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...
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Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs has awarded Aluminium shipbuilding expert, Penguin International and ST Marine a collaborative contract for the supply of three rescue vessels. On Monday, December 19, Penguin announced that the contract involves supplying a heavy marine fire vessel, a heavy marine rescue vessel and a marine rescue vessel. The project includes the designing, construction and system maintenance of the three aluminium vessels. The construction of the vessels is anticipated to start in mid-2017 and the ships are expected to be delivered in 2019. Penguin announced it to be confirmed information. The three vessels are the first project to be awarded by Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), four years after it took up the fire-fighting operations within Singapore's waters....
Metro Mining Ltd has taken control of 99.7% of Gulf Alumina Ltd and will compulsory acquire the remaining shares. Metro today announced it will immediately combine Gulf’s neighbouring Skardon River Bauxite Project within its flagship Bauxite Hills Project creating one of the largest independent operations within the internationally acclaimed Weipa bauxite region. Metro has also commenced work on a bankable feasibility study (BFS) which is expected to reflect synergies and other benefits of combining the two projects. The combined projects are expected to double Metro’s reserve of direct shipping ore (DSO) bauxite from 48 to 96.5 million tonnes. Metro CEO Simon Finnis says combining the projects will benefit all stakeholders, including shareholders, traditional owners, and the State and...
The year 2016 is marked by a continued slowdown in primary aluminium sector in the west and a distinct shift towards value added applications in aluminium. Aluminium producers around the world fought out to find ways and means to survive the slump in the commodity market. Cost cutting, energy efficiency and value added applications became the priorities for aluminium makers. Despite the bearish metal market, aluminium demand situation remained buoyant, especially because of the growing automotive and aerospace market. Downstream sector was characterised by a number of significant expansion, divestment and merger. Controversy, allegations and investigations created ripples in the aluminium downstream market in the east and west. Let us look back and analyse how these various developments...
Leading electronics device brand Transcend has launched the StoreJet 25C3 portable drive. The extra-slim and light device featuring a premium aluminium alloy casing has a USB 3.0 interface for blazing-fast transfer rates and perfectly blends technology with style. Housed inside an aluminium alloy casing, the portable hard drive weighs in just at 136 gram, making it ideal for business use and frequent travels. The StoreJet 25C3, despite its extra-slim dimensions, boasts reasonably high capacity of up to 2 terabytes- a feature which allows users to store a large volume of their data and backups in a single location without having to worry about accessibility from multiple locations. The portable hard drive with its suave aluminium casing reflects contemporary users' changing taste for clean...
CBIX eased US$0.4/dmt to US$50.3/dmt for the week on the back of lower Value in Use (ViU) priced Solomon Islands material countering higher priced imports from Brazil and Australia. News from Malaysia reports exports from Kuantan now moving to help clear stocks, but sentiment on ground suggests the mining ban will continue until at least the March 2017 election. Malaysian prices edged higher, with unwashed ore selling for US$27.5/dmt FOB and washed also higher at US$40-41/dmt FOB. Chinese domestic alumina prices nudged slightly higher, with the north index up 0.6% (RMB18/t or US$2.6/t) to RMB2,994/t and the south up 0.2% (RMB5/t or US$0.7/t) to RMB2,980/t (US$431/t). Alumina market tightness persists, driven by new smelter start-ups and ramp-ups of idled capacity, stocking prior to the...
The MAADI Group, Inc. designed and fabricated an aluminium staircase to to descend a steep hillside in the Parc de la Rivière Beauport in Quebec City, Canada. From street level, the staircase’s welded aluminium structure with timber deck descends 15 m (50 ft.) in a gradual zig-zag through the trees. The city specified aluminium for its durability and relative lack of maintenance beyond annual inspections. Working from conceptual drawings in the City of Quebec’s call for proposals, MAADI Group created a design based on CSA S157 standards for aluminium structures. Once the design was engineer-approved, the company fabricated all the parts according to quality standards and welding norms. Within 90 days of design approval, MAADI sent the disassembled insulators, guardrail installation...
The year 2016 has been a year of transition for the global bauxite industry. While the sector fared slightly better than the alumina and aluminium industries- both of which faced severe pricing woes since 2016 beginning, numerous changes in the rankings, rather fluctuations, were noted as far as production of bauxite and exports to the international market was concerned. {newsStudioGallery} Malaysia, for example, though started the year on a positive note soon faced a setback as the government went on to impose ban on Pahang’s unregulated bauxite mining that was allegedly causing widespread environmental destruction in the region. Then there was Guinea putting up a strong competition against Australia to become China’s top bauxite supplier. Brazil zoomed in to the international market...
On a further update on Lochabar aluminium smelter acquisition, Liberty House and SIMEC, the new owners of the smelter, are set to invest 120 million pounds ($149.76 million) in the project to make aluminium wheels for the car industry. “Liberty aims to protect the existing 170 jobs in Lochaber and progressively expand metal manufacturing and downstream engineering there," the companies said on Monday. Both the companies plan to create 2,000 direct and supply-chain jobs in the heart of the Scottish Highlands and bring about 1 billion pound revenues to the local economy over the next decade. Liberty and Simec - both members of the GFG Alliance now own the hydro power plants at Fort William and Kinlochleven and more than 100,000 acres of land. The Scottish government is guarantees the power...
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LME aluminium prices have been falling since last week Tuesday after trading at US$1,762 per tonne last Monday. The contract struggled within the range of $1,730-1,750 per tonne as the US dollar index rose higher. LME aluminium closed at US$1,732 per tonne on Friday, December 15. In China, aluminium traded on Shanghai Futures Exhange, SHFE 1702 aluminium, also hovered around 13,000 yuan per tonne last week. Shanghai Metals Market analysis states, “This week, LME aluminium, to be negatively affected by SHFE aluminium, is expected to $1,700-1,750 per tonne, and price struggles on the SHFE will be intense, with price range between 12,800-13,150 yuan per tonne." LME aluminium will range between US$1,702-1,725 per tonne with negative sentiment on Monday, predicts SMM. The benchmark price of...
Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University and Luca Bindi of the University of Florence have discovered an entirely unique type of naturally-existing material called the quasicrystal in a meteorite found in Khatyrka region of Russia. Quasicrystal consists of an entirely unique atomic structure that combines the symmetrical properties of a crystal and the chaos of an amorphous solid. These crystals aren't just incredible because of how rare they are - their atomic structure of aluminium, copper and iron is so peculiar that their existence was dismissed as "impossible". This is the third quasicrystal found in grains of this particular meteorite so far, which suggests that there might be more out there, and with even stranger structures. "What is encouraging is that we have already found three...
Bauxite has been a priority sector for the upstream aluminium value chain players for some time now. The supply certainty of the ore plays a crucial role in controlling the logistics cost of the sector which in turn helps in optimising the overall cost of production of aluminium. With China’s appetite for bauxite growing bigger combined with supply-side concerns arising from Indonesia, and now from Malaysia, it was expected that the sector would herald in a new phase of higher profitability. But, the global downturn which struck the alumina and aluminium industry this year did not spare bauxite sector totally, and it ended up faring only a little better. As of January 2016, the worldwide bauxite reserves stood at 27.5 billion tonnes (Bnt). Global bauxite production was estimated at 279.7...
State-run generation utility NTPC and aluminium giant National Aluminium Co. Ltd ( NALCO) entered into an agreement to jointly set up a 2.4 giga watt(GW) power plant and one million tonne aluminium production facility in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district, Gajmara. The total investment estimated at INR 36,000 crore, the companies said in a statement. The proposed power plant comprises of three units of 800 MW each. Nalco chairman and MD Tapan Kumar Chand said construction of the power plants and the aluminium production unit to complete in four years. Power Minister Piyush Goyal informed that the generated power will be taken by the NALCO as a joint venture (JV) partner for the Brownfield expansion of its 5 lakh tonne Aluminium smelter at Angul and the Greenfield project of a 6 lakh tonne...
Novelis, the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, published its fiscal year 2016 sustainability report today, detailing significant progress toward increasing the use of recycled aluminum and minimizing the use of natural resources. Recycling aluminum produces 95 percent fewer greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and requires 95 percent less energy than primary aluminum production, enabling Novelis to achieve lower GHG emissions despite increasing global production capacity. At the end of fiscal 2016, Novelis achieved an average of 53 percent recycled aluminum inputs, up 23 percentage points from the baseline averages of fiscal years 2007-2009. Novelis also reduced its GHG emissions by 19 percent for the same baseline years. Significant gains were also made in fiscal 2016 as it...
Bhagwan Marine, which owns and operates marine vessel servicing oil and gas, resources, port services, towage, and construction industries in Australia, has won a contract to supply marine vessels and crew to support construction at Rio Tinto’s Amrun bauxite project in north Queensland. “Winning this new work couldn’t have come at a better time,” Bhagwan’s Geraldton - based managing director Loui Kannikoski said in a statement. “Creating new work opportunities for some of the local community is also very satisfying for us.’’ The marine vessel provider’s winning the contract comes at a time when the marine services sector has been hit by the downturn in both the oil and gas sector and marine construction work. Amrun is a Greenfield bauxite development in the Weipa/Aurukun region of Western...
Hydro announced through a press release on 15 December 2016 that the company has completed the acquisition of Vale's remaining shares in Mineração Paragominas S.A. (MPSA). Hydro expects the acquisition will have a positive impact for Bauxite & Alumina segment of about USD 45 million on its result in the fourth quarter of 2016, of which USD 30 million will be excluded from underlying earnings. The transaction is the second and final step in the arrangements agreed in 20111 regarding the complete takeover of the majority of Vale's aluminium assets in Brazil. The acquisition makes Hydro the 100% stakeholder of MPSA's shares. Originally Hydro owned 67.9% of Mineração Paragominas and Vale owned the remaining 32.1%. Hydro's net payment, after making all adjustments resulting from the completion...
Reynaers Aluminium Romania, the local branch of an European company specialised in developing solutions in aluminium for windows, doors, curtain walls, sliding systems and sun screening for the construction sector, reports that 20% of newly homes in Romania are using premium aluminium joinery. According to Reynaers’ data, Residential projects contribute to the growth of the premium aluminium segment on the joinery market. Office projects remain the main demand driver for the aluminium joinery market due to increasing funds allocated in the sector. At the same time, the residential segment registered a significant growth in 2016. "The projects developed by Reynaers in 2016 confirms a mature version of customers' behaviour, because they pay more attention to details and quality when...
Sustainability in aluminium industry gained paramount importance in 2016. While in Malaysia, we saw the government coming down heavily on unregulated bauxite mining that caused irreparable damage to the water bodies in Pahang, environmental tightening in China forced China Hongqiao, the world’s largest aluminium smelter to cease production at its plant. Aluminium recycling, which unarguably is the most sustainable step in aluminium value chain, also gained momentum globally this year. Many brands came forward to encourage aluminium recycling among consumers and many countries too upped their scrap aluminium recycling pursuits in an effort to meet sustainability targets set by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC). {newsStudioGallery} As 2016 nears its end let’s...
A nickel miner Marcventures Holdings Inc. in Philippines has signed a deal to acquire a bauxite mine located in Samar area in Surigao along with a new nickel mine in Surigao del Sur. The newly acquired mines are adjacent to its existing operations facilitating a merger among the operating companies. According to a press statement released by Marcventures on Friday, though this deal they would merge with Asia Pilot Mining Philippines and the holding company of Brightgreen Resources Corp. Asia Pilot owns two mineral production sharing agreements (MPSAs) and the Brightgreen group owns a separate MPSA within the region. Bauxite demand is growing phenomenally along with the increase in aluminium production in Asia and especially China. Aluminium alloys are in high demand from industries like...
