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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Australia's Alumina is preparing for a court battle with Alcoa (AA) after the U.S. group filed papers alleging its joint venture partner was threatening its planned split by claiming the demerger required its consent. The conflict centers on the groups' Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals, or AWAC, joint venture which operates bauxite mines and alumina refineries in Australia, South America and Africa. The operation is 60% owned by Alcoa and 40% by Alumina. "Alcoa...is seeking to exit AWAC and introduce a new and financially weaker entity into the AWAC partnership," Alumina said on Monday. "Alcoa is thereby seeking to transfer and assign to that entity its rights, interests and obligations, which requires Alumina's consent." In addition to claiming that Alcoa needs its approval to go ahead...
Alumina says it is concerned about a “new and financially weaker” Alcoa as its operating partner in the billion-dollar AWAC venture as tense talks between the warring factions spilled into the public arena. The Melbourne-based company, which owns 40 per cent of Alcoa World and Alumina Chemicals (AWAC) that dominates WA’s alumina landscape, revealed yesterday why it was opposed to partner Alcoa’s historic demerger. The demerger, to happen in the second half of this year, will separate Alcoa’s bauxite, alumina and aluminium assets, dominated by AWAC, from the higher-margin specialty metals unit. Alumina says the demerger will have a “material adverse change in the nature, size, scope and financial wherewithal” of its AWAC partner and warrants “amendments to the AWAC joint venture agreements...
Alcoa has taken the surprise step of launching legal action in the US against Alumina to stop attempts by its Australian partner to derail a historic break-up of the aluminium giant. The action comes amid threats by Melbourne-based Alumina as recently as this week to try to "interfere with the (Alcoa) seperation" to cast "a cloud over the seperation ... and disrupting" the operations of the two partners' Alcoa World and Alumina Chemicals (AWAC) venture, according to court documents filed in the US state of Delaware on Friday night. AWAC, split 60-40 between venture operator Alcoa and Alumina, is one of the world's biggest bauxite and alumina producers and owns world-class mines and refineries in the South West. Alcoa announced its historic split, to separate the upstream operations of...
Altech Chemicals Limited has confirmed the receipt of $1.75 million, being the balance of proceeds from the sale of its Meckering exploration licence E70/3923 to Dana Shipping and Trading S.A. (Dana). The funds will be applied towards finalising the detailed design of the company’s proposed high purity alumina (HPA) plant at Johor, Malaysia and for general working capital purposes. As announced on 9 May 2016, Altech reached agreement with Dana for the sale of its Meckering exploration licence E70/3923 for $2.0 million cash. A cash deposit of $250,000 was paid on 9 May 2016 and the $1,750,000 balance of sale proceeds has now been received. E70/3923 was surplus to the company’s feedstock requirements for its proposed Malaysian high purity alumina plant. Feedstock for the plant will be...
China’s alumina output will continue growing in May due to release of restarted and new capacity, SMM predicts based our survey. Alumina price rally, which began in February, has allowed most alumina producers to enter profit territory in terms of cash costs. This triggered massive capacity restarts. As of mid-May, restarted alumina capacity had approached 70 per cent of capacity idled in the second half of last year, SMM statistics showed. These massive restarts, plus release of new capacity, will allow production to increase further, SMM explained. The country’s alumina output totaled 4.62 million tonnes in April, up 0.43 per cent from March, but down from a year ago, with operational capacity at 16.48 million tonnes, SMM data showed.
A Chinese-invested alumina refinery was officially put into production on Saturday in Indonesia. The refinery invested by China Hongqiao Group Limited and Winning Investment (HK) Company Limited, is the first giant alumina project that Chinese companies have invested in overseas. The two Chinese companies jointly signed the cooperation agreements with Indonesia-based PT Cita Mineral Investindo Tbk on the aluminum oxide project and supporting facilities on October 3, 2013, when Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Indonesia. The production line is part of the 2 million-tonne-a-year smelting plant with a total investment of 1 to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars which is operated by PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery, a joint venture which Hongqiao holds a 56 percent stake. The...
Altech Chemicals Limited announced that its kaolin mining lease (ML) application M70/1334 at Meckering, Western Australia has been granted by the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP). The ML is estimated to contain ~11 million tonnes of kaolin mineral resources, representing over 250 years of feedstock supply for the company’s proposed 4,000tpa high purity alumina (HPA) plant at Johor, Malaysia. The grant of M70/1334 will allow the company to progress to the next stage of mine development, which is the submission of a mining proposal and a mine closure plan. At Meckering Altech is planning to mine approximately 120,000 tonnes of kaolin once every three years in a short two-month mining campaign. The resultant raw kaolin ore will be stockpiled, then containerised into standard shipping...
Orbite Technologies Inc. announced the closing of an equity financing in the amount of $5 million with Ressources Quebec inc., a subsidiary of Investissement Quebec, acting as agent of the Government of Quebec. As part of the financing, Ressources Quebec purchased 20,746,888 Class A shares of Orbite at a price of $0.241 per share. "With this equity investment and the $1 million raised from US investors on May 6, the Company has raised a total of $6 million in equity and is on track to finalize the funding required for completion of our HPA facility," stated Glenn Kelly, CEO of Orbite. "We anticpate closing the $5 million convertible debenture in the coming weeks, after which we will award the contracts for the remainder of the construction and implement our plan towards start-up and...
China Hongqiao Group’s large-scale alumina project in Indonesia succeeded in yielding output recently, reported industry sources. The company will sell alumina from the project, whose annual capacity is 1 million tonnes, to China or Middle East within the next 1-2 months. Expected output for the project is 40,000-50,000 tonnes in May. Hongqiao Group is building another 1 million-tpy alumina project in Indonesia.
Red mud, a byproduct of alumina refining from bauxite (the principal ore of aluminium) could be the key to creating a new industry in Gladstone that would lead to thousands of new jobs. Extracting iron ore from the waste product of aluminium to make steel is the latest idea from the group behind the long awaited Gladstone Steel Project. But the proposal depends on whether Rio Tinto, owners of Gladstone aluminium producers, agrees to be the guinea pig for ground-breaking technology developed in Germany. So far the directors of Gladstone Steel are yet to approach Queensland Alumina Limited. But QAL's community relations manager Jeremy Hastings says the company is willing to explore the possibilities. The red mud represents a significant environmental burden for the aluminium industry; and...
High purity alumina (HPA) is a high-value product that is used as a base material in the fabrication of sapphire substrates. These substrates have applications in scratch-proof artificial sapphire glass, semiconductor wafers, and light emitting diodes (LEDs). Traffic lights, backlights in electronics, LED-backlit LCDs, and general lighting products are some of the major applications of LEDs, which indirectly propel the high purity alumina market. Other applications of high purity alumina lie as a phosphor material in plasma displays and as an essential constituent in protective coatings. The price and performance of HPA are dependent on product density, degree of purity, and particle size distribution. The global HPA market was worth US$1.2 billion in 2014. Developing at a moderate CAGR...
Alumina supply in China will gradually shift into a small surplus with release of new and restarted alumina capacity in May, SMM foresees. SMM estimates about 200,000 tonne supply deficit in domestic alumina market, excluding imported alumina. There is still room for alumina prices to rise in the near term, but the upside space will be limited by growing supply, SMM added. As of May 17, SMM alumina price was reported at 1,996 yuan per tonne.
Australian Labor Party candidate Zac Beers voiced a strong opposition against senator Matt Canavan's comments yesterday that a Labor government would send Gladstone's aluminium industry offshore by saying Labor's policy was about creating and nurturing industries not wrecking them. Liberal senator Mr Canavan said last night that Labor's renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030 was the biggest risk facing the alumina refineries and aluminium smelters operating in the region. But Labor's Flynn candidate has said the 100 per cent exemption that Queensland Alumina Limited, Rio Tinto Yarwun and Boyne Smelters Limited currently had was not off the table if Labor won the forthcoming election. "If the Labor party was elected we would engage in an extensive consultation process with related...
According to Senator Matt Canavan, Labor & Green government's 50 percent renewable energy target by 2030 would close the alumina refinery and smelter and send the industry off shore. The Liberal National Party senator said the only way Labor could achieve those targets would be to get the major producers to buy the more expensive renewable energy. Aluminium smelters such as BSL and alumina refineries like Queensland Alumina Limited and Rio Tinto Yarwun are exempt from the renewable energy targets. The Australian Government increased the exemption to 100 percent in 2015 to "ease pressure on business" and "improve the competitiveness of Australian industry" the Clean Energy Regulator website reads. "(But) If (those industries) have to come back into renewable energy, buy renewable energy,...
Orbite Technologies Inc. has announced the appointment of Charles Taschereau as Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the company, effective June 6, 2016. Mr. Taschereau joins Orbite from Congo Equipment S.A.R.L., a Caterpillar equipment dealer with 1,200 employees and over $350 million in annual sales, where he was CEO. Prior to joining Congo Equipment, he was COO at Canada Lithium Corporation, prior to its acquisition by RB Energy. At Canada Lithium, Mr. Taschereau was responsible for management of its feasibility study, financing and subsequent construction of its lithium project in Quebec. Throughout a career spanning over 25 years, he has held various senior management positions, including project management mandates, financing responsibilities and process engineering...
Shandong Weiqiao Aluminum & Electricity Co.’s large-scale alumina project in Indonesia has recently been approved by Shandong Development & Reform Commission. It is learnt from industry sources that the project, located in West Kalimantan and with total investment at $ 1 billion, will have an annual capacity of 2 million tonnes.
Metro Mining Ltd has now extended the close of the Gulf Alumina merger offer to 26 May 2016. The offer was 3.3 shares in Metro for every one share in Gulf. On 8 March 2016, the Offer was declared to be free of all conditions. In its Second Supplementary Bidder’s Statement, dated 6 April 2016, Metro intends to increase the consideration offered under the offer to 3.5 shares in Metro for every one share in Gulf, subject to conditions set out in statement. The merger would create a much larger independent Cape York bauxite company with enhanced market relevance, and would effectively double the reserve base of circa 96 million tonnes. The new entity would also realise significant operational synergies, such as economies of scale and enhanced financing capability given improved economics and...
Public sector aluminium firm National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has achieved the rare distinction of becoming the world's cheapest alumina producer. "Nalco is now the cheapest alumina producer in the world. We have cut alumina making cost by $30-40 per tonne", said Nalco's chairman and managing director (CMD) T K Chand. Chand said, Nalco started its focus on cost reduction since August 2015 when it unveiled its new business plan to buck the slowdown in global aluminium industry. Nalco's alumina production cost has fallen to $190 a tonne compared to the global benchmark of $220-230 per tonne. "Nalco has emphasized on cost curtailment and productivity improvement. Our single flight conveyor system measuring 14.6 km and transporting bauxite from the captive mines to the Damanjodi refinery...
