A molten material can be heated, melted and directly solidified in a
single vessel. Induction heating and melting of the molten material is
achieved by magnetically coupling the field produced by current flow in a
plurality of induction coils surrounding the vessel with either the
molten material in the vessel, or a susceptor surrounding molten material
in the vessel. Current flow is selectively removed from the plurality of
induction coils, and a cooling medium surrounding the vessel, such as
water flowing through hollow induction coils, solidifies the molten metal
into a highly purified crystalline solid.