The US aluminum trihydrate market strengthened in September 2026 as downstream procurement, rising overseas production costs, and shipping bottlenecks supported prices. In contrast, Bosnia’s market faced a quarterly correction as European buyers drew on accumulated inventories and lower caustic soda costs eased manufacturing pressures, highlighting diverging regional price trends. US aluminum trihydrate market gains on demand and supply constraints US aluminum trihydrate prices increased 2.38% month over month in September, supported by purchases from wire and cable manufacturers, electrical infrastructure compounders, and electric vehicle (EV) component producers. Demand remained particularly resilient for applications involving low-smoke cable compounds and flame-retardant materials....
China-based China Aluminum International Engineering Co., Ltd. (CHALIECO) has won a bid for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract valued at approximately USD 833 million for a proposed alumina project in Vietnam, adding to investment activity in the country’s mineral processing sector. The project, being developed by Binh Phuoc Ore Mining and Beneficiation Joint Stock Company, is designed to process 2.4 million tonnes of alumina annually. The proposed contract is valued at around CNY 5.595 billion (USD 839.04 million), with completion expected within 27 months of the contract’s effective date. CHALIECO to oversee turnkey refinery development Under the proposed turnkey arrangement, CHALIECO’s responsibilities will cover the full project delivery process, from...
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The sanctions against Rusal, world's second-biggest aluminium producer and a major alumina producer have created supply concerns in both the alumina and aluminium market. Before the sanctions, Hydro’s Alunorte refinery in Brazil was forced to cut outputs by half earlier in the year due to leakage in bauxite residue plant. Both these incidents have caused a shortfall in the alumina market sending prices soaring. A mining Weekly report says multiple shipments of alumina are being exported from China, driven by the supply concerns as a side effect of U.S. sanctions on Russian producer Rusal. It is also reported that major suppliers are agreeing deals of up to 500,000 tonnes to various companies. China is the biggest global producer and consumer of alumina, which is refined from bauxite ore...
According to sources, companies including Rio Tinto can resume existing supply deals with Rusal’s Aughinish alumina refinery in Ireland as the U.S. has extended the deadline for US and non-US citizens to wind up business with Rusal to late October. The development happened a day after the US Treasury moved to ease restrictions that threatened the supply of metal in Europe. The move is expected to ease fears of alumina supply crunch which is the key raw material to make aluminium. The Aughinish alumina refinery, near Limerick, is a significant part of Europe’s aluminium supply chain, feeding smelters that produce aluminium and supply to companies like BMW, Volkswagen and Airbus. Rio, which is the largest bauxite supplier to Aughinish and buyer of its alumina, declared force majeure on its...
Turkey, which imports substantial amount of alumina to feed domestic smelters every year, is estimated to increase its alumina import in 2018. The country’s import of alumina dropped in volume in 2017 when compared to 2016 data. Germany is the top supplier of alumina to the country in 2017, according to recent statistics. Turkey imported an estimated 7883 tonnes of alumina from the country. Other exporting countries to Turkey are Bosnia Herzegovina, France, Netherlands, Spain, and China. According to the international trade data, Turkey imported 26511 tonnes of alumina in 2017, a 36 per cent down from its 2016 imports totalling 41611 tonnes. This year, the country is estimated to import 35026 tonnes of alumina, an increase of 8515 tonnes from last year. The cost of alumina import stood at...
Emirates Global Aluminium announced the completion of the calcination process facility of Al Taweelah alumina refinery after more than 2.4 million hours of work. Al Taweelah alumina refinery is the first to be built in the UAE to secure alumina needs of the UAE’s aluminium industry needs. The calcination process facility contains more than 1,700 instruments, over 100 motors, and some 165 kilometres of cabling. Al Taweelah alumina refinery is expected to produce the first batch of alumina by the first half of 2019. More than 11,000 people are currently working on the approximately $3.3 billion project. 82 per cent of the construction has been completed by now. The completion ceremony was attended by Her Excellency Riita Swan, the Finnish Ambassador to the UAE, EGA’s Managing Director and...
Shanghai Metal Market (SMM) believes that the aluminium prices, which fell drastically on London Metal Exchange (LME) on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 following the US eased sanctions on Russia, are going to gain some support from the higher alumina prices. Last week, alumina was traded at US$800 per tonne in Brazil, while in Australia the prices were hovering at US$710 per tonne on Thursday, April 19, 2018, up US$225 per tonne from April 13. 50 per cent production cut at Norsk Hydro’s Alunorte in Brazil since late February and poor supply of Russian alumina due to US sanctions on Rusal and other major producers were the prime reasons for the pick and is estimated to affect around 319,000 tonnes of alumina output each month, according to SMM. The turning point for alumina production is,...
Hydro has notified Rusal it may be necessary to declare force majeure on certain contracts, as the company could be prevented from upholding its obligations due to the US sanctions list issued on April 6, at least from June 5. Hydro estimates the potential impact on its production and customers would not be significant, neither upstream nor downstream. As a global aluminium company active throughout the value chain and present in around 40 countries throughout the world, Hydro interacts commercially with all the main companies in the industry. Hydro will utilize its strong market presence to mitigate potential impact arising from the US sanctions, aiming to minimize the effects on its customers. The US sanctions list has caused uncertainty in world aluminium markets since it includes...
Along with aluminium price surge on London Metal Exchange (LME) due to US sanctions against Rusal, alumina prices are incessantly moving upward due to tight supplies and rising export margins, Shanghai Metal Market (SMM) learned. According to Shanghai Metal Market report, the average alumina price on Monday April 23, 2018 has seen a sharp rise to RMB 3118 per tonne, against the average price of RMB 2916 per tonne on April 20 in China’s four major markets, while Australian alumina prices hovered at US$710 per tonne on Thursday, April 19, US$ 225 per tonne higher than the last Friday. 50 per cent production cut at Norsk Hydro’s Alunorte in late February due to non-compliance with bauxite deposits holds the major responsibility for the price soar. It is also disrupting aluminium production...
Being concerned about US sanctions against Rusal that it could bring down a shadow over businesses and jobs, Kazakhstan is in search of new markets and opportunities for its alumina exports. Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), partially owned by the Kazakh government, produces 1.5 million tonnes of alumina every year, two-thirds of which used to be sourced by Rusal to make aluminium. Moreover, the company was preparing to boost its smelting capacity in anticipation of the Rusal contract expiring at the end of 2019. However, it has not commented much about the impact of Rusal sanctions on its operation. Timur Toktabayev, deputy minister for investments and development said on Thursday, April 19, 2018 that the cabinet is looking at various options for opening up new markets and avoiding...
Rio Tinto’s decision to declare force majeure on Rusal-linked contracts is already leaving innumerable impacts, including alumina price rise. Rio said it decided to announce force majeure on Friday April 13, 2018, on certain customer contracts like alumina shipments from a refinery in Australia with which Rusal is also associated, bauxite shipments to a Rusal alumina refinery in Ireland, as well as alumina supply from the same refinery to smelters in Europe. Following this decision, COMEX alumina futures for delivery in May jumped 15 percent on Friday itself, while global alumina price rose to its highest today April 18, 2018 since September 2011, climbing to as much as $2,445 per ton. Rio’s force majeure announcement is also likely to trigger global alumina supply constraints, especially...
After Glencore, Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest metals and mining corporations has decided to trigger force majeure on some Rusal-linked contracts. The mining group declared on Friday that it would work with its customers to minimise disruptions in raw material supply and would fully comply with the US sanctions and therefore, would terminate bauxite supply contracts with a giant alumina refinery in Ireland controlled by Rusal group. This is to ensure the certainty of output from Rio’s big refinery in Queensland where Rusal owns 20 per cent share. The rest 80 per cent share of the refinery is owned by Rio. The refinery produces 3.95 million tonnes of alumina every year, whereas Rio produced 3.6 million tonnes of aluminium in 2017. Rio said in the statement, “Rio Tinto has reviewed...
Vedanta Resources releases production results for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year ended 31 March 2018. The company reports record production performance in the Lanjigarh refinery that was lagging behind due to issues related to raw material sourcing. Alumina production for the fourth quarter 2018 was 351,000 tonnes, higher 22% quarter on quarter and 12% Year on year. This was primarily because the company has been able to clear the bottlenecks surrounding the refinery operations during third quarter 2018 and made availability of bauxite consistent. Alumina production for the full year 2017-18 stood at 1.2 million tonnes, almost flat from the volume produced in 2017. Recently, Vedanta announced that Odisha Government has approved expansion of its Lanjigarh refinery production capacity to...
Aughinish Alumina is Europe's largest alumina refinery at the Shannon estuary in Ireland and a major alumina asset of RUSAL contributing about 30 per cent of alumina produced in the EU; The crisis engulfing Aughinish Alumina's Russian owner Rusal is affecting the customers and employees of one of the world's most energy efficient and technologically advanced alumina refineries worldwide. An Ireland government spokeswoman was not in a position to determine what the sanctions would mean for the Rusal refinery and its employees. "The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation is assessing the potential implications that new US sanctions, targeting certain Russian individuals and firms, may have for both Irish and overseas companies operating in Ireland. The Department is also in close...
Alumina output has shrunk in March by 2.4 per cent year-on-year and stood at 5.73 million tonnes in China, while the daily output hovered at 185,000 tonnes, up 1.9 per cent month-on-month, Shanghai Metal Market research found. In the first quarter of the financial year 2017-18, output was at 16.52 million tonnes, down 0.7 per cent from the contemporary period of the previous year. The cause of decline attributes to the end of winter heating season from November 2017 to March 2018, as some alumina plants across the country have resumed their operations, except for Henan, Jinjiang, East Hope and Wanji. However in April, alumina output is estimated to have a slight rise from the past month and attain 5.74 million tonnes. The daily output is apprehended to increase as well to 191,000 tonnes,...
An internal task force and Brazilian environmental consultancy SGW Services have found no indication or evidence of contamination to nearby local communities from Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil, Norsk Hydro reported on Monday 9 April. “Both reports confirm our previous statements that there was no overflow from the bauxite residue deposit areas, as well as no indication or evidence of contamination to nearby local communities from Alunorte as a result of the heavy rainfall in February,” said President and CEO, Svein Richard Brandtzæg. “We have initiated several measures to further enhance Alunorte’s operational standards, including water treatment capacity, emergency preparedness plans and maintenance. We will also strengthen community engagement to ensure that we contribute to...
The Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC) announced the development of a technology for the recovery of strategic rare earths from the waste generated from aluminium industry. The new process will recover rare earth metals (REMs) from red mud which can be easily available from aluminium industries and are considered as a hazardous waste. Anupam Agnihotri, Director of JNARDDC, said: “Red mud contains certain very expensive REMs which are largely used in electronic and defence industry. We are looking for three major metals — scandium, lanthanum and cerium — as they are present in relatively significant quantity. Of these, scandium costs Rs10,00 per one gram.” “If this works well, we would set up a pilot scale plant with guidance from the Indian Rare...
Vedanta’s long wait comes to an end on receiving a nod from Odisha Government for its Lanjigarh refinery production capacity boost to six million tonnes. According to an official source, “Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has given his nod to the expansion of the plant. The Vedanta has been asked to submit the plan for value addition in the state for expanded capacity." Long ago, Vedanta Alumina had developed its Lanjigarh’s refinery capacity from one million tonne to two million tonnes by investing about INR 50,000 crore. Now it is aiming at expanding to six million tonnes and creating job opportunities for thousands of personnel. To follow the plan, the company will haul the required bauxite from the bauxite mine run by Odisha Mining Corporation on the Kodingamali plateau, responding to...
Hydro will host a combined analyst and press conference at its corporate headquarters at Drammensveien 260, Oslo, on Monday April 9. The presentation will be hosted by President and CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg. Representatives from both the internal task force and the external environmental consultancy SGW Services will also present their reports. Alunorte is in dialogue with the environmental authorities of Pará to resume normal operations in the refinery and the bauxite residue plant. In addition, Alunorte is seeking an agreement with the public prosecutor, Ministério Público. Ministério Público published their counterproposal for an agreement on 26 March 2018. This proposal will be evaluated by the company. As reported by Hydro website, inspections conducted by several local, state and...
Altech Chemicals Limited has been aiming to become one of the world’s largest suppliers off 99.99 per cent (4N) high purity alumina (HPA), a high value, high margin and highly demanded chemical ingredient required for synthetic sapphire production. With that aim, it had exercised its options to purchase the freehold land on October 17, 2017. But the settlement of the purchase was subject to a number of conditions including the subdivision of the registered land title, the issuing of title certificates for the new lots created, and the final payment of the purchase price. Today the company announces that it now wholly owns subsidiary Altech Meckering Pty Ltd. after completing approximately 92 hectares of freehold land purchase, covering granted mining lease M70/1334, at Meckering, Western...
