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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Noranda has signed a long-term, exclusive offtake agreement with Concord Resources for smelter grade alumina produced at Noranda's Gramercy alumina refinery in Louisiana. Concord Resources has also agreed to a third party marketing arrangement for bauxite produced at its mining facility in St. Ann, Jamaica. According to a press release the agreement will be valid till 2014 and cover all smelter grade alumina produced at the Gramercy refinery and bauxite mined in Jamaica. Commenting on the agreement, David D'Addario, CEO of Noranda said, “Our partnership with Concord substantially changes the risk profile of our business by giving us a marketing partner to sell our product worldwide.” “By combining our highly efficient production capabilities with Concord's global marketing reach we will...
Earth Sustaining Sciences (ESS) that creates and delivers eco-societally sustainable solutions has developed a solution for neutralizing and managing red mud. ESS founder Wayne Sampey said ESS delivered financially and environmentally viable and sustainable red mud waste management process. Sampey stated: “Solutions delivering multiple biological manifold reaction patterns have been consistently identified in effective all-natural, localized microbial column systems. Data derived from initial single cell reactor stages was used to construct a multi-stage, multiple-biological manifold system which was continuously fed a 50/50 effluent combination of red mud and caustic processing effluent.” ESS in partnership with the Earth Sustaining Sciences Institute has demonstrated their Symbiotic...
Western Australia based rail infrastructure and access provider Brookfield Rail has undertaken major upgrade works on its South West radio communication network. The upgrade aimed to improve efficiency and safety along the railway line from Perth to Burnbury will also service the adjacent lines and the railway station at Worsley Alumina. According to sources aware of the development, the project involves installation of nine radio communication towers that will service the 190 kilometre rail line from Bunbury to Perth. The total project cost is estimated at US$2.5 million. The line is key to the region's economic sustainability because of the fact that each year, it transports 23 million tonnes (approximately) of alumina, bauxite, coal and other commodities from the region to the Kwinana...
Materion Corporation yesterday announced that the company has added Durox 98 to its Durox family of alumina ceramic materials. The new Durox 98 is an expansion of company’s alumina ceramic product portfolio. The company developed Durox 98 to meet the demand for an alumina purity grade of 97.6 per cent. Materion Corporation’s alumina products meet the demands of niche applications for high-purity ceramic material. The new product provides a cost-competitive solution for applications to industries that require dimensional stability and tighter tolerances for electrical insulation in complex high-power products or assemblies. Nick Farrah, Director of Sales and Marketing, Materion Electrofusion and Ceramics said: “We’re distinguished by our ability to work with customers that need a more...
Two alumina producers in Shanxi recently entered maintenance. What triggered this move? Will this have big impact on alumina output and prices? Shanxi East Hope Jinzhong Aluminum put 1 million-tpy alumina line under maintenance last week, affecting output by 14,000 tonnes. Tianyuan Chemical, in Shanxi’s Xiaoyi, which has four alumina production lines with total capacity at 300,000 tonnes, began putting three lines under care by turns from May 1. The maintenance will last 15 days at most. This will affect output by 3,000 tonnes. The rest line is scheduled to enter maintenance this autumn. Two factors were behind the maintenance, SMM learned. 1) Environmental Protection Checks The central environmental protection inspection teams began checks in seven provinces from April 24, of which...
Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC), Nagpur is working to develop cheaper methods to extract rare earth elements (REE) from the waste generated from aluminium industry. The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and JNARDDC have started a project on this. The project aims at developing a process to extract REE from red mud which can be easily available from aluminium industries and are considered as a hazardous waste. Dr Upendra Kumar Singh, Senior Scientist, JNARDDC and Principal Investigator of the project said, “In India, Monazite is the principal source of rare earths minerals through mining. For other REE, India was a major importer from China, but after the restriction, Government of India is planning to get it locally and...
Vietnam, the emerging alumina producing hub on the shores of the South China Sea, has increased its offshore alumina sales over the last three years. As suggested by the available international trade data, alumina export from the country has more than doubled since 2015. The increase has been made possible due to enhanced overseas sales activities of Vinacomin, Vietnam’s largest mining company. {newsStudioGallery} As per data, Vietnam exported 887061 tonnes of alumina in 2016. The quantity is 82 per cent higher than the volume exported in 2015. Vietnam’s total alumina export in 2015 stood at 485190 tonnes. In 2017, the country is estimated to export 1099023 tonnes of alumina. Vietnam being an export driven economy depends significantly on the revenues generated from its mineral exports....
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, announces the launch of a new digestion train at the Urals Aluminium Smelter (UAZ). The total amount of investment in the project exceeded 1.1 billion rubles. Upon commissioning the new digestion train that consists of 82 units, the refinery will expand alumina production by 130 thousand tonnes per year. Total annual output of UAZ will reach 900 thousand tonnes of alumina. New equipment will increase the safety and energy efficiency of the production process resulting in cost reductions of alumina. The construction of the new digestion train lasted two years and became a major investment project within UAZ‘s refinery 1.5 billion rubles modernization programme. The opening ceremony of the new facility was attended by Vladislav Soloviev, CEO of...
Norsk Hydro reports first quarter 2017 results with an underlying EBITDA of to NOK 2,284 million in comparison to NOK 1,829 million in the fourth quarter 2016. The growth was primarily driven by higher realized all-in metal and alumina prices. Underlying EBIT for Bauxite & Alumina increased to NOK 756 million in Q1 2017 from NOK 711 million the Q4 2016. EBIT was positively influenced by higher realized alumina prices, driven by a higher alumina index and LME. It was partially offset by lower sales volumes, an increase in fuel oil and caustic prices, and negative currency effects. Bauxite and alumina production volume in Q1 2017 dropped as a result of planned maintenance programs at Paragominas and Alunorte. The fourth quarter was positively influenced by NOK 151 million relating to...
Alumina price in China major markets have been falling of late; yet the price fall is not that steep to pinch hard the 'big' producers at their bottomlines, Shanghai Metals Market thinks. China alumina prices are currently trending below the highest cost of production causing small and medium sized refiners run losses in the recent quarter. However, profits in the late 2016 were high enough to cover these losses. This is the reason why they have not yet halt production at their alumina refineries, barring a few which chose to close in order to combat their lack of liquidity. According to the analysts, high alumina production all over China and an equally high nation-wide inventory still leave room for alumina prices to fall further. However, alumina price declines will slow down in a...
Altech Chemicals Limited yesterday released an update on the detailed design and engineering work for its proposed Malaysian high purity alumina (HPA) plant. Around 55 M+W Group personnel located in both Germany and Singapore are assigned to company’s HPA project. The detailed design and engineering of the Malaysian HPA plant is now well advanced. The progress is in accordance with the revised schedule agreed between the Company and its appointed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor M+W Group. Altech managing director Iggy Tan said, “Overall, the detailed design, engineering and associated final EPC contract price formation is progressing at the required rate to align with the German government export credit agency project finance cover application and approval...
Potash Ridge Corporation, a leading producer of potassium sulphate in North America has announced an update to the independent NI 43-101 Prefeasibility Technical Report for its Blawn Mountain Project dated January 18, 2017. PFS indicates the production of 232,000 tons per year of potassium sulphate (SOP) together with sulphuric acid from 153.3 million tons of proven alunite reserves. The alumina-rich material was assumed to go into tailings. The PFS confirms the availability of alumina resources from alunite contained in the tailings and based on the PFS, Blawn Mountain alunite ore contains 19.4 million tons of measured and indicated alumina Resources. According to a United States Geological Survey report, processed alumina was sold for US$410 per ton in 2015. Till the time an economic...
China’s spot alumina prices fell Thursday, April 20, on the back of news this week that Xinjiang smelters in northwest China will be cutting around two million mt/year of new aluminium capacity which have yet to receive required government approvals. The ex-works Shanxi daily spot alumina assessment by S&P Global Platts stood at Yuan 2,350/mt ($342/mt) full cash terms, down Yuan 50/mt day on day, Yuan 60/mt lower week on week and a fall of Yuan 350/mt from a month ago. A spot trade was heard done at Yuan 2,350/mt cash to full credit terms, ex-works Henan basis for 20,000 mt of refiner East Hope’s alumina sold to a trader, market participants said. Refiners, traders and smelters said Yuan 2,350/mt cash was the current market clearing rate for both Henan and Shanxi spot alumina. A source...
China's noted mineral producer Chongqing Bosai Minerals Group has entered into a strategic agreement with the government of Gaizhou to build an alumina refinery project in Shagang, Gaizhou in Liaoning Province. The company intends to spend an initial amount of 10 billion yuan to build the alumina complex, reported sources aware of the development. As per the report, the alumina refinery project, to built on a land area of 1,000-1,300 mu, will have an annual output capacity of 5 million tonnes of alumina. Bosai Minerals Group Co., Ltd. is a privately-owned comprehensive group of companies with business activities in industrial minerals mining and fusion manufacturing. The group’s key products include aluminium, metallurgical grade alumina, brown fused alumina, calcined bauxite among...
India is on a fast track of growth. Pegged to be the fastest growing economy in the world in 2017-18 (forecasted growth rate 7.2%) as projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the country stands to offer many emerging sectors the right opportunity to grow. One such sector is electric vehicles. India is planning to promote low-cost electric vehicles with the use of lithium-ion batteries. A slew of new projects have been lined up that would manufacture these batteries. These projects are expected to boost the domestic consumption of high purity alumina in the coming years. Suzuki Motor Corp., parent of India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, said last week that it will form a joint venture with two Japanese firms, Denso Corp. and Toshiba Corp., to produce lithium-ion...
Alumina price decline in major China markets is expected to slow down as current low prices are attracting increased buying, observe market watchers. While the volatility is hurting bottom lines of the alumina refiners, aluminium producers in China are reaping higher profits from the reduced cost of production and higher aluminium prices. With alumina market prices dropping to their psychological procurement price range, it is expected that aluminium producers will further step up their alumina buying activities helping narrowing down of price declines. As per Shanghai Metals Market projections, alumina price in Guangxi will fall below 2,400 yua per tonne while prices of the commodity in other regions will test 2,400 yuan per tonne this week. Following table shows spot alumina price...
Jamaica’s former Minister of Transport and Works Mike Henry said yesterday during his contribution to the 2017/18 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives that more than 1,000 employment opportunities are likely to be created as a result of developments in the bauxite/alumina sector in Jamaica. The minister stated that the Alpart refinery, the largest alumina refinery in Jamaica, would provide employment opportunity to Jamaicans when the 250 temporary Chinese return to their country in June. At present, 500 Jamaicans are permanently employed at the refinery. The operations of Alpart alumina refinery is slated to be resumed in the second half of 2017. Currently, the government is rehabilitating and renewing the plant before restarting alumina production this year. The minister...
According to the Market Research Future report, global high purity alumina market is slated to experience a robust growth until 2024 driven by the LED lightings segment. The segment was estimated to account for a dominating share of more than half in overall market by 2016 end. It witnessed a double digit CAGR growth which is expected to continue through the next five-year period. The report suggests that the major demand boost for the LED lighting segment using high purity alumina in its sapphire substrates is going to come from Asia Pacific. The region accounted for 68.5 per cent of the overall segment revenue in 2016. China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan are the four countries dominating the LED lightings manufacturing market. Semiconductors, another prominent application sector of high...
