In South Africa this term is used for a process whereby cracked castings are repaired through drilling and tapping the cracked sections and pulling them together with small studs. A rather intricate operation, which when done well will render a casting "leak proof" after the repair.
By its nature, it is not practiced widely anymore, due to the advancement of welding technology. I do believe however, that there will be some companies around that still do this. Personally I would try the welding route first. (But then, being a welding engineer, what else would you expect?)
Regards
Niekie
the problem of welding castings is that is it difficult to get to the 'end' of the crack. The thermal input has a tendency to pushthe croak out further making the repair useless. A combination strategy has however been effective. - Find the ends of the cracks, drill then out (so they don't get longer, THEN weld the joint instead of weave the joint.