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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Brazilian court has rejected Norsk Hydro’s request to resume operations at its Alunorte alumina refinery. The company had appealed to a higher court after a regional court ordered it to cut production by 50 per cent at its alumina refinery. On Friday, Hydro issued force majeure notice following orders from federal, state and local authorities to cut alumina production. The force majeure notice was issued after a period of extraordinary rainfall led to flooding in Barcarena, where Alunorte is situated. Hydro has been accused that the rain had led to spills from Alunorte into the nearby Para river and caused contamination. Hydro’s Chief Executive Richard Brandtzæg told Reuters on Monday the company was unsure when it would be able to resume full operations at Alunorte. Hydro Alunorte,...
Hydro's CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg has appointed CFO Eivind Kallevik as interim head of Bauxite & Alumina with immediate effect, replacing Silvio Porto, in response to the challenging situation at the Alunorte alumina refinery that is currently operating at 50 percent capacity. Kallevik will at the same time remain in his position as CFO. Brandtzæg will further commission an independent review of Alunorte by an internationally renowned environmental consultancy, announced measures to assist local communities in Barcarena, and established a project to review and consider further strengthening the robustness of the water treatment at Alunorte, to be led by former head of Bauxite & Alumina Silvio Porto. "The challenging situation at Alunorte requires a dedicated focus and organization...
With the growing domestic aluminium inventory and slow demand, both alumina and aluminium prices in China are registering a downward trend. China sees a drop in prices of alumina and A00 aluminium ingot prices today across all markets. Today’s average spot alumina price stands at RMB 2777 per tonne, down from last closed RMB 2819 per tonne. Spot alumina prices continued falling after touching the highest in November beginning. Though there were expectations of a price rise before the holidays, alumina prices remained flat and dropped after the Chinese New Year holiday. Chalco Alumina and imported alumina prices remain unchanged today. Today’s spot alumina prices in the spot market are shown in the below table: In an update from SMM, China's social inventory of refined aluminium including...
Hydro announced Alunorte has issued a force majeure notice following orders from federal, state and local authorities to cut alumina production by 50 per cent. Alunorte has also declared force majeure due to lack of clarity into what measures it would take to return Alunorte to normal operations. “Contingency plans are being implemented, and Alunorte is doing its utmost to reduce the potential negative effect on customers and suppliers. Hydro, as the largest offtaker of alumina from Alunorte, is taking and assessing a range of possible mitigating actions to minimize the negative effect for its customers,” Hydro said. “The force majeure notice comes after a period of extraordinary rainfall led to flooding in Barcarena, where Alunorte is situated. Due to concerns over possible water...
In another update from Pará, Brazil, after the instruction of Secretariat of Environment and Sustainability in the Brazilian state of Pará (SEMAS) to Hydro to cut 50% production at its Alunorte alumina refinery, a regional court issued a ruling on Wednesday, February 28, demanding Hydro to cut production by 50 per cent at its Alunorte alumina refinery. Hydro has been accused that rainstorm had led to red mud leakages from its Alunorte alumina refinery into the nearby river causing contamination of water and land. SEMAS also instructed Hydro to stop using one of two tailing dams at its Paragominas bauxite mine, located around 250 km west of Alunorte. Federal Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) also issued a notice ordering Hydro to discontinue...
Hydro has been told by the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainability in the Brazilian state of Pará (SEMAS) to cut production by 50 per cent at its Alunorte alumina refinery due to non-compliance relating to bauxite residue deposit. SEMAS also said it would introduce daily fines of around BRL 1 million until Alunorte alumina refinery reached a freeboard of at least 1 meter in the bauxite residue deposit DRS1. Hydro said While it is too early to determine the size and impact of the resolution, it could potentially have significant operational and financial consequences. SEMAS said it plans to order the Paragominas bauxite mine to suspend operations at one of two tailing dams at the plant. Hydro owns 92.1 percent of the Alunorte alumina refinery and 100 per cent in the Paragominas...
After a flat run in January and February, struggling to stay afloat in the face of slow demand, spot alumina prices in China have dropped today across all markets. SMM expected alumina prices to rally ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday in mid-February before downward pressure returns. However, alumina prices remained flat and dropped after the holidays. Today’s average spot alumina price stands at RMB 2819 per tonne, down from last closed RMB 2841 per tonne. Spot alumina prices have continued falling after touching the highest in November beginning. The price trend in last three months can be seen in the following graph: The average price of Chinese domestic alumina in four major regions stood at RMB 2,805 per tonne. Chalco Alumina and imported alumina prices remain unchanged today....
Altech Chemicals Limited has lodged a new provisional patent application with the Australian Patent Office (IP Australia). This incorporates the finished product high purity alumina technology developed by it for its HPA project. The new patent application incorporates various refinements made to Altech’s HPA processing route during project due diligence. Patent application also incorporates the company’s latest invention, the flexible finished product line that is capable of producing HPA product for both the synthetic sapphire industry and the lithium-ion battery industry. "Altech is pleased to report that as part of project due diligence initiated by KfW IPEX-Bank, a global freedom to operate search was conducted to confirm that the company will be free to produce, market, sell or...
Norwegian aluminium company Norsk Hydro has confirmed that there has been no leakage or rupture of the bauxite residue deposits from its alumina refinery following reports of leakage and water contamination affecting communities in Barcarena. The plant, the world’s largest alumina refinery, is operating as normal, despite rainfall in the region last week. Alunorte alumina refinery produces 5.8 million tonnes of alumina per year. “The alumina production at the refinery has not been impacted, and internal and external inspections have not found proof of overflow and leakage from the bauxite residue deposits at Hydro Alunorte, Hydro said. “The water has been collected, channeled and treated in the industrial effluent treatment station as normal.” The technical studies were performed by the...
Alumina Limited released its full year 2017 results on Thursday, 22 February 2018. The company reported a statutory net profit after tax of US$339.8 million for the full-year 2017 in comparison to a net loss of US$30.2 million in 2016. Excluding special items net profit after tax would be US$363.1 million. Alumina declared a final, fully franked dividend of 9.3 US cents per share. Commenting on the results, Alumina’s Chief Executive Officer, Mike Ferraro, said, “This has been an outstanding result for Alumina, after a period of difficult market conditions and hard restructuring decisions. We are now in a different phase during which the market fundamentals have strengthened and the exceptional quality of AWAC’s Tier 1 assets is clearly demonstrable in the result.” He attributed the...
Altech Chemicals Limited has announced the approval of a manufacturing license from the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) for its 4,500 tonnes high purity alumina (HPA) plant at Johor, Malaysia. The approval represents another important milestone for the development of alumina plant. Commenting on the manufacturing licence approval, Altech managing director Mr Iggy Tan said, "The Company is delighted with the support that it is receiving for its HPA project from MIDA and the Johor and Malaysian governments. The prompt assessment of our manufacturing licence application is testament to the support for our proposed HPA plant, which will represent a total investment of approximately 1.2 billion ringgit in Malaysia." Altech Malaysia has been requested to submit copies of...
Australia bought USD 221.4 billion worth of goods from around the world in 2017. Australia being one of the top producers and exporters of alumina, imports substantial amount of alumina to feed its smelters. The country's alumina import is estimated to decline in 2018. Australia imports huge amount of alumina from China. China remains the top exporter of this product in 2017. Australia’s alumina imports volumes jumped to 3036 tonnes last year. As shown in the data, Australia imported about 8595 tonnes of alumina in 2016. The amount increased in 2017 to reach 9798 tonnes. The country is estimated to import about 8647 tonnes of alumina in 2018. The cost of alumina import stood at USD 9.6 million in 2016. In 2017, the import generated a cost of USD 9.95 million. The cost of import for...
Norsk Hydro reports record alumina and bauxite production along with improved financial results for both the segments, mostly driven by higher realized alumina price. The bauxite mine in Paragominas reached record yearly production of 11.4 million tonnes. Bauxite production for Q4 2017 stood at 3,049 million tonnes. . The alumina refinery at Alunorte produced 6.4 million tonnes of alumina for the full year 2017 and 1,693 million tonnes for the fourth quarter 2017. Underlying EBIT for Bauxite & Alumina increased significantly compared to Q3 2017 mainly due to higher alumina prices and LME prices. Underlying EBIT for Q4 2017 for Bauxite & Alumina stood at NOK 1,872 million in comparison to NOK 413 million in Q3 2017 and NOK 711 million in Q4 2016. For the full year 2017, it stood at NOK...
Brazil’s exports of commodities increased 13.8 per cent year-on-year to USD 16.968 billion last month. The country’s exports of alumina grew in January from a year earlier. According to Brazil’s Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC), Brazil shipped 861,336 tonnes of alumina in January 2018 in comparison to 839,283 in January 2017 and 781,366 tonnes in December 2017. As the data shows, in H1 2018, Brazil is estimated to ship 5 million tonnes of alumina, from 4.43 million tonnes in the corresponding period previous year. In H2 2018, shipments will reach 3.77 million tonnes, from 4.85 million tonnes in the corresponding period previous year. In H1 2018, alumina export value is estimated to stand at USD 1.61 billion, from 1.31 billion in H1 2017. In H2 2018, total export...
Chemicals and energy company Sasol Chemicals has completed expansion of alumina production capacity at its Brunsbüttel site to meet the growing global demand for alumina. The expansion has increased alumina hydrate production capacity by approximately 15,000 tons per annum. Sasol Inorganics and Catalyst Vice President Dr Cronje Grove said: "This expansion is an important milestone in the development of our production capabilities for high-purity and dispersible aluminas that are sold into a variety of applications worldwide.” The expansion involved debottlenecking the alumina slurry feed capacity by installing an additional on-purpose alumina unit and building two new drum dryers, as well as a new spray dryer. “We plan to start up additional alumina production in Lake Charles in the US as...
Austin Mooney, the new managing director of the Clarendon-based Jamalco, is promising to make the alumina plant more competitive. Mooney, who has almost 35 years’ experience in the bauxite/alumina industry, said the company will also recommit to building better partnerships with its communities and stakeholders. According to him, Jamalco is poised for growth but this can only be achieved with the input of all employees and other stakeholders. He says the company has all the ingredients to surpass its previous achievements and continue to be the leader of the industry. Mooney also says he will retain the business systems from Alcoa and empower the employees at all levels to use their knowledge and expertise to improve the business. According to him, Jamalco will also lend greater focus to...
Metals and mining company Rio Tinto has announced that it will invest $250 million in its Vaudreuil alumina refinery, in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada. The investment will extend operations at the alumina refinery beyond 2020. Rio Tinto Aluminium chief executive Alf Barrios said: "The high quality, cost competitive alumina from the Vaudreuil plant will continue to support our world class, low carbon aluminium smelting operations in the region to deliver a range of products that meets our customers' needs." The company said that the work includes the construction of a filtration plant and the optimisation of the Jonquière complex bauxite residue site. Vaudreuil alumina refinery generates around $135 million in annual regional economic benefits.
Khalifa Industrial Zone of Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) signed a land lease agreement with Shaheen Chem Investment LLC for the development of a two-phase chemical complex in the industrial zone with an expected investment of AED 4 billion. The first phase of the plant will produce 130,000 tonnes per year of caustic soda for EGA’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery and 160,000 tonnes per year of ethylene dichloride. The plant will double its caustic soda production capacity following the completion of the second phase. Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Rashed Al Suwaidi, the Chairman of Shaheen Chem, said, “We are grateful to Abu Dhabi Ports for their support. We now look forward to building our plant at KIZAD to supply EGA with the caustic soda it needs. We are also excited to become the first producer of...
