Mission statement:
"To build a sustainable, profitable and efficient mining and mineral processing company, with emphasis on mineral products required for the international steel industry and in the process to engage in ethical, and environmentally and socially responsible, methods."

Stainless steel has a variety of uses ranging from cutlery or cookware, to vital components in cars, aircraft, ships and tankers, and as key parts in lifts, escalators or industrial plants. Few materials in the world market play such an important role in our daily lives as this strong, durable and corrosion resistant metal.   

Chromium is the key ingredient in stainless steel — the only alloying element capable of creating its signature stainless and corrosion resistant properties. The base material is chromite, which mining companies like IFM extracts and then smelt in order to make ferrochrome. Ninety per cent of all ferrochrome produced is then used in the manufacture of stainless steel. 

The world economy is experiencing a period of structural change as emerging market countries increase their share of the global economy. This change has underpinned the strong growth in demand for Ferrochrome, particularly from China where we stainless steel is a core commodity in its industrialisation. 

IFM sells and markets its product under agreements with JISCO and CMC Co-Metals, which includes guaranteed off-take agreements to sell approximately 64% of its planned production. Under these off-take agreements, the parties are required to purchase the product at market-related prices, determined either by reference to prices quoted for ferrochrome in various industry publications or by prices paid by IFM's other customers, depending on the volume of product sold to such customers. 

As part of these off-take agreements, JISCO has the right to act as exclusive agent to sell IFM's ferrochrome production in Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan and Korea and CMC acts as agent for resale anywhere in the world, excluding the JISCO territories. 

As a growing number of economic indicators show strength, Metal Bulletin Report (“MBR”) maintains the view that sharply higher economic growth in 2010 will propel stainless steel, and in turn, ferrochrome markets higher next year. While ferrochrome demand and supply will not return to 2007-2008’s buoyant levels, the ferrochrome industry will begin to climb back from 2009’s descent. MBR is forecasting growth of approximately 22% year-on-year in both ferrochrome consumption and production next year, with ferrochrome producers bringing back approximately 1.2m tonnes of supply next year. Improved demand will in part be spurred by restocking influences, particularly in the first half of 2010, but we expect to see an improvement in underlying consumption from key end-use industries in the latter half of the year in response to stronger economic expansion.