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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In the month of April, China imported a total of 595,900 mt of alumina, a rise of 85.43% since last year. YTD imports totaled 2.08 mn mt in April and were up by 53.34% YoY. The increase in the total volumes of import was driven by other countries except Australia. China imported 199,700 mt of alumina from Brazil, India, Vietnam and Jamaica, April being the first time in 2014 China imported alumina from Jamaica and Brazil.
Orbite Aluminae Inc., announces that, following its press release of March 3rd, the Corporation has completed the $10,000,000 equity financing with Ressources Québec (“RQ”), a subsidiary of Investissement Québec. As part of the financing, Ressources Québec purchased 35,714,286 units of the Corporation at a price of $0.28 per unit, each unit being comprised of one class A share and one half (1/2) of one class A share purchase warrant. Each full warrant entitles RQ to purchase one class A share of the Corporation at a price of $0.33 for 36 months from the date of closing. “We are very pleased to welcome the Québec Government as an important shareholder in Orbite” said Glenn Kelly, Orbite’s President and CEO. “We believe this investment shows confidence in the future of our HPA production...
BHP Billiton has flagged possible job cuts at its alumina operation in Western Australia following the completion of a major expansion last year. The organisational structure at the Worsley operation is under review, including the number of workers needed to support production, a spokeswoman said today. “We don’t intend to provide any detail about specific adjustments, but clearly there may be some impact on jobs in some areas,” Eleanor Nichols said, adding the review was continuing and wasn’t expected to disrupt the operation. The move came after BHP earlier this month confirmed it was considering selling its Nickel West business in Western Australia, which would add to the roughly $US6.5 billion in assets sold over the past two years as the Melbourne-based mining company focuses on iron...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. (“Orbite” or the “Company”) today announced that Mr. Shaun Usmar has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors as an independent member, effective immediately. Mr. Usmar currently is a Managing Partner at Magris Resources Inc., a company whose purpose is to acquire, build and operate mining assets on a global basis. Prior to joining Magris, Mr. Usmar was one of the initial senior executives that helped grow Xstrata plc from a company with 2500 employees and a market value of $500 million to one with 70,000 employees in 20 countries and a value of $58 billion. During his 11 years with Xstrata, he held roles on three different continents, ranging from General Manager of Business Development for Xstrata plc in London, to CFO of Xstrata Alloys in South Africa,...
Vedanta Resources has put on hold a five-fold expansion plan of its Lanjigarh refinery in Odisha even as it is mulling sourcing bauxite from other sources away from Niyamgiri Hills to feed existing and future operations. “With regard to the expansion project at Lanjigarh, the company’s fresh application for environmental clearance is in process and in the meantime the expansion plans are on hold,” the Anil Agarwal-led company said in its results statement. “These matters are critical to the planned aluminium refinery operations of the company. The management expects that with the timely support of relevant authorities, these matters will be satisfactorily resolved,” it added. Sesa Sterlite Ltd, a Vedanta group company, operates a one million tonne per annum (mtpa) greenfield alumina...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. announced today it has filled a key position at its Cap-Chat HPA production plant with the hiring of Mr. Bruno Bibeau as Plant Manager. In a career spanning over 30 years, Mr. Bibeau has developed a deep expertise and successful track record in technical operations and plant management, having held several senior positions with major companies, such as Sector Manager, Operations at ArcelorMittal, and Production Manager and Technical Manager at Resolute – Forest Products. “Bruno’s addition to our team at Cap-Chat is a key milestone in our progress towards commercial production” said Denis Arguin, Orbite’s VP Engineering & Operations. “He has proven himself to be a very solid and talented operator throughout his career, and will bring important operational skills to the...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. said Tuesday its high-purity alumina (HPA) project at Cap-Chat in the Gaspé region is well on track for commercial production early next year. On Monday, Montreal-based Orbite announced that Claude Lamoureux, retired head of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, is the new board chairman. CEO Glenn Kelly said Lamoureux “will help Orbite’s transition from a technology development company to an operational commercial entity.” Lamoureux joined Orbite’s board at a crucial time a year ago and takes over as chairman from Lionel Léveillé, who remains a director. Kelly, who was also named a director, said federal funding has come through for the HPA plant’s new calcination system, which is being supplied by global mineral-process leader Outotec Oyj from its plant in Burlington,...
Outotec has agreed with Alumina do Norte do Brasil S.A. (Alunorte) on the delivery of a complete filtration plant for Alunorte's new red mud dry storage process at their alumina refinery in Brazil. Approximately EUR 50 million will be booked into Outotec's 2014 second quarter order intake. Outotec's turnkey delivery includes eight Outotec Larox® FFP3512 fast opening filter presses and auxiliaries. The start-up of the new filtration plant is scheduled for March 2016. Located in Barcarena, State of Pará in Northern Brazil, Alunorte's alumina refinery is the largest in the world and in its majority owned by Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro ASA. The red mud dry storage solution based on Outotec's filter plant concept is environmentally the most sustainable and safe solution for red mud...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. announced today the filing of its first quarter financial results ended March 31, 2014 and provided an update on the construction of its HPA facility. First Quarter Highlights (All dollar amounts are in Canadian dollars unless stated otherwise.) • Advanced its high purity alumina (“HPA”) project development with its partners for detailed engineering, project management, procurement, as well as ordered the calcination system for the production of HPA. • Received a $3.8 million non-interest bearing repayable financial contribution from Canada Economic Development. • Announced that the Government of Québec formally approved a $10 million equity investment in Orbite. The finalization of the equity investment by the Government of Québec continues to proceed as planned. •...
The National Aluminium Company (Nalco), which plans to add fifth stream to its alumina refinery at Damanjodi in Koraput district, is awaiting Government approval for Potangi bauxite mines. “If we get Potangi deposits, we will be able to expand our refinery capacity by one million tonne at Damanjodi that will cost `6,000 crore,” said Nalco CMD Ansuman Das after a meeting with Union secretaries of Mines and Steel here. Potangi bauxite mine has a reserve of about 76 million tonnes. The company has plans to go for the fifth stream refinery based on medium pressure digestion technology. The capacity of the stream will be approximately one million tonne per annum (mtpa) and investment will be around `6,000 crore, he said. The capacity of the refinery at Damanjodi is set to reach 3.3 mtpa with...
Orbite Aluminae Inc.today announced changes to the composition of its Board of Directors, whereby Claude Lamoureux, independent member of the Board and Chair of the Audit Committee will assume the role of Chairman of the Board of Directors. Additionally, Mr. Glenn Kelly, the Company’s President and CEO, was appointed Director of the Company. Mr. Lionel Léveillé, who has served as the Company’s Chairman since May 2008, will remain on the Board as an independent member. Mr. Lamoureux, inaugural President and CEO of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan from 1990 until his retirement in 2007, led its development into one of the world’s leading pension plans, with more than 100 billion in net assets and outstanding services to more than 250,000 plan members. Mr. Lamoureux previously spent 25...
Alumina's primary source of income is in the form of dividends received from its investment in AWAC. The past few years have been anything but pleasant for shareholders in Alumina. In 2008 the company earned A$202 million, however in the years since then the returns have been US$300,000, US$36.7 million, US$128 million, a loss of US$62 million and a loss of US$500,000 respectively. Dividends have been equally as volatile, ranging from as high as 12 cents per share to as low as zero. With the share price having gained 35% in the past 6 months - compared with just 3% from the S&P/ASX 200 Index, it appears Alumina has started to find favour with investors. AWAC operates in the areas of bauxite mining, alumina refining and aluminium smelting -the company is obviously beholden to the global...
ALUMINA is expected to avoid becoming the first of the big-name resources companies to suffer a second strike from shareholders on its remuneration report at today’s annual meeting in Melbourne. Last year, Alumina suffered a no vote of slightly more than 50 per cent, prompting an overhaul of its remuneration report after seeking advice from independent consultants. Last year’s no vote was 50.07 per cent, forcing Alumina to include a contingent resolution on its notice for today’s meeting for a board spill — to be held within 90 days — in the event that it receives a second strike. A second strike is incurred if votes against the remuneration report again exceed more than 25 per cent of the votes cast. Alumina chairman John Pizzey said at last year’s meeting the first strike partly...
ASX-listed MetroCoal’s takeover offer for fellow-listed Cape Alumina closed on Tuesday, with the company gaining a 57.22% shareholding in the takeover target. MetroCoal launched its takeover of Cape Alumina in March, offering shareholders 0.6c a share in cash. The offer was accepted by some of Cape Alumina’s largest shareholders, including Resource Capital Fund III and Resource Capital Fund IV. MetroCoal told its shareholders on Tuesday that the acquisition of a majority share in Cape Alumina provided the company with exposure to the bauxite market for a relatively small capital outlay. “This acquisition also gives MetroCoal the opportunity to build a project pipeline based on bauxite assets in the near to medium term and coal assets in the longer term,” the company said. Cape Alumina’s...
National Aluminium Company (NALCO) has invited expression of interest (EoI) for sourcing an environment-friendly technology for a gallium plant it is planning to set up in Odisha. The aluminium major has plans to set up a 10 tonnes per annum (TPA) gallium extraction plant at its Alumina Refinery in Damanjodi, Odisha. "NALCO invites EOI from the interested and competent manufacturers/technology suppliers interested in providing technology for extraction of gallium from Nalco Bayer liquor (intermediate process liquor generated from Digestion of bauxite by Bayer process) and having expertise in production and marketing of metallic gallium or gallium compound," the PSU has said. Gallium is a soft silvery metal, extracted from zinc and bauxite and is mostly used in electronics. On receiving...
Publicly listed diversified mining company Aneka Tambang (Antam) reported that its first-quarter sales dropped by nearly 35 percent year-on-year (y-o-y). However, Antam’s bauxite production rose by 186 percent y-o-y to 115,340 wmt, as the company has been aggressively boosting the commodity’s production in preparation of the company’s Tayan Grade Chemical Alumina plant. The $490 million Tayan refinery was commissioned in October last year, and is expected to launch operations soon, with output set at between 125,000 tons and 130,000 tons of alumina throughout this year, before increasing to 300,000 tons next year. This year, Antam plans to allocate Rp 2.8 trillion for capital expenditure (capex), compared to Rp 2 trillion last year, as more projects come onstream. Antam’s shares, traded...
The State Environmental Council (COEMA), an agency linked to the State of Pará Department of the Environment (SEMA), northern Brazil, approved, on Wednesday, April 23, the granting of the Preliminary License (PL) to the Alumina Rondon project, a Votorantim Metais development to be built in the city of Rondon do Pará, southeastern Pará. The project comprises the construction of an alumina refinery integrated to the bauxite mine, and will require investments in the order of R$6.6 billion. With COEMA'S approval, Votorantim Metais completes the first stage of the environmental licensing process, as required to kick off project operations. "The approval of the Preliminary License represents the society's trust in Votorantim Metais and Alumina Rondon, especially with regard to the company's...
Chinese alumina prices based on term contract fell by 50 yuan a ton to 2,250 a ton, a pricing data report by Shangai Metals Market said. The fall in price is mainly due to weak aluminum prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange which further is related to alumina prices, says SMM. Chinese alumina producers usually mix spot and term sales and SMM predicts a drop in alumina term sales as present term prices has declined below spot prices. On a spot basis, alumina prices were 2,400 yuan a tonne on 22nd April in Shanxi and the sales in Henan and Shandong were 2,450 per ton.
