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 State-Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) on Thursday referred Vedanta’s plan to ramp up alumina production at Lanjigarh to high-level clearance authority (HLCA). Vedanta will increase its production from 1 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes if the HLCA clears the company’s proposal. Vedanta has sought 1,645.8 acres of land for the expansion of alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Odisha. The company will make an investment of INR 6,483 crore on this project. This will generate employment opportunity for 9494 people in the region. SLSWCA also referred company’s plan to ramp up the capacity of captive power plant from 90 megawatts (MW) to 340 MW to HLCA chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Runaya, founded by the sons of Vedanta Ltd's Executive Vice chairman Navin Agarwal,...
Mike Henry, Minister of Transport and Mining, announced at a JIS Think Tank yesterday that the new owner of Alpart Refinery will export 35,000 tonnes of alumina for the first time on December 5. Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) will invest around US$3 billion over a period of three years for upgrading the 1.65-million tonnes per annum plant which it opened in June this year. Mike Henry said, “That is an exciting special economic zone development. They are going to build a new plant; they're going to dredge the Kaiser port and intensify the shipments that leave from the port.” JISCO is also planning to construct a second alumina plant with a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year. He added: “There's to be an aluminium foil factory, a stainless steel plant, an aluminium sheet plant, a...
Lu Dongliang, Vice President of Chinalco, China’s biggest state-run aluminium producer told Reuters that the company will cut alumina capacity by 2 million tonnes during this winter months to meet capacity cut plans. Chinalco will not cut its aluminium production this winter. The company already started cutbacks at its alumina refineries in Henan and Shandong last month. Lu Dongliang said that the company has a refining capacity of around 7 million tonnes per year. The country’s production cut plans during the winter heating season starts from November 15, 2017 till March 15, 2018. China had ordered alumina and aluminium producers to curtain their production capacity in 28 cities during winter months as Beijing has been facing smog problems for years. The China had ordered to slash...
The implantation date for actual winter capacity cut starts today. With the arrival of production limit date, alumina plants from different Chinese provinces have been implementing their reduction plan. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, average spot alumina price in China stands at RMB 3701/t today on November 15. SMM expects the spot prices to stay within RMB 3701 per tonne today. Domestic spot alumina prices have dropped further to RMB 3655/t after hovering at RMB 3685/t since October 24. Domestic prices are expected to range within RMB 3550 – 3760 per tonne today. The drop in domestic alumina prices can be seen in the graph below: According to Shanghai Metals Market report, China Aluminum Shandong Branch is going to reduce three production lines with 35,000 monthly alumina output...
Spot Alumina prices are on a downward curve after staying flat since the last week of October, following downtrend in aluminium. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, average spot alumina price in China has dropped from RMB 3719/t on November 10 to RMB 3701/per tonne on November 13. SMM expects the spot prices to test support at RMB 3701 per tonne today. Domestic spot alumina prices have also dropped to RMB 3655/t from RMB 3670/t. Domestic prices are expected range within RMB 3550 – 3760 per tonne today. Alumina price from large scale alumina enterprises remains unchanged since October last and stands at RMB 3770/t today and expected to range within RMB 3,690- 3,850/t today. In the imported alumina market also, average price stands unchanged at RMB 3750/tonne. Today’s spot alumina prices...
Spot Alumina prices drops for the first time after staying flat since the last week of October, following downtrend in aluminium. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, average spot alumina price in China has dropped from RMB 3730/t to RMB 3719 per tonne on November 10. SMM expects the spot prices to move within a range of RMB 3719 – 3719 per tonne today. Domestic spot alumina prices have also dropped to RMB 3670/t after hovering at RMB 3685/t since October 24. Domestic prices are expected range within RMB 3570 – 3770 per tonne today. As reported by Platts, Shanxi based refiners are of the view that lower metal prices means traders will dump even more now, they will all rush to take profits. Since winter cuts are now confirmed the drop in alumina prices will not last long. A refiner in...
Bosnia and Herzegovina is the 73rd largest importer in the world. The country’s imports of commodities increased at an annualized rate of 0.765%, from $10.9B in 2011 to $9B in 2016. Greece is the top supplier of alumina to the country. Other exporting countries to Bosnia and Herzegovina are France, Germany, Netherlands, China, and Turkey. The country is expected to witness a fall in alumina imports in 2017. According to latest statistics, Bosnia and Herzegovina imported about 172600 tonnes of alumina in 2016, up from 149940 tonnes a year ago. In 2017, the total alumina import volume is projected to decrease to 162634 tonnes. The cost of alumina import stood at USD 52 million in 2015. In 2016, the import generated a cost of USD 49 million. The cost of import for alumina in 2017 is...
MINING giant Rio Tinto has officially decided to never reopen their Gove refinery, and will instead embark on a lengthy, costly and environmentally fraught dismantling operation. The East Arnhem Land refinery has been in ‘care and maintenance mode’ since operations were mothballed and 1100 workers sacked in November 2013 - but the company always attested that it may one day be reopened. Rio representatives have now ruled out that possibility, and alerted the NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner yesterday that it would be fully shutdown and dismantled. Rio’s Gove Operations general manager Linda Murray told NT News the company’s board had “made the decision” and was in the process of meeting with stakeholders to inform them of the news today. “We’ll now commence a number of studies to ensure...
Spain imported US$309.6 billion worth of goods in 2016. The country’s imports decreased during the last five years. Export of alumina is estimated to increase considerably in 2017. {newsStudioGallery} According to recent estimates, in 2016, the top alumina exporting countries to Spain are France (16117 tonnes), Germany (9048 tonnes) and Brazil (1756 tonnes). In 2017, it is estimated that the country will continue to import substantial amount of alumina from France. As our data shows, Spain imported about 31508 tonnes of alumina in 2015. The alumina import by the country dropped in 2016. The country imported 30983 tonnes of alumina. Spain is estimated to import about 41324 tonnes of alumina in 2017. The cost of the total alumina import stood at USD 23 million in 2015. The cost dropped to...
Hindalco Industries announced that the alumina production fell 2 per cent to 712 thousand tonnes in the quarter ended 30th September, 2017. Aditya, Mahan and Utkal alumina continued to operate at their designed capacities. Hindalco's Utkal Alumina refinery produced 380 thousand tonnes of alumina during the quarter, an increase of one per cent. “Utkal Alumina continues to be amongst the lowest cost producers globally,” the company said. For Q2 FY2018, the company reported 18 per cent increase in EBITDA at INR 201 crore on the back of higher international alumina prices partly offset by higher input costs. “Prepaid project debt of INR 5,686 crore at Hindalco standalone and INR 2,280 crore at Utkal - Till date total prepayment INR 7,966 crore in FY18,” Hindalco said.
The holding company of Noranda has completed the buyout of the La Bâthie operation of ARC Fused Alumina from its owner Imerys, industry sources reported. The US based bauxite and alumina supplier bought the assets from Imerys, which purchased it from its erstwhile owner Alteo in 2016. The ARC Fused Alumina refining site in La Bâthie (Savoie - France) was one of the two major alumina plants that French industrial group Alteo has been operating near Albertville, France (100km from Geneva). Sources have it that the plant will keep producing the specialty mineral at La Bâthie even after the change of hands. In October 2016, the European Commission had cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Alteo ARC by Imerys of France. The clearance was conditional on the...
Thailand imports substantial amount of alumina from China to meet the country’s demand. China exported 258 tonnes of alumina during the first nine months of 2017, up 125 per cent year-on year. France and Japan are the top suppliers of alumina to the country. {newsStudioGallery} As shown by the data, Thailand imported about 23067 tonnes of alumina in 2015. The amount slightly fell in 2016 to reach 22798 tonnes. The country is estimated to import about 23960 tonnes of alumina in 2017. The cost of alumina import stood at USD 21 million in 2015. In 2016, the import generated a cost of USD 43 million. The cost of import for alumina in 2017 is estimated to be USD 56 million.
Rio Tinto is attracting renewed interest in selling its Pacific Aluminium smelting unit by adding two alumina refineries in Australia to the portfolio, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Rio Tinto had tried to sell the division minus the refineries in 2011 and again in 2015 without success. Switzerland-headquartered Glencore, Liberty House of Britain, and Russia’s Rusal have all expressed interest, according to the sources, who declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak to media. By including the refineries, Rio could potentially double the original $1 billion price tag for Pacific Aluminium, the sources said. Pacific Aluminium originally included Rio Tinto’s Bell Bay, Boyne Island and Tomago smelters in Australia, and the Tiwai Point smelter in New...
According to the latest import-export data published by China General Customs, China’s imports of alumina totalled 275,385 tonnes in September 2017, up 93 per cent year-on year. The country imported 2.23 million tonnes of alumina between January and September, an increase of 2.96 per cent year-on year. Australia exported 130,447 tonnes of alumina in September and one million tonnes during January-September, down 24.71 per cent year-on-year. The other top countries which supplied alumina to China are Indonesia, Vietnam, France, India, Japan and Germany. China’s exports of alumina decreased 83 per cent YoY to 4,676 tonnes in September 2017. The country exported 42,219 tonnes of alumina during the first nine months of this year, down 48 per cent YoY. Japan imported a major chunk of alumina...
According to the latest USGS release on Bauxite and Alumina in the Second Quarter 2017 , imports of alumina by the U.S. in the second quarter of 2017 were 307,000 tonnes, essentially unchanged from the amount imported in the first quarter of 2017 and in the second quarter of 2016. Imports of alumina during Q2 2016 were 305,000 metric tonnes, 23% less than those in the second quarter of 2015. Since there have been no recent capacity addition in the U.S. smelters, the imported amount remains unchanged. However, if we compare between the amount imported in Q2 2015 and Q2 2017, we see a 22% drop. The leading sources of imported alumina in the second quarter of 2017 were Brazil (40%), Australia (31%), and Jamaica (11%). Suriname was an important exporter of alumina to the US in 2016. A number...
TOR Minerals International, Inc. producer of high performance specialty minerals published its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2017. The company’s sales decreased 5 percent to $9.5 million in Q3 2017. The decrease in revenue was primarily due to a 23 percent decrease in specialty alumina sales. “The decrease in Specialty Alumina sales was primarily related to a decrease in volume from a significant U.S. customer. The decrease in sales to this customer was partially offset by 37 percent growth of specialty alumina sales in Europe and growth of OPTILOAD to both existing and new customers,” it said. The company’s revenue of specialty aluminas stood at $4.4 million in the third quarter as compared to $5.8 million in the same period of 2016. Gross margin decreased...
Altech Chemicals Limited has received commitments to raise $17.2 million in a placement for its high purity alumina (HPA) project in Malaysia. The company has received a US$4.0 million (A$5.1 million) commitment from German engineering firm SMS group GmbH (SMS), and an A$3.0 million commitment from Melewar Group. Altech managing director Mr Iggy Tan said, “The Company very much welcomes the direct investment by SMS in Altech; it strongly demonstrates their commitment and confidence as EPC contractor to the project. “The ongoing support of Melewar Group is equally important; the group has supported the Company since 2015 and is a strong believer of our HPA project and the construction of the high purity alumina plant in Malaysia. The Placement leaves us well capitalised to complete the...
One of the world’s promising high purity alumina producer, Altech Chemicals is planning to raise US$20 million in a placement for its proposed capacity expansion plan of the high purity alumina plant from 4000tpa to 4500tpa. The move comes after the company was forced to more than pare down the estimated capital costs for the project. Altech has been granted additional time to finalise the capital raising in the form of a voluntary suspension following a trading halt. It is expected the voluntary suspension will be lifted on or before Friday 27th October 2017. Altech Chemicals had put a price tag of US$80 million on the HPA project, which covers a mine at Meckering, Perth, and an alumina processing plant at Jahor in Malaysia. On Monday, October 23, it revised its estimate of capital...
