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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India's state-owned integrated aluminium company National Aluminium Co. Ltd (Nalco) has been working on a strategy devised to add greater value to the alumina produced in-house; but a host of challenges is obstructing the PSU's way to attaining success in the transition- the domestic market being the major one. The country's Union Minister of Energy, Coal, Mines and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal expressed concerned over these issues. While addressing an industry congregation on Friday, last week, Goyal said he was shocked to learn that Nalco produced less than half the quantity of alumina produced by its other private-sector competitors from within the country, in a year. The domestic market is primarily responsible for this capacity lag, Goyal added. “I made a study to understand...
Altech Chemicals Limited has now submitted a mining proposal (MP) and mine closure plan (MCP) to the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) for their Meckering kaolin mine in Western Australia. The Meckering kaolin mine is planned to be developed in order to provide feedstock for its proposed Malaysian high purity alumina (HPA) plant. The plan submission marks another development in this regard. Altech is planning to mine approximately 140,000 tonnes of kaolin once every three years; mining will take place in short two-month mining campaigns. The mined kaolin ore will be stocked and packed in standard shipping containers and shipped to Johor, Malaysia via the port of Fremantle, Western Australia. The Company’s Meckering mining lease contains a Mineral Resource estimation of 12.7 million...
National Aluminium Company (Nalco), the world's second lowest cost producer of alumina, will benefit from the rising alumina price. Global alumina benchmark price has risen around 14% over the past month and 30% in three months. This should boost the company's December quarter results. Alumina is used in the production of aluminium. The sharp rise in alumina price can be attributed to low inventories, especially in China. Restarting of aluminium smelters, which have been shut due to low demand, along with rising aluminium prices has increased demand for alumina. According to commodity trackers, alumina price may rise by another 17-23% in 2017 as more Chinese aluminium smelters become operational. The deficit in alumina is expected to increase to 4.8 million tonnes (MT) in FY17 and over 6...
At a time when Indonesia is considering a revision of its ore export policy, including deferment of the ban on processed ore exports by three to five years from January 2017, Customs data released by China last week showed that alumina imports from the South-east Asian country surged 191.1% month-on-month to 81,800 tonnes in September. In fact, Indonesia beat Australia to become China’s top alumina supplying country in the month under review. This indicates at the fact that the Indonesia government's strategy to build and develop a domestic processing industry through the of banning mineral ore export is paying off slowly. However, industry experts believe that the processed ore, alumina in this case, should move further down the value chain before getting shipped to the international...
Russian aluminium major UC Rusal completed the sale of Alpart refinery in Jamaica to the Chinese group Jiuquan Iron & Steel (Group) Co. Ltd. (JISCO) on November 22. Alumina Partners of Jamaica (Alpart) was officially handed over to JISCO last Thursday November 24 and the production is set to begin within the next six months. The refinery plant is expected to generate between 800 and 1,000 jobs for the citizens. The Chinese owners would need six months to rehabilitate and refurbish the aging plant. They have an expansion plan to boost alumina production to two million tonnes annually from the previous 1.65 million tonnes. Minister of Transport and Mining Mike Henry confirmed on the occasion that the new owners agreed to the 70:30 ratio of employment between Jamaicans and expatriates and...
Indonesia raced past Australia to become China’s top alumina supplying country in the month of September, General Customs data of China showed. Alumina imports from Indonesia surged 191.1 per cent month-on-month to total at 81,800 tonnes, while the shipments from Australia dropped 67.3 per cent month-on-month to reach 31,500 tonnes in September 2016. China’s total alumina imports were estimated at 142,500 tonnes in the month under review, up 10.7 per cent from August. The figure, however, shrunk 62.3 per cent from the corresponding period previous year. Alumina is extracted from bauxite ore by means of the Bayer process at an alumina refinery. It is thereafter subjected to electrolysis in a smelter to produce aluminium by the Hall-Héroult process. Following the recent gains in alumna...
Orbite Technologies Inc. announced on November 24 that, further to its press release of November 11, 2016, production activities continue to progress positively at its high purity alumina ("HPA") plant. -- As reported on November 11, feedstock digestion continues to operate automatically and smoothly, and digestion liquors continue to be transferred to the crystallisation circuit for the production of aluminum chloride hexahydrate ("ACH") crystals, the precursor to HPA. -- In preparation for the calcination of the produced ACH into HPA, the Company continues to produce amorphous HPA to constitute the initial 'bed' in the fluidized bed decomposer and calciner. This HPA is produced using the Company's legacy low-capacity Harper decomposer and production of the bed material continues to...
Altech Chemicals provides an update on the outlook for global high purity alumina (HPA) demand from a report entitled “High Purity Alumina Market – Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2016 – 2024” by Persistence Market Research. Persistence has reported that Global HPA demand is likely to Increase on backdrop of growing applications. The report also says that the global consumption of HPA in 2015 increased to 21,309 tons from 17,832 tons in 2014, up 19.5%. The demand growth is expected to remain strong and the global market for HPA is forecast to reach 86,831 tons by 2024 from the current estimate of 25,315 tons, registering a growth of 343%. Report Highlights: • Global HPA demand up 19.5% YOY in 2015 • Annual HPA demand forecast to be 86,831tpa by 2024 • Report endorses Altech’s...
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, is pleased to announce that it has completed the sale of a 100% stake in Alumina Partners of Jamaica (‘Alpart’) to the Chinese state industrial group, JIUQUAN IRON & STEEL Co. Ltd. for a USD 299 mln cash consideration. The transaction was successfully completed following the fulfilment of all required conditions in accordance with the previously signed interest purchase agreement. The divestment of Alpart does not affect RUSAL’s 100% self-sufficiency in alumina. Vertical integration into efficient upstream assets remains one of the key pillars of RUSAL’s strategy. Alpart (Alumina Partners of Jamaica) is a large production complex in Jamaica, which uses its own bauxite mines to feed alumina production. Before the suspension of operations at...
India's domestic aluminium producers have been long demanding for an import duty protection for aluminium to which the government has responded in the affirmative only very recently. Now, the likes of Vedanta Ltd., National aluminium Company (Nalco), and Hindalco have again come up with the request to exempt the domestic alumina manufacturers from anti-dumping duties on caustic soda, a critical raw material and cost component of alumina production, reported InfraCircle. “The challenges faced by the aluminium industry are compounded by an unfavourable duty structure. Aluminium is imported attracting customs duty of 7.5per cent, whereas duty on raw materials in manufacturing alumina attracts duty of equal to or more than 7.5per cent. The challenges of the industry are further compounded by...
CBIX fell 1.7% (US$0.8/dmt) to US$46.7/dmt with low Value in Use (ViU) priced Malaysian ore weighing on the week’s average, despite cargos of higher ViU ore from Guinea and Brazil. Malaysian prices remain unmoved on US$27.5/dmt FOB for un-washed ore and US$39.5/dmt FOB for washed material. Chinese domestic alumina prices steadied, with the north price down 0.2% (RMB5/t or US$0.7/t) to RMB2,731/t (US$399/t) and the south, which typically lags the north, up 2.3% (RMB62/t or US$9.1/t) to RMB2,727/t (US$398/t). Smelter restarts and ramp-ups continue in China, increasing demand for alumina and prompting further alumina capacity restarts and ramp-ups. This comes despite falls in the primary aluminium price, driven by higher deposit rules for trading on the Shanghai Exchange, which we see as an...
NRG Energy's Gregory Power Partners LLC objected to the bankrupt company Sherwin Alumina's November 10 emergency motion at the bankruptcy court to expedite the hearing and objection deadlines on its bankruptcy reorganization and asset sale plan. Alumina producer Sherwin Alumina has been in Chapter 11 protection at the U.S. Bankuptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas since January 11. Gregory Power Partners (GPP) supplied the alumina refiner with steam and some power from an on-site, 550-MW cogeneration plant. NRG claimed, the operation of that cogen plant is endangered by Sherwin Alumina's actions. Sherwin Alumina is owned by Glencore Ltd., which is now eyeing some assets out of the bankruptcy case. Sherwin Alumina would source most of its bauxite supplies for its facility from...
Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) announced yesterday that a team of materials science researchers is developing the first commercially viable process for recovering valuable metals from red mud, a hazardous byproduct of aluminium production that is currently stored in holding ponds around the world. “We’re trying to help the environment by getting rid of these ponds, which can leak and destroy surrounding ecosystems,” said reserach team leader Brajendra Mishra, director of WPI’s Center for Resource Recovery and Recycling (CR3). “If our process is successful, we can produce a valuable product while also reclaiming that land.” The process the WPI team has developed and extensively tested in the lab can extract a magnetic reduced iron oxide from red mud. The material can then be sold to...
Emirates Global Aluminium’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi, adjacent to EGA’s Al Taweelah smelter and Khalifa Port is almost complete with 60 per cent of construction over for the Calciners section. The overall construction of the $3bn refinery is 37 per cent complete with about 6,000 to 10,000 manpower engaged in the work. The refinery is a part of UAE’s recent expansion programme in the upstream section of the aluminium value chain and it is only the second refinery to be built in the Middle East. The Al Taweelah plant will refine about five million tonnes of bauxite ore annually which will be imported each year from the Republic of Guinea. EGA’s Al Taweelah smelter project is one of the largest single-site aluminium smelters in the world. The Al...
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Alumina prices have been rising globally over the last two months. In October, the prices rose rather steeply enticing integrated aluminium producers with alumina refining operations to gradually move to the alumina price index for pricing their products. Earlier, most standalone alumina companies and even aluminium companies would consider a percentage of aluminium prices to price their products. But now, they are making a shift to the alumina price index. Alcoa, the newly formed upstream company formed from the erstwhile aluminium producer of the same name, is expected to deliver a strong near-term performance boosted by higher alumina prices, marked analysts at Market Realist. The following graph shows the alumina price movement during October 2014 - October 2016: Alcoa was the top...
Hindalco Industries has announced the unaudited standalone results for the second quarter ended September 30, 2016. The company delivered robust operational performance in a challenging macroeconomic condition. During the second quarter, alumina production (including Utkal Alumina) amounted to 726 KT which recorded 16% increase in comparison to the second quarter of 2015. Aluminium metal production stood at 321 KT and was up 19% on YoY basis. The Utkal Alumina International Ltd. produced 375 KT of alumina during second quarter of FY17 compared to 338 KT in Q2 FY16 which recorded a growth of about 11%. What is noteworthy is the fact that the cost of production of alumina at Utkal Alumina refinery is comparable to the benchmark cost of production around the world. EBITDA for the Utkal...
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, today announced its results for the three and nine months ended 30 September 2016. Total alumina production volume (unaudited) for three months ended 30th September totalled at 1,865 thousand tonnes down from 1,870 thousand tonnes in the same period previous year. The output also marked a 0.3 per cent increase from the last quarter of the current financial year when the figure as at 1,851 thousand tonnes. For the nine months ended 30th September of the current financial year, total alumina output volume is estimated at 5,589 thousand tonnes, up 1.7 per cent from the corresponding previous year when the output was 5,496 tonnes. Rusal recorded alumina price of US$234/tonne for the three months ended 30th September 2016, up 20.4 per cent from...
Weiler Abrasives Group, a leading provider of abrasives, power brushes, and maintenance products for surface conditioning has announced a new product in its Tiger® bonded abrasives lineup. The new Tiger UltraCut thin cutting wheels deliver lightning fast cuts, long wheel life and consistent performance— with a true 1 millimetre (mm) thickness. The product range is available in wheel diameters of 4 1/2 and 5 inches in both zirconia alumina grain and INOX. UltraCut thin cutting wheels cut 20 percent faster than the closest competitor’s wheels. The longer life allows operators to maximize cuts per wheel, reduce time spent on changeovers and lower the cost of use. Weiler SOLID CORE technology increases wheel density, resulting in longer life, reduced friction and greater stability for...
