A casting ladle with a refractory lining and a closable pouring opening in its base and with devices for gas scavenging of the melt in the ladle is to be further developed in such a way that metallurgical treatment even of melts with a batch size less than 15 tonnes under a vacuum and without additional or intermediate heating is possible in the casting ladle and that the melt can then be poured out immediately without further reactions with the atmosphere or the lining of downstream vessels. For this purpose, it is envisaged that the casting ladle (10) be provided with a vacuum-tight removable lid (22) with a refractory lining (30) and be connected detachably but in a vacuum-tight manner to a bottom box (11) in the region of its casting opening (18), and that the pouring opening (18) be provided with a sliding gate nozzle (19) known per se. <IMAGE>
