ratio of tensile strength to yield strength of a bar; a measure of strain hardening and ductility.
Schedulable load	Electrical load whose timing can be shifted within the day, for example melting around the grid’s peaks, without reducing annual output; unlike interruptible load, which the grid operator can cut for longer periods.
Scope 1, 2, 3	Direct emissions; emissions from purchased electricity; other indirect emissions, including upstream materials.
Scrap (home, prompt, obsolete)	Steel for recycling: generated in the steelworks, in manufacturing, or from end-of-life products and buildings.
Shaft furnace	The vertical reactor of a gas-based direct-reduction plant.
Slag	Molten oxide layer that collects impurities; solidified EAF slag can be processed into aggregate.
Smelting reduction	Processes (COREX, FINEX, HIsarna) that reduce and melt ore with non-coking coal.
STATCOM, SVC	Static synchronous compensator and static var compensator: power-electronic devices that supply fast reactive power to limit flicker and voltage swings.
Tap-to-tap time	The time from one tapping of a furnace to the next, including power-on and power-off periods.
Tundish	Refractory-lined vessel between the ladle and the caster moulds.
Wire rod	Hot-rolled steel of small round section delivered in coils, drawn into wire, mesh and nails.

Source: Cameroon Steel.

Cite this chapter

Cameroon Steel (2026). Electric steelmaking is the right route for Central Africa. White paper 03, annex B: Glossary. CS-WP-03. https://www.cameroon-steel.com/en/library/technology-routes/annex-glossary/