Aluminium alloy powder production for additive manufacturing is set to expand through a new technical cooperation agreement between CNPC Powder China Ltd and Xi’an Bright Laser Technologies Co Ltd (BLT). The agreement covers the production and international distribution of BLT-AlAM400, an aluminium alloy powder developed for applications in humanoid robotics, new energy vehicles (NEVs), aerospace and other industrial sectors. Under the agreement, BLT has authorised Shanghai-based CNPC Powder to manufacture BLT-AlAM400 on a contract basis in China and sell the powder internationally. CNPC Powder has also secured exclusive overseas agency rights, excluding BLT’s direct sales network and existing regional agents. With an annual powder production capacity of almost 10,000 tonnes, CNPC Powder...
BorgWarner has won its first commercial order for an electric motor developed with aluminium-wire hairpin winding technology. The US automotive supplier will provide the new eMotor to a major Chinese automaker for use in hybrid vehicles, bringing the technology into its first production application. The motor uses aluminium-wire hairpin winding technology and is designed for hybrid vehicles. Its applications include generator motors and traction motors for auxiliary drive systems, with production scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026. Explore AL Circle’s report ALuminium Wires & Cables - Insights & Forecast to 2030 for insights into aluminium applications, industry developments and opportunities across the electrical sector . Compared with conventional copper-wire motors with...
Grow with
AL Circle
LME aluminium comes down below US$1,900 per tonne as the US dollar index representing greenback's strength against a basket of six major currencies edges higher. The lightmetal contract closed at US$1,890 per tonne on Thursday, April 13, down 0.89 per cent from its previous close of US$1,907 per tonne on Wednesday, April 12. Financial markets in the US, UK and European countries will close on Friday and resume trading next Tuesday, April 18. Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) forecasts that LME aluminium will hover at US$1,890-1,900 per tonne on Friday, April 14. As on April 13, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,889.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement price is US$1,890 per tonne, 3M buyer price is US$1,902 per tonne, 3M seller price is US$1,902.50 per tonne, Dec1...
The Bahrain-based global aluminium smelter Alba experienced a power station outage on Wednesday April 5, 2017. The company had faced a temporary loss of power in all five Reduction Lines for approximately 3 hours. The company has restored all power operations. Due to the power outage, the company is expecting a loss of 3 per cent to 5 per cent of its total production for 2017. The losses from the incident will be part of an insurance claim, the company said in a statement. Reduction Lines 1-4 are operating at normal levels though Reduction Line 5 is running partially and is expected to be fully operational by early Q3 2017. The company safely managed through the incident with no injuries. The Company is conducting an investigation into the root causes of this power outage. The recovery...
Ford Motor Company has unveiled its Lincoln luxury brand’s new 2018 Navigator SUV at the 2017 New York International Auto Show. The all new Navigator comes with aluminium body and makes an attempt to compete with Cadillac Escalade. The company switched to an aluminium body that’s said to be around 90kg lighter than its previous models. The model is equipped with more towing capacity, 22-inch wheels and cabin-quieting insulated glass. The new Navigator sports a 3.5-Liter, twin-turbocharged V6 engine that puts out 450 horsepower. A new 10-speed automatic transmission will give peak performance at all speeds and advanced fuel economy. The new SUV’S engine is probably shared with the F-150 Raptor. David Woodhouse, Lincoln’s design director stated: “When designing the Navigator, we put an...
According to the Market Research Future report, global high purity alumina market is slated to experience a robust growth until 2024 driven by the LED lightings segment. The segment was estimated to account for a dominating share of more than half in overall market by 2016 end. It witnessed a double digit CAGR growth which is expected to continue through the next five-year period. The report suggests that the major demand boost for the LED lighting segment using high purity alumina in its sapphire substrates is going to come from Asia Pacific. The region accounted for 68.5 per cent of the overall segment revenue in 2016. China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are the four countries dominating the LED lightings manufacturing market. Semiconductors, another prominent application sector of high...
Outotec has agreed with Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (ALBA) on the design and delivery of anode rodding shop facility for ALBA's aluminium smelter expansion in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The parties have agreed not to disclose the contract price, but this is the largest order for Outotec in close to two years. The order has been booked in Outotec's 2017 first quarter order intake. Outotec is to deliver fully equipped anode rodding shop as well as bath and butts material recycling facility. The scope of delivery includes process engineering, proprietary and other process equipment as well as procurement and construction. Once operational this will be the world's most modern rodding shop. ALBA is now expanding their annual production capacity from about 971,000 metric tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes...
Bahrain's value of exports of commodities produced within the country reached BD177 million (US$469.5 million) in February this year, while import value surged to nearly BD333 million (US$883.2 million), revealed data published by Bahrain’s Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) in its Foreign Trade Report of February 2017. Aluminium wires emerged as the top product exported with BD26 million ($68.9 million). The Gulf country's last three-year aluminium wire export data shows the volume has logged a steady growth year-over-year. {newsStudioGallery} According to international trade data, Bahrain exported 165948.28 tonnes of aluminium wires in 2016, up 9.65 per cent from 151333.79 tonnes in 2015. In 2017 (till November), the Middle East country is estimated to ship around 142050.22...
exlabesa, engaged in aluminium extrusion manufacturing for the construction industry in Europe, introduced a new sliding window system crafted out of wood and aluminium: S-VAM. The company offers a wide range of aluminium and PVC system. The aluminium and wood system of the S-VAM provides an irreplaceable impression of having a window made of real wood with the durability, safety, and robust performance characteristic of an aluminium window. The combination of aluminium and wood observes the behavioural differences under different weather conditions. The system has sought-after interior finishes, oak and sapele wood, in a range of profiles including two, three, four and six panel windows. The company presented the sliding window system in aluminium-wood at VETECO 2016. VETECO is an...
Chinese-controlled Yancoal has won the approval of Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to purchase Rio Tinto's Hunter Valley coal mine involving a $US2.45 billion ($3.2 billion) investment in New South Wales. Yancoal said the FIRB approval was “a critical milestone”. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017. Yancoal said that FIRB had no objections buying Coal & Allied Industries, the Rio Tinto subsidiary which owns majority shares in the Hunter Valley, Mount Thorley and Warkworth coal mines. Yancoal chief executive officer Reinhold Schmidt commented: “Today’s FIRB approval is a positive step forward for Yancoal, its shareholders and the Hunter Valley, demonstrating the Australian Government’s support for continued investment into the local...
LME aluminium is swinging in a tight range. The lightmetal which has been showing sideways movement of late closed unchanged at US$1,907 per tonne on Wednesday, April 12. Reuters' analysis says LME aluminium may edge up to US$1,930 per tonne, as it has pierced a resistance at $1,914. However, the bearish divergence on the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) suggests that the contract could head further south-ward. As per Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) forecast, LME aluminium is likely to move at US$1,891-1,922/mt on Thursday, April 13. The volatility in LME aluminium price is in normal inverse correlation with the US dollar index showing steady uptrend since last week Monday. As on April 12, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,906.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement...
CME Group has announced that it intends to close its London-based derivatives exchange and clearing house, CME Europe and CME Clearing Europe, by year-end 2017. During the coming months, CME Group will work closely with all market participants and regulators to ensure a smooth transition and an orderly wind down of business operations, including the provision of CME Group market alternatives for actively traded products on CME Europe. “While Europe continues to be a critically important and expanding market for CME Group, with average volumes of more than 2.6 million contracts per day from European clients during 2016, our customers have shown that they prefer to access our global products, deep liquidity and greater capital efficiencies through our U.S. Infrastructure,” said William...
Vedanta Limited and Cairn India Limited have announced that the merger of Cairn India with Vedanta has become effective from today, April 12 2017. Based on CY 2016 reported EBITDA of diversified natural resources companies globally, Vedanta is ranked #6 among the global diversified natural resources companies and the only one with majority of its sales to the Indian market. This merger consolidates Vedanta’s position as one of the world's largest diversified natural resources companies, with world-class, low-cost assets in Metals & Mining and Oil & Gas. The merged company will have a larger pro forma market cap of $15.6 billion and higher free float of 49.9% and one of the strongest balance sheets. As a premier natural resources company, the newly merged company is committed to enhancing...
According to news on Mining Weekly, Metallica Minerals, an Australian bauxite developer, has raised about A$2.5-million in a renounceable rights issue to finance the commissioning of its Urquhart bauxite project in north Queensland. The Urquhart project is estimated to produce around 1.5-million to 2-million tonnes per annum of direct shipping bauxite. The commencement of first production operations are anticipated in the mid of 2017. At a price of 5.2c each, one new share was offered for every four shares held. Investors obtained a free listed option with an exercise price of 8.5c each. Around 43 million shares were taken up under the rights issue that was closed on April 7 with a further 6.6-million options, expiring at the end of June this year, also being exercised. Metallica said...
Indian Railways can rake in some profits from Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Expresses with the existing fare structure by running Talgo's lightweight aluminium-alloy coaches on lease, thinks the passenger train-maker from Spain. This will help the country's next eco-growth engine to save considerable amount of money. The Talgo train clocked an average speed of 105 km/hour in its last trial on the Delhi-Mumbai route despite 66 restrictions than the Rajdhani Express running at 85 km/hour with LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) coaches. Talgo was found to be covering the distance hours ahead of Rajdhani. The train attributes its speed much to its lightness and aluminium alloy construct which offers operators minimum energy consumption rates. As part of a market-making exercise, Talgo...
The Guyana government is reviewing the domestic bauxite industry that started operating last year marking the centennial of the bauxite industry in the country. The government is waiting for a report on bauxite industry so that they can decide whether to build another alumina plant in the country and to determine the future plans for the industry. Natural Resources Raphael Trotman said, “We are currently reviewing the industry to see where our reserves are and the future of the industry.” He said the review also “includes a decision as to whether or not we should have another alumina plant in the country.” Lance Carberry and Sylvester Carmichael, two veterans within the industry, are currently reviewing the industry. The review is expected to be completed before the end of May. Guyana...
According to preliminary figures released by the EU statistics office Eurostat, exports of non-ferrous scrap metals from the EU in particular aluminium scrap shipments from the EU member states to non-EU countries were on the rise, after a decline in 2017. According to the Eurostat data, about 941,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap with a total value of €1.07bn were exported by the 28 EU member states in 2016 registering a growth of 10% YOY from 858,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap valued at €1.11bn in 2015. Shipments to China and the special administrative zone Hong Kong increased from a combined 337,000 tonnes in the year 2015 to 393,000 tonnes in 2016. EU also recorded higher level of export to Pakistan at 70,000 tonnes in comparison to previous year’s level of 59,000 tonnes. The Eurostat data...
The Onitsha Aluminum Profile, Glass and Ancillary Products Dealers Association of Nigeria, at the weekend signed an agreement to join other top trading groups at the Anambra International Market, Oba, in Idemili South Council of the state. The 6,000-member association, according to its Chairman, Bartholomew Obiakor, took the decision to relocate to reap fully the benefits from operating at the main arena of the emerging mega international market. At the agreement signing, which took place in the office of the State’s Commissioner for Commerce, Trades and Wealth Creation, Mrs Amaka Ilobi, and witnessed by some top government officials, the association and the developers were urged to stick to the terms of the agreement. The Commissioner, who led the State Government team, signed on behalf...
European aluminium foil exports are charting a steady growth. According to delivery numbers released by the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) in March 2017, exports in 2016 rose by 1.3 per cent year-on-year, reflecting a smaller-than-expected competition impact in the overseas market. Increases in the first and third quarters were more than sufficient to offset flagging numbers in the final quarter. Armenia, a region covered by EAFA, stands as a bright spot in the European aluminium foils market. The country's offshore sales increased at around 2 per cent rate year-on-year since 2015. {newsStudioGallery} EAFA’s Executive Director Guido Aufdemkamp said, “To have exceeded the previous all-time high is very encouraging. But we have seen volatile swings in demand patterns quarter on...
Arconic announced today that the installation of its new manufacturing technology – the Very Thick Plate Stretcher (Stretcher) – is complete. The Stretcher produces highly-differentiated aerospace and industrial plate. The investment in the Stretcher is backed by customer contracts, including one with Airbus, valued at approximately $1 billion. The project was completed on time with an investment of approximately $150 million, approximately $40 million under budget. Located at the company’s facility in Davenport, Iowa, the Stretcher improves the performance of thick aluminium and aluminium-lithium plate in aerospace and industrial applications. The stretching process reduces stress introduced into the plate as part of the manufacturing process, resulting in a part that is more easily...
