or open ended mold 3 39 there is provided a mold part 20 having a lining which in relation to the continuous casting mold 3 39 formed of copper possesses a reduced thermal conductivity this lined mold part or lining 20 is advantageously fabricated from a suitable paramagnetic material such as for instance stainless steel to ensure that a vacuum does not form in the free ring shaped space 8 39 which could counteract the constriction 7 39 an inert gas is infed from a container or vessel 22 by means of a pressure reduction valve 23 and through fine infeed means 24 such as infeed slots into the ring shaped or annular space 8 39 this pressure is approximately accommodated to the atmospheric pressure and thus is smaller than the ferrostatic pressure of the molten metal 13 the vacuum prevailing in the ring shaped space 8 39 can also be used beneficially for introducing a suitable lubricant into the molten metal producing the cast strand finally in fig5 there is shown an arrangement employing a slightly oval configured electromagnetic coil 31 which is disposed about a round or circular strand cross section generally indicated by reference character 32 the design of the electromagnetic coil and the selection of the power frequency and so forth is to be accomplished such that at the region of the connection plane the.