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...
Grow with
AL Circle
Alcoa is the largest global bauxite and alumina producer, with a strong first quartile cost position in both businesses. Alcoa reports the earnings of its bauxite mining and alumina refining business under its Alumina segment. The segment supplies alumina to Alcoa’s Primary Metals segment as well as sells to third-party customers. Together, Alcoa and Ball Corporation (BLL) form ~4.4% of the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB). Record earnings: • The Alumina segment’s third-party shipments in 3Q15 stood at 2,798 thousand tons, which represents a 3.1% year-over-year (or YoY) increase. • Alcoa has been gradually moving away from aluminium-based pricing. Now it prices ~75% of its alumina based on the API (alumina price index) or spot pricing. This makes the Alumina segment’s fundamentals...
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, develops acid technology for alumina production of non-bauxite raw materials. The technology will allow the production of alumina using domestic kaolin clay as a substitution to imported bauxites. The new technology will significantly boost RUSAL smelters’ economic efficiency thanks to the low cost of the material and the logistical cost reduction. The technology also allows for the simultaneous production of a number of high demand products, including those with silicon oxide and rare-earth metals bases. Acid technology implementation will create an entire complex of related production and research facilities, having stimulated Russia’s industrial and scientific potential by using modern technologies. The project is being executed within the...
Orbite Technologies Inc. announced that further to its September 9th press release, and in accordance with the terms of the Trust Indenture dated December 13, 2012 governing the 2012 8% convertible secured debentures, it has deposited in trust with Computershare Trust Company of Canada, acting as trustee for the debenture holders, the sum of 25M$ plus accrued interests in order to secure and set in motion the redemption of all outstanding debentures on the October 16th redemption date. Orbite Technologies Inc. is a Canadian cleantech company whose innovative and proprietary processes are expected to produce alumina and other high-value products, such as rare earth and rare metal oxides, at one of the lowest costs in the industry.
A technical and equipment infrastructure review of the alumina refinery, Rusal Alpart Jamaica, is being conducted as part of pre-preparatory work for the plant’s scheduled reopening in December 2016. Audit representatives from UC Rusal's Moscow office, and elsewhere in Europe and Australia are conducting the audit, which started on October 8 and is expected to end later this week. The areas being probed include the powerhouse and refinery operating areas. Alpart, Jamaica’s largest alumina refinery, which is located at Nain in South East St Elizabeth close to the border with Southern Manchester, was shut down in May 2009 at the height of a global economic crisis which caused metal prices to plummet. More than 900 people lost their jobs while hundreds more had been shed in the months...
Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL), a unit of Aditya Birla Group, has launched Project Saksham, an advanced training-cum-garment manufacturing unit, at Tikiri in Rayagada district, to help unemployed rural women eke out a sustainable livelihood and become self-reliant. Commenced in February 2015, the project now imparts training to 38 women from the underprivileged sections of society, living in the surrounding villages of the plant. With 30 Juki make industrial sewing machines and four specialised machines, these women have already received a six month training on operation and product development, including quality control, to cater to the market demand. During the training period, participants learnt basic machine operations, cutting and stitching of fabric to make various...
Rio Tinto Alcan, one of the world's leading mineral and metal conglomerates, is in the process of doubling the capacity of the alumina refinery at Yarwun. The construction work is almost near completion. The official opening ceremony of the upgarded section took place recently. Campbell Newman, the former Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 2012-2015, declared the upgraded section open. The construction job was carried out by Bechtel and it had taken five years to finish. The total cost of the project was $2.5 billion. Hundreds of workers lined up on the day as dignitaries and industry bosses listened to then-general manager Mike Dunstan describe the importance of the achievement. The expansion more than doubled production at the refinery to 3.4 million...
Clarendon Alumina Production Limited (CAP) advises that it has produced 2015 accounts but that these have not yet been laid before the annual general meeting or Parliament. It is unclear how the Government of Jamaica, and in particular, the otherwise progressive Ministry of Finance, does not have a defined policy that the audited accounts can be made available as soon as the audit has been completed. The long delay for the minister to review accounts and place them before Parliament must be embarrassing to the various state companies like CAP that produce their accounts on a timely basis. The March 2014 accounts show that CAP had an income of US$157 million, and that after payment of its cost of sales, totalling US$212million, administrative and finance costs and taxation, it showed a net...
The largest alumina refinery in Europe, Rusal Aughinish, last year went back into the red to record pre-tax losses of $12.2m (€10.8m). The loss came despite revenues having increased by $22m from $607.8m to $629m. Based on the Snannon estuary, the principal activity of Limerick Alumina Refining Ltd and subsidiaries is the production and sale of alumina. Separate figures provided by Aughinish Alumina to the Environmental Protection Agency confirm the output at the refinery was 1.955m tonnes of alumina hydrate, representing a marginal increase on the 2013 output. The plant extracts alumina from bauxite, the firm sources around 70% of the bauxite processed at the refinery from Guinea in Africa with the remainder coming from Brazil. The finished product, alumina, is exported for smelting to...
The joint patent application by Nordic Mining and Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) for a new technology for extraction of alumina from aluminium/calcium-rich minerals has been approved by the Norwegian Industrial Property Office. CEO of Nordic Mining, Ivar S. Fossum comments: "The patent is an important achievement for this technology, which may give exciting industrial opportunities."
Orbite Technologies Inc. today announced that it has been advised by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that its patent application titled "Processes for Treating Fly Ash" has been found allowable. Consequently, the Company has processed payment of the requisite fees and anticipates patent issuance within USPTO's usual timeframe of four to eight weeks. The patent covers the selective extraction and recovery of valuable elements such as scandium, gallium, rare earths and rare metals, alumina, magnesium oxide and titanium dioxide from fly ash, a residue from coal combustion, using Orbite's chloride-based technology. According to the American Coal Ash Association, over 77 million tons of coal ash were produced in the United States in 2013 alone, creating a significant...
Aneka Tambang (Antam), the leading state-owned diversified mining company of Indonesia, is in talks with China Development Bank for a loan of $1.5 billion for an alumina refinery project that is currently being undertaken in the state. SOE Minister Rini Soemarno told on Tuesday, October 6, "We are in talks with CDB for the development of a refinery with Antam." The project will add significantly to the company’s operations creating huge employment opportunities in the Jakarta region.
Aluchem has been one of the steady employers of the Jackson area in the state of Mississippi for 20 years, making a once abandoned basic brick plant an important source of employment and tabular alumina production. As an acknowledgement of this entrepreneurial activity, Aluchem, located on Beaver Pike just west of Jackson, has been named as the 2015 Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year. The company will be one of many to be honoured during the chamber’s Annual Appreciation Banquet on Thursday, October 22. “It is an honour and privilege to receive such an award and it is with great pride to accept the award of 2015 Business/Industry of the Year!” said an Aluchem spokesperson. Aluchem was founded in 1978 by Ronald Zapletal, Ronal Bell and Edward Butera. In 1987, these...
Alcoa has flagged a move to expand production at its Pinjarra refinery by up to 20 per cent, winning environmental approval to push the facility’s total alumina output to five million tonnes a year. The Environmental Protection Authority last month ticked off on an Alcoa application to amend existing environmental approvals to boost the refinery’s nameplate capacity from 4.2mtpa to 5mtpa, with a corresponding increase in mining at its Huntley bauxite operations. A spokeswoman for Alcoa said yesterday the approval related to “potential future production” at the facility, and no major capital works were planned at Pinjarra. “Any production increases would be achieved through incremental process efficiency improvements,” she said. It is understood the company hopes to push production rates...
The High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA), the highest body to approve investment proposals, has approved seven projects with investments totaling to INR 41,900 crore. The projects that got the HLCA's nod include a mix of new as well as existing projects that proposed to ramp up their capacities. Among the expansion projects, the HLCA cleared proposal by Aditya Birla Group owned Utkal Alumina Ltd. Utkal Alumina has proposed to ramp up its alumina refinery capacity at Rayagada in south Odisha from one million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 1.5 mtpa and that of its captive power plant (CPP) from 50 Mw to 90 Mw. The total cost of the refinery is estimated at INR 7,563 crore. Another important project that got HLCA's approval is a power generation plant by Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. MCL, a...
A representation of Ambadola residents went to Lanjigarh yesterday to discuss Vedanta COO on the closure of Vedanta’s Alumina refinery in absence of bauxite security. Previously People in large numbers made the demonstrations on Save Vedanta. Showing their displeasure, locals of Ambadola on the leadership of Mr Subash Majhi-Zilla Parishad (Muniguda A) and Sarapanch K Majhi today submitted a memorandum to Mr. K.K.Dave, COO Vedanta Limited and expressed that they would go back to the dark old days of poverty, ill- health and lack of infrastructure in case the plant closes down. All the developmental by the company would be hampered drastically. Mr K.K.Dave, COO Vedanta Limited said that in absence of apt bauxite security from within the state and with global aluminium market turmoil, the...
After degrading capacity of its one million tonne alumina refinery at Lanjigarh by 35%, Vedanta is looking at options to source alumina from the domestic market to cut its dependence on high cost alumina imports. To feed its smelting unit at Jharsuguda, Vedanta is in talks with Aditya Birla Group promoted Hindalco Industries and Anrak Aluminium ( a joint venture between Andhra Pradesh based Penna Group of Industries and Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority of UAE) for sourcing alumina. "We are in talks with players like Hindalco and Anrak Aluminium. Hindalco has assured us 25,000 tonne of alumina supply in the next three months. Anrak would be in a position to offer alumina after it commences bauxite mining. Vedanta is looking at all possible options to cut cost of its aluminium business",...
Altech Chemicals Limited announced that it has now secured land in the Tanjung Langsat Industrial Complex, Johor, Malaysia for its proposed high purity alumina (HPA) plant. The company has reserved a ~4 hectare site in a section of the industrial complex that is set aside for chemical facilities. The site is initially reserved until 30 December 2015 and upon execution of an option to lease, will be leased for a period of thirty years, with an option to renew. The land reservation and option to lease has been secured with a non-refundable deposit of MYR300,000, that is credited against the 30-year lease payment on exercise of the option. As previously announced, the company selected Tanjung Langsat as the location for its proposed HPA plant based on significant economic and developmental...
Alcoa chief executive Klaus Kleinfeld says his company's plans to demerge its upstream and downstream businesses will give the company "optionality" for dealmaking, with analysts pointing to the potential for multi-billion dollar transactions involving Alumina Ltd, Rio Tinto and South32. The US aluminium giant unveiled plans to split into two companies by the second half of 2016 after having bulked up its downstream unit through acquisitions over the past year. The upstream company will include its 60 per cent stake in the bauxite mining and alumina refining Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals (AWAC) joint venture with Alumina as well as its global portfolio of smelters and casthouses. The downstream company will provide aluminium products in the automotive and aviation sectors and presumably...
