National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) is advancing its INR 30,000 crore or INR 300 billion (USD 3.18 billion) aluminium smelter expansion project at Anugola or Angul, Odisha, which is expected to more than double its existing smelting capacity from 460,000 tonnes per annum to approximately 1 million tonnes per annum (MTPA). The Navratna public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Mines has secured key statutory approvals and initiated partnerships and preparatory measures for the project, which is targeted to begin operations in 2030-31. A recent meeting of the Rehabilitation and Peripheral Development Advisory Committee (RPDAC) focused on facilitating land acquisition for the proposed facility and addressing associated compensation and rehabilitation matters. Explore the...
Impact Minerals has proposed changing its corporate name to Altrica Advanced Materials as it sharpens its focus on high-purity alumina (HPA) development. The proposed rebranding reflects the company's strategic shift towards its 80 per cent-owned Lake Hope project in Western Australia, which has become its principal priority for management attention and development capital. The name change will require shareholder approval through a special resolution at the company's annual general meeting scheduled for November 30, 2026. The proposal follows an October strategic review that established a clearer direction for the company's HPA activities while separating them from its earlier focus on precious and base metals exploration. Lake Hope remains central to HPA development strategy The Lake...
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This October 2022, the global aluminium value chain has seen some of its most exciting events ever. One of the world's leading manufacturers in the flat-rolled aluminium (FRP) industry, Assan Alüminyum announced its plans to invest $460 million in the American market by establishing a facility. The company's primary aim is to satisfy American businesses' demand that adheres to the 'Made in USA' standard. While reporting on the Russia-Ukraine geopolitical crisis and its impact on the aluminium industry, according to the people familiar with the deliberations, the US administration is considering the possibility of incorporating sanctions on the Russian aluminium giant as the White House looks to chastise Russia for escalating conflict with Ukraine. On the other side, Novelis initiated...
The Australian mining and exploration company Metro Mining Limited has extended the Strategic Cooperation Agreement with China's Xiamen Xiangsen Aluminium Limited (Xiangsen) for 1.5 million DMT per annum for 2 years until 2026. In addition, binding terms for the 2023 offtake component have been agreed upon, making the total binding offtake for 2023 5 million WMT. It was announced on November 25, 2022, that Metro would supply approximately 5 Million WMT of bauxite between 2022 and 2024 to Xiangsen Aluminium. This supply agreement has been extended by a further 3.4 million WMT over two years into 2026. The quality specification continues to be the Metro Blend. The 1.1 million WMT of offtake commitments by Xiangsen under previous and current agreements have been met. The 1.7 million WMT...
According to the Shanghai Metals Market, China’s aluminium extrusion imports from January to September 2022 stood at 26,000 tonnes, reflecting an increase of 12.4 per cent year-on-year. The trend suggests that the total import volume through 2022 will record growth after six consecutive years of year-on-year decline, thanks to increased imports from Taiwan this year. China’s exports of aluminium extrusion from January to September 2022 amounted to 707,000 tonnes, up by 2.57 per cent Y-o-Y. By the end of the year, a slight growth in total export volume of extrusion is expected after the implementation of anti-dumping policies by many countries over the past two years, which resulted in sharp declines in the previous year. Export volume is likely to increase this year as the energy crisis...
Kuusakoski, one of the leading industrial recyclers known for processing waste materials on an industrial scale with years of experience and expertise, is planning to complete its €7 million processing facility for materials comprising aluminium and copper in Heinola, Finland. This is a part of the multi-year investment programme, which seeks to boost material yield, offer cleaner finished goods, and improve capacity using recycled raw materials. The development project will be combined with the recycling facility owned by Kuusakoski in Heinola. The infrastructure building and the property's renovations got underway last spring and are expected to be operational by March 2023. "Our new copper centre is unique in Finland. With this investment, we are able to serve our customers more...
Chichester District Council has marked a 1 million milestone in recycling aluminium coffee capsules during the first year of the council's initiative to gather used aluminium or plastic pods through a free kerbside collection portal. The trial began in July 2021 after the Chichester District Council collaborated with Podback, a joint venture by Nestle and Jacobs Douwe Egberts . The Podback scheme has been initiated all over the UK to safely steward used aluminium coffee pods ready for recycling. The Chichester District Council trail encompasses around 75 per cent of the residential complexes in the area. The scheme focuses on the smooth transition of aluminium coffee pods from home to the kerbside collection joints and, ultimately, to the recycling units. Unlike other materials, aluminium...
Gogoro, known for developing a battery-swapping refuelling platform for urban electric two-wheel scooters, mopeds and motorcycles, announced its debut in the Indian EV market. The Taiwanese company plans to launch the Gogoro S1 in the Indian market. The EV showcases S performance aluminium floor guard, ensuring extra grip during difficult rides. Built on an aluminium monocoque chassis connected to an aluminium single-arm telescopic fork with adjustable damping and an aluminium linked monoshock at the rear, the Gogoro S1 is considered the maiden product of the company and is already available in Taiwan and other foreign markets. Monocoque chassis is one of modern automobiles' most often utilised chassis frameworks.This outline contains all the mechanical parts and other components in a...
Heineken has successfully opened the doors to its biggest brewery in Vietnam, with a collective area of 40 hectares in My Xuan A Industrial Zone, situated in Ba Ria Vung Tau province. The unit flaunts a net capacity of 11 million hectolitres with four enhanced beverage canning lines. The Heineken Vietnam Vung Tau Brewery can be deemed the largest brewery in the whole of South East Asia. In the Packaging zone of the facility, every two beverage canning lines, each maintained by only five technicians, can hourly pressure fill 130,000 cans. The four extremely durable high-speed canning lines in the Vung Tau brewery can, on the whole, fill 12 million aluminium cans each day. This is the fastest technology mastered by the company in its Vung Tau unit, which cannot be found in any other...
Hindalco Industries Limited axed its aluminium ingot and aluminium products prices, effective from Saturday, October 29, following a hike on a day before. On Friday, October 28, Hindalco increased its aluminium ingot price by INR 11,500 per tonne to sell the item at INR 217,000, while on October 29, the company reduced it by INR 6,500 per tonne or 3 per cent to INR 210,500 per tonne. Hindalco’s aluminium wire rod price also saw a cut of INR 6,500 per tonne on October 29 to come in at INR 221,600 per tonne after it rallied by INR 11,500 per tonne on the previous day to peg at INR 228,100 per tonne. The company’s aluminium billets price is currently summed up at INR 224,600 per tonne, with effect from October 29, versus INR 231,100 per tonne on October 28. Hindalco Industries Limited cut...
Ardagh Metal Packaging, the international supplier of sustainable and recyclable aluminium and glass packaging solutions for brand owners worldwide, announced its financial result for the third quarter of 2022 (Q32022), which ended September 30. According to the results, shipments of beverage cans increased by 9 per cent globally during the quarter, with growth in the Americas and Europe ascending by 10 per cent. Due to the company's investment programme, the percentage of particular cans in exports climbed from 44 per cent to 46 per cent in the third quarter. "We experienced a challenging third quarter of 2022. While global shipments increased by 9% compared with the same period last year, demand was below our expectations and impacted earnings. We expect these conditions to persist...
The renowned aluminium ship builder from Perth, Austal, has been urging its Research and Development (R&D) team to utilise artificial intelligence to upgrade ship operations for a long time. Austal, the earth’s biggest aluminium shipbuilding company, has unveiled that they are making progress in applying AI for hull form optimisation to enhance hull form efficiency. Austal’s latest Bayesian hull form activation initiative, as mentioned in the paper ‘Multi-objective Bayesian hull form optimisation for high-speed craft’ talks about the window through which specialists can customise a hull shape referring to the preferences and constraints laid by the company. The entire protocol combines a transient RANS CFD simulation tool, a hull morphing tool and a Bayesian optimisation algorithm for...
The Russian aluminium giant and the sole primary aluminium producer in Russia, RUSAL, revealed its updated corporate Environmental Policy. The Environmental policy sets the company goal as “Creating a fundamentally new approach to production to meet the principles of the green economy” and for this purpose, RUSAL will pursue leveraging the best available technologies and innovations, striving to harmonize the company's development while mitigating adverse environmental impacts. An essential fundamental of a green economy is decoupling economic growth from environmental impact. According to the updated Environmental Policy, this is the way Rusal will follow to build a brand-new class of sustainable metallurgical production. It will be accompanied by: The rational consumption of primary...
In the third quarter of 2022 ended September 30, world alumina production edged an increase of 1.22 per cent Q-o-Q to stand at 35.677 million tonnes, found the International Aluminium Institute. In the second quarter, the output was at 35.246 million tonnes, reflecting a rise of 6.18 per cent from 33.196 million tonnes in Q1 ended March 31. These data showed a consistent hike over each quarter this year though the rate of growth decreased in the third quarter compared to the second. However, in September 2022, world alumina production recorded a decline of 3.39 per cent month-on-month to 11.596 million tonnes. The output in August also stood lower at 12.003 million tonnes versus 12.078 million tonnes in July. But on a year-on-year basis, world alumina output in September grew 3.61 per...
The statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways, Government of India, managing the fourth largest national railway system in the world, Indian Railways attains another milepost by securing its first indigenously manufactured aluminium goods train rake. Aluminium goods trains differ from previous ones because they're lighter but have more freight capacity than their predecessors. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw flagged it off in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha. The rake is 180 tonnes more lightweight than existing steel rakes, stemming in increased speed and lower power consumption for the same distance. The Indian Railways will save more than 14,500 tonnes of carbon with one rake that will reduce carbon emissions by 8 to 10 tonnes over its lifetime. The national transporter,...
LME aluminium opened at US$2,284.5 per tonne last Friday, with its high and low at US$2,285 per tonne and US$2,191 per tonne, respectively, before closing at US$2,234 per tonne, a drop of US$57 per tonne or 2.49 per cent. On Friday, October 28, both LME aluminium cash bid price and LME aluminium official settlement price dwindled by US$71 per tonne or 3.09 per cent to record US$2,225.50 per tonne and US$2,226 per tonne. 3-month bid price and 3-month offer price plunged by US$64.5 per tonne or 2.80 per cent and US$66 per tonne or 2.86 per cent to halt at US$2,235.50 per tonne and US$2,236 per tonne. December 23 bid price and December 23 offer price slumped by US$60 per tonne or 2.52 per cent to peg at US$2,315 per tonne and US$2,320 per tonne. LME aluminium opening stock settled at 587425...
The second-largest industrial aluminium extrusion product developer and manufacturer in the world and the largest in Asia, China Zhongwang Holdings Limited prospered in the 2000s along China’s resonating property sector, which created robust demand for its products in construction. In the wake of the economic slowdown, its overexpansion and leveraged asset purchases led to the collapse of its business. The Shenyang court approved the bankruptcy application filed by Zhongwang's creditors in September 2022. In an official announcement, the company said it had received notice that its 252 affiliates and parent company would undergo consolidated restructuring due to its inability to pay its debts. As of the end of March, Zhongwang had liabilities of Rmb459.8bn ($64bn) at its affiliates but...
AMAG Austria Metall AG, the largest company in the Austrian Aluminium sector, has claimed an affirmative third quarter, with a Y-o-Y growth of 47 per cent, the first time in the company's history, generating an operational result (EBITDA) of almost EUR 200 million. The American producer of semi-fabricated speciality aluminium products, Kaiser Aluminum reports an annual marginal dip in net sales for 3Q2022 but grows in nine-month by 50% to $2.7 billion. AlCircle has recently published its exclusive industry report on the "Future of the Global Aluminium Castings Industry", which is now available on our website. Make your visit and find out more about the emerging sector. The report “ Future of the Global Aluminium Castings Industry - Market analysis and industry forecast to 2027 ” is now...
This week the end-user sector had some affirmative episodes, like Ball Corporation joining hands with the Indian non-alcoholic beverage maker Radiohead Brands to launch three new Jimmy’s sparkling drinks; Tonic Water, Ginger Ale and Classic Lemonade. Aluminium, the gradually growing non-ferrous metal, is being used in almost everything from vehicles to vessels, from buildings to bouquets, from cell phones to bottle caps and whatnot. In Europe alone, the on-trade consumption of aluminium screw caps for liquid bottles has increased by 20 per cent as more and more beverage or beauty companies are switching to this sustainable material. While on October 25, the state senators of Nebraska declared that there had been an ongoing aluminium crisis in the region as the outcome of the pandemic. The...
The Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo, Norsk Hydro, was recently honoured with the “Mining & Raw Materials Industry Leadership Award” at the annual S&P Global Platts Global Metals Awards 2022. The Global Metals Awards honour the top performers in the metals sector in 15 categories, ranging from individual to corporate accomplishments. S&P Global Platts, the leading independent source of news and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets, is the organisation that hosts it. “This recognition is an acknowledgment of the great work being done throughout our organization and sends a strong message of Hydro’s commitment to become a net-zero company by 2050,” said John Thuestad, Executive Vice President Hydro Bauxite & Alumina. The...
