Samples of granulated slag from Scunthorpe, Humberside, collected over several years, vary somewhat in chemical composition reflecting differences in iron-making practice. All contain some melilite and oldhamite crystals and minor amounts of iron along with the glass. Granulated slag from Usinor, Dunkirk, France, has a little more CaO than the Scunthorpe material with crystals of merwinite and oldhamite. Pelletised slag from Redcar, Teeside, is much more vescicular than the granulated material and contains melilite and oldhamite.

The melilite crystals contain many inclusions of oldhamite and iron. They span a wide range within the akermanite-gehlenite series and are non-stoichiometric in composition. The merwinite may have formed largely by quench crystallization. Oldhamite is probably the first phase to form in all the slags. The silicate mineralogy can be explained in terms of the phase relationships within the CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-MgO quaternary system. The small difference in composition of the French slags is sufficient for them to fall into the primary phase field of merwinite rather than melilite. Assuming that only a minor proportion of crystals is acceptable in slags for use in Portland Blastfurnace Cement, the present low Al (< 11 % Al2O3) British and French slags are approaching an optimum composition.