Aluminium production depends on high-temperature processes where furnace efficiency, thermal management and equipment durability are essential for maintaining operational performance. However, refractory materials used in melting, holding and casting operations face continuous exposure to extreme temperatures, thermal fluctuations, chemical corrosion and mechanical wear. These conditions can lead to premature furnace-lining failure, molten-metal penetration, corundum formation and heat loss, increasing maintenance requirements and operating costs. Addressing these challenges requires materials that can withstand demanding operating conditions while keeping equipment efficient and reliable. Alkegen, a supplier of high-temperature refractory and insulation materials, serves this requirement...
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has strengthened its profitability despite a challenging nine-month period marked by operational disruptions, constrained exports and reduced aluminium production. The UAE-based producer reported an improved adjusted EBITDA margin for the first nine months of 2026, supported by higher realised aluminium prices, a stronger value-added product mix and cost-control measures. Meanwhile, the company is progressing with the restoration of its Al Taweelah facilities, expanding its international recycling footprint and advancing its global smelting technology partnerships. EGA recorded adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of USD 1.572 billion (AED 5.773 billion) during January-September 2026, compared with USD 1.738 billion...
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The US Senate’s failure to block the easing of Rusal sanctions is expected to reduce the pressure on an Armenian aluminium mill, reported the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). This brings relief to 700 employees of the Armenal mill in Yerevan and thousands of local families supported by the mill. Yesterday, on January 17, the vote held but fell short of the 60 votes needed under Senate rules. ANCA Executive Director Aram Suren Hamparian said, “While we did not take a position on the broader policy debate over the lifting of specific sanctions, we do welcome the net effect of today’s vote, which is to ease pressure on a successful, export-driven Armenian enterprise that employs over 700, supports many times that number of Armenian families, and exports products to U.S....
Australian shipbuilder Incat Tasmania reportedly launched a new aluminium-hulled catamaran in December, named Saint John Paul II, for Malta-based ship owner Virtu Ferries. The vessel, which is going to be the largest high-speed catamaran in the Mediterranean, is due to begin sea trials in January 2019. The catamaran is powered by four 9,100-kW 20-cylinder Series 8000 MTU 58000M71L engines and also features supplied four 8V 2000 M51A gensets supplied by MTU. It is fitted with four ZF60000 gearboxes, with reduction ratio suited for optimum jet shaft speed. The catamaran has a total accommodation capacity of 900 passengers and 167 vehicles on 490 lane metres. The RoPax will further increase the capacity of the vessel for trucks by 43%, passengers by 15 per cent, and for cars by 7 per cent...
Spain is home to Europe's largest machinery scrapyard. Some of the industry's biggest aluminium scrap dealers and recyclers also have their facilities located here in the Iberian Peninsula country. Thus, the country is known for importing a good amount of aluminium scrap from various parts of the world. The two most important countries that supply the maximum amount of scrap to Spain are France and Portugal. But according to our third party data, Spain’s aluminium scrap import from both France and Portugal is estimated to stand lower in 2018 compared to the previous two years. As the graph below shows, in 2016, Spain had imported 99,152 tonnes of aluminium scrap from France and 35,069 tonnes from Portugal. In the year next, the country’s import from France dropped a bit to 98,978 tonnes...
Rio Tinto’s alumina production for the fourth quarter of 2018 was three per cent lower than the fourth quarter of 2017. Compared to Q3 2018, alumina production registered a hike by 2 per cent. The company produced 2 million tonnes of alumina in Q4 2018. For the full year , alumina production stood at 7.9 million tonnes. Alumina production in 2018 was two per cent lower than 2017, primarily due to the timing of maintenance shutdowns. Rio Tinto’s expected share of alumina production in 2019 is between 8.1 to 8.4 million tonnes. Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said: “We delivered a solid operational performance in the final quarter of 2018, in particular across our copper assets. During the year, we further strengthened our asset portfolio, continuing to invest in high quality growth....
Global miner Rio Tinto announced fourth quarter and full year 2018 production results. Rio’s bauxite production in 2018 was one per cent lower than 2017, with strong production at Gove and the Andoom mining area in Weipa was offset by lower production at two non-managed operations. The CBG mine in Guinea was impacted by planned tie-in works as part of the commissioning of the expansion project, and MRN in Brazil was affected by the Alunorte refinery outage. The company produced 50.4 million tonnes of in 2018. During the fourth quarter of 2018 , the company’s bauxite production dropped 14 per cent YoY to 11.7 million tonnes due to the planned transition of operations from East Weipa to Amrun in Queensland, and the tie-in works at CBG. The third party shipments of 32.8 million tonnes were...
Rio Tinto’s aluminium production for the fourth quarter of 2018 stood at 874,000 tonnes, one per cent lower compared with the corresponding period of 2017. Aluminium production in 2018 was three per cent lower than 2017. Rio Tinto produced 3.5 million tonnes of aluminium. The decline in production was due to an ongoing lock-out at the non-managed Becancour smelter, which began on 11 January 2018, and a power interruption at Dunkerque Aluminium in the first quarter. The company completed the sale of its aluminium smelter at Dunkerque, France, to Liberty House for $0.4 billion on 14 December 2018. Production of 0.2 million tonnes is reflected up until this date. In 2018, average realised aluminium prices were $2,470 per tonne (2017: $2,231 per tonne). This includes premiums for value-added...
The 2019 WorldStar competition, organised by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) continues to endorse aluminium foil as one of the major packaging materials globally, considering its recycling and convenience values. Four aluminium foil products, which had already won the coveted Alufoil Trophy in 2018, picked up WorldStars awards for 2019. The winners were announced recently. Constantia Flexibles International, from Austria, received a WorldStar for the Cat Milk in Aluminium Portion-Pack in the food category. The company made packaging for Animonda´s Milkies portion-packs. Aluminium packs proved ideal, due to their excellent barrier properties and ability to protect the content for 12-month shelf life. Opening, dispensing and disposing of the totally recyclable packaging is very...
Dutch superyacht builder Heesen has reportedly shared information regarding its technical developments and testing of 80.7 metre Cosmos, the shipyard’s largest project till date. Per the report, Cosmos will support a series of phenomenal technological feats that require a rigorous testing process by utilising the Fast Displacement Hull Form (FDHF). The yacht’s keel laying ceremony is scheduled for May 2019. <iframe width="540" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zIFbk-HvDX8" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> Ahead of the keel laying ceremony, the shipyard intends to complete the proof-of-concept and testing process, comprised of several stages starting with the yacht’s base naval...
The US dollar increased against the euro, which was dragged lower by weak economic data, while the pound gained on hopes of a second Brexit referendum. Base metals ended mixed and LME aluminium gained 0.57%. SHFE aluminium edged down. After closing Thursday’s trading lower at US$ 1804 per tonne, LME aluminium traded rangebound and continued upward overnight. The contract rose to hit the 20-day moving average, or US$1,856 per tonne, buoyed by higher prices of crude oil. It settled around the 10-day moving average at US$1,852 per tonne. It is likely to trade at US$1,840-1,865 per tonne today. As on January 17, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1803 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1804 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1827 per tonne, 3-months offer...
Average spot alumina price in China dropped from RMB 2862 per tonne to RMB 2854 per tonne on January 18. The spot price is expected to range within RMB 2854 per tonne today. Alumina-central is down by RMB 20 per tonne to stand at RMB 2880 per tonne. The price is expected to range between RMB 2860 per tonne and RMB 2900 per tonne today. The price in the east and north is hovering at RMB 2910 per tonne and RMB 2820 per tonne, while that in the south is at RMB 2860 per tonne respectively. The Australian alumina FOB price and alumina (Chalco) remained unchanged at US$ 387 per tonne and RMB 3250 per tonne. In another update from SMM, the A00 aluminium ingot price increased further to RMB 13360 per tonne, up by RMB 60 per tonne from RMB 13300 per tonne. The average price today is expected to...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, stocks of 6063 aluminium billet shrank over the week ended on January 17, across five major consumption areas in China. Since the stocks dipped 8,800 tonnes they now stood at 80,700 tonnes, SMM data showed. The reason for this plunge in aluminium billet stocks could be limited arrivals to the warehouses. In Foshan and Guangdong, the billets stocks are now hovering at 46,900 tonnes while that in Wuxi and Jiangsu at 11,200 tonnes. In Huzhou and Zhejian, and in Nanchang and Jiangxi, the inventories are pegged at 4,400 tonne and 7,200 tonnes, respectively. However, the price of aluminium alloys (ADC12) as of today has remained unchanged at RMB 14,800 per tonne. This price has been continuing since January 14 after a drop from RMB 14,850 per tonne. The...
Diversified miner South32 has reportedly achieved a solid production performance in the December quarter, with production guidance for the full year to June 2019 remaining unchanged for all operations except Illawara Metallurgical Coal. South32 CEO Graham Kerr said today, on January 17, “We achieved a strong quarter of production, maintaining full-year guidance for all operations with the exception of Illawara metallurgical coal, where improved longwall performance has underpinned a 7% increase to our prior estimate.” Per the company’s report, alumina production in the second quarter of FY2018-2019 increased 19 per cent to 1.3 million tonnes, compared to 1.1 million tonnes in the first quarter. In Q2 of FY2017-2018, the company’s alumina production was at 1.2 million tonnes. Now,...
Aluminium Foil is the 286th most traded product and the 348th most complex product according to the Product Complexity Index (PCI). Revenue wise, the top exporters of Aluminium Foil are China ($2.97B), Germany ($1.46B), Italy ($611M), Japan ($587M) and the United States ($554M). China’s semi-finished aluminium export including foil has been on the rise mostly driven by higher demand and lower prices. Especially for foil, commercial kitchen and packaging foil suppliers around the world rely on Chinese foil for convenience. Data shows in 2015, China exported 130,222 tonnes of aluminium foil and earned export revenues of US$ 410 million. In 2016, the volume dramatically increased to 963,447 tonnes and revenue increased to 2.7 billion tonnes. The rise in foil export was driven by increased...
Alcoa Corporation projects a global aluminium deficit ranging between 1.7 million and 2.1 million metric tonnes with global demand growth in a range of 3 to 4%. Total aluminium shipments are expected to be between 2.8 and 2.9 million tonnes, which reflects the expiration of a can sheet tolling agreement in the flat-rolled business. The tolling agreement’s expiration should have a negligible impact on Adjusted EBITDA for the year. The company anticipates favourable impacts from spot prices for raw materials to be fully offset by higher energy costs in the first quarter, and to be partially offset for the remainder of the year.” Based on current alumina and aluminium market conditions, Alcoa expects an annual operational tax rate ranging from 45 to 55 percent. President and Chief Executive...
Alcoa said it expected the bauxite market to remain in surplus with global stockpile growth projected to continue in 2019, ranging between 7 million and 11 million tonnes, driven by China, which strategically holds bauxite due to uncertain sourcing within and outside of the country. The company estimated that its total bauxite shipments to range between 47.0 and 48.0 million dry tonnes. The company said it expected the alumina market to move to a surplus in 2019, ranging between 0.2 million and 1 million tonnes, which assumes ongoing, third-party supply disruptions in the Atlantic region. The projected alumina surplus is driven by China, where refining expansions are expected to outpace demand growth from smelting. Total alumina shipments are expected to be between 13.6 and 13.7 million...
Italian custom superyacht builder Baglietto has reportedly begun construction on its 40M Hull all-aluminium fully custom yacht. Featuring exterior design by Horacio Bozzo and interior design by Salvagni Architetti, Baglietto is a 39.75 metre luxury yacht. As per the report, it is scheduled for the delivery on 2020 to an American owner. Baglietto has revealed the first rendering of the yacht, which it says shows the sporty, elegant character. Chief Executive Michele Gavino says that the yard is very proud of the project while adding further that “it represents another step towards the constructive excellence, which is the main goal of all our efforts and again a demonstration of the shipyard’s intention to keep pursuing technical innovation and developing our naval engineering...
Alcoa Corporation, a global leader in bauxite, alumina, and aluminium products, announced fourth quarter and full-year 2018 results. The company reported net income of $227 million in 2018, from $217 million in 2017.Excluding special items, adjusted net income stood at $675 million. Adjusted EBITDA excluding special items was $3.1 billion, up 27% from the $2.4 billion in 2017 on higher alumina and aluminium prices, partially offset by higher costs for raw materials and energy and increased maintenance expense. President and Chief Executive Officer Roy Harvey said: “Our 2018 results reflect how we’ve made Alcoa stronger. We’ve built upon the progress we made since our launch, and by executing our strategic priorities to reduce complexity, drive returns, and strengthen the balance sheet,...
The US Senate reportedly failed in its attempt on Wednesday evening, January 16, to block the agreement to lift sanctions against Rusal, the parent company of Aughinish Alumina. With this arrived an immense relief among nearly 400 Aughinish workers in Limerick. The news came when a junior minister reported this and said: “Workers at Aughinish Alumina in Limerick can breathe a huge sigh of relief." In late December, the Trump administration had announced its intention to remove sanctions against Rusal, following which the company agreed to significantly reduce Deripaska’s stakes and sever his control. The decision was welcomed by Irish officials as well who lobbied intensively for the sanctions to be lifted. However, fresh concerns arose when the US Democrats expressed their opposition to...
