This Vesuvius erupted onto the scene when Cookson Group plc underwent a demerger. Cookson's Engineered Ceramics division was renamed Vesuvius in late 2012 after Cookson's other division, Performance Materials, demerged to form a new, separate London-listed specialty chemicals company called Alent. Today, Vesuvius develops, manufactures, and markets advanced ceramic consumable products like pipes and valves used to control the flow of molten metal in steel mills and foundries. It also supplies fabricated precious metals -- gold, platinum, and silver -- to the European jewelry industry and has precious metals recycling operations.