Abstract: Method for maintaining the temperature level of metal melts of specified compositions, comprising the steps of a/ excluding oxygen access to a melt contained in a furnace; b/ slowly displacing the atmospheric air from above the melt surface by introducing an inert protective gas, in laminar flow, without the generation of turbulence; and c/ thereafter maintaining above the melt surface a pure protective gas atmosphere, to meet a consumption of between 0.1 and 1% of the volumetric capacity of the furnace per minute, this permitting the melt to be cast in several pours or continuously without oxidaton of the alloying components and without increase in its gas content, even hours after having been melted down.