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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US-based proppants producer Carbo Ceramics Inc. has introduced a new proppant grade, designed to maximise and sustain hydrocarbon flow at high closure stresses for the life of a hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well. Named Kryptosphere, the proppant solution has been developed in response to a request from a major drilling operator working in the Gulf of Mexico. According to Carbo, Kryptosphere is able to deliver more than twice the baseline conductivity of the more widely used bauxite-based, high strength ceramic proppants available on the market and is able to work at 20,000 psi closure stresses, making it an ideal solution for deeper wells. “Kryptosphere will significantly improve overall fracture conductivity or space to flow, resulting in more production, increased recoverable...
University of South Carolina engineers have developed one of the thinnest and most selective membranes ever made, which could potentially be used for water purification applications, especially in hydraulic fracturing, according to a press release. The membrane's selectivity is based on molecular size; hydrogen and helium can pass through easily but carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and methane pass through more slowly, according to the release. "The membrane behaves like a sieve," said Miao Yu, a chemical engineer in USC's College of Engineering and Computing, who led the research team. In addition to selectivity, what's remarkable about the USC team's result is the quality of the membrane they were able to craft on such a small scale. The 1.8 nanometer membrane is...
National Aluminium Co. (NALCO), India’s biggest state-owned producer, may invest INR 50 billion ($811 million) to boost its alumina refining capacity and revive earnings that are forecast to slide to a three-year low. The company will enhance its annual ability to process alumina by 43 percent to 3.3 million tons over the next two years, and will export any surplus, Chairman Ansuman Das said in an interview. The planned expansion is the second in three years to benefit from higher margins offered by alumina, as prices of the end product aluminum slump. “We’ll take a decision to set up a new alumina line by December,” Das said. “Lower metal prices have made selling alumina more lucrative.” Nalco has shuttered a third of its 460,000 metric tons smelter because of a coal shortage and lower...
PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) Tbk (ANTM), a state-owned enterprise in the mining sector, is exploring the marketing of Chemical Grade Alumina (CGA) plant located in Tayan, Sanggau District, West Kalimantan. The factory processing bauxite into CGA will start a commissioning at the end of October. Tri Hartono, Corporate Secretary of Aneka Tambang (Antam), said Tayan will produce 300,000 tons CGA per year. Showa Denko KK, a Japan company, will absorb 200,000 tons per year for 10 years according to the offtake agreement.
The Failure of the Government to find a buyer for Clarendon Alumina Partners (CAP) has led to Jamaica telling the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it will not be divested by year end as was originally agreed. "We have had to adjust our strategy for the divestment of Clarendon Alumina Partners in light of the lack of interest from potential buyers for the company at this time," a supplementary letter of intent addressed to Christine Lagarde, the IMF's managing director, indicates. The letter, dated September 13 and co-signed by Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips and Bank of Jamaica Governor Brian Wynter, indictates that CAP is the only hiccup in the country's IMF programme. The Government, through CAP, owns 45 per cent in the Jamalco alumina refinery. CAP is expected to lose more...
From Alumina to Woodside Petroleum, research house Morningstar has unveiled its nine top stock picks from the 230 companies it analyses from the Australian Securities Exchange. Morningstar’s best stock ideas are “our most-vetted, highest conviction ideas” at attractive prices, according to the firm’s head of equities Andrew Doherty. “The best stock ideas generally have wide application among our varied clients and their respective investment needs.” Alumina (Price: $1.03; fair value: $2.60) “Alumina’s key assets are substantial global bauxite reserves and low-cost alumina re?ning operations,” Doherty says. “Earnings could improve substantially in time as a de-linking of aluminium and alumina prices allow alumina producers to raise prices.” Doherty however, stresses that Morningstar’s best...
International Company plans to invest about $4 billion in the construction of alumina production complex at Zardalek deposit in Batken province. The executive director of Matrass Mining Group international company in Kyrgyzstan Azad Mikhailov stated at the meeting with the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government in Batken province Zhenish Razakov, Spokesman for the Representative Mamadzhan Berdishev informed. According to him, the planned enterprise can process about a million of tones of ore per year. “Approximately 5,000 people will be engaged in the enterprise’s construction and its operation,” Azad Mikhailov said. He also noted that during the construction process, Matrass Mining Group company will make a choice in favor of wasteless, resource-conserving, ecologically save...
The largest alumina refinery in Europe, RUSAL Aughinish, which is located on the Shannon Estuary, plunged into the red last year as it racked up pre-tax losses of $10.4m (€7.68m). The business recorded the loss as revenues at the refinery dipped by $24m, or 2.5pc, from $610.57m to $586m in the 12 months to the end of December last (2012). The principal activity of the company is production and sale of alumina and separate figures provided by Aughinish Alumina to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirm output at the refinery was 1.924 million tonnes of alumina hydrate last year – a small increase over 2011 production levels. The plant extracts alumina from bauxite with around 70pc of the bauxite processed at the refinery coming from Guinea in Africa and the remainder coming from...
The local MP for the mining town of Nhulunbuy says locals are still worried about the region's future, despite a meeting yesterday where more gas was promised for a mining company to continue operating. Labor MP Lynne Walker who represents Nhulunbuy said a town meeting on Monday with Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane did not allay fears from residents worried the Gove alumina refinery may close. The refinery is the economic lifeblood of Nhulunbuy, a town of about 4000, and most families are employed locally or at the associated bauxite mine. "Whilst we welcome that news and the fact that he made the effort to travel all the way here, there still remains an awful lot of uncertainty around it," Mr Walker told the ABC. Rio Tinto, which owns the refinery, says the high Australian...
Votorantim Metais’ (VM) Alumina Rondon project, an alumina refinery located close to a bauxite mine in the north of Brazil, is expected to start operations in 2017, Carlos Gatti, the project’s operation manager told Metal Bulletin. VM is currently concluding feasibility studies and construction work for the project is expected to begin in May 2014. “We expect to conclude the process of obtaining permits by May 2014,” Gatti said. VM will invest over 5 billion Reais ($2.2 billion) on the project, which is located in Brazil’s Pará state, and it is expected to have a bauxite production capacity of 7.7 million tpy, with an alumina capacity of 3 million tpy. “An expansion plan four years later could double the production. If this happens, there is a possibility of [it] becoming larger than...
Federal industry minister Ian Macfarlane and NT chief minister Adam Giles will meet with Arnhem Land locals and businesses today over the fate of the Gove alumina refinery. The loss-making Pacific Aluminium plant, owned by Rio Tinto, could have its operations suspended, among four other options its owner has told employees that it is considering. The Northern Territory recently reneged on a deal made by former chief minister Terry Mills, who announced in February that 300 petajoules from the government’s gas supplies would be made available to Gove over a decade. Mills’s successor Giles has revised this so a lesser amount of 175 petajoules will be supplied over the period. Locals have concerns about whether or not the refinery, which is the major local employer, will stay open. "It's just...
Aluminium major NALCO has rejected a request to sell surplus alumina to bauxite starved Vedanta for its smelter at Jharsuguda, saying it was against the Navaratna PSU's policy to supply it in domestic market. "We are not in a position to provide alumina or bauxite to any other company inside the country," Nalco CMD Ansuman Das told reporters after the company's annual general meeting here today. According to the policy adopted by Nalco's board, the company does not sell either bauxite or alumina to other companies in the domestic market, Das said while responding to queries about the plea by Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL). VAL's Managing Director S K Roongta had recently sought the Odisha government's intervention to impress upon Nalco to sell its surplus alumina for its smelter at...
Chief Minister Adam Giles says the Northern Territory Government has done all it can to deliver gas supplies to Rio Tinto to ensure it keeps its Gove alumina refinery open. Mr Giles held private meetings with community and business leaders at Gove on Tuesday to discussing the future of the aluminium refinery and other economic opportunities for the town of Nhulunbuy and surrounding regions. Rio Tinto last week told Gove workers it may curtail refinery operations because the Territory Government had revised down its offer of gas. But Mr Giles says Gove's future rests with Rio, since the mining giant now has offers of all the gas it needs to continue operations. "There are now a range of providers lining up left, right and centre," he said. "[It is] now a commercial decision for Rio and I...
China’s alumina prices have stopped sliding on cost support after having trended down for the past two years due to oversupply, making imports attractive. Shanghai Metals Market (SMM)’s alumina prices have held between 2,260-2,550 yuan ($368-415) per tonne in the past month or so, comparing to 2,500-2,600 yuan per tonne a year ago. Domestic alumina prices are unlikely fall any more due to cost support, even though output continues to grow, according to SMM’s research team. In addition, due to cash flow problems, aluminium producers are inclined to buy the raw material from traders so they can delay payments. As traders ask higher prices than alumina producers, transaction prices tend to be bid higher. At the same time, FOB prices of Australian alumina are down more than 10% from this...
China’s alumina imports fell 38.4% month-on-month in August, as record-high imports of bauxite tamed demand for alumina. “Policy influenced China’s alumina imports this year. [Buyers] are scrambling to import bauxite due to fears that Indonesia’s [impending] ban on raw material export will make bauxite availability tight. This has resulted in decrease in alumina imports,” Yang Xiaoguang, an analyst at Jinrui Futures in Shenzhen, said. China imported 144,354 tonnes of alumina in August, down 54.2% year-on-year. Bauxite imports were 6.9 million tonnes, up 7% month-on-month. In the first eight months, monthly average for China’s alumina imports was 253,244 tonnes, plunging 39% compared with the monthly average of 418,261 tonnes last year. China’s monthly average bauxite imports surged 73.9%...
China’s alumina output jumped to this year’s high in August after Shanxi Xinfa Chemical Industry Co. started putting on stream its 800,000-tpy production capacity. Production of alumina climbed by 13.7% year-on-year to 4 million tonnes last month, according to data obtained by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM). With demand growing from new aluminium plants in northwest China, as well as in Inner Mongolia region and Chongqing municipality, most local alumina enterprises lifted output and many others are commissioning new capacities, SMM’s research team learned.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles met Rio Tinto this week to outline gas supply options to keep its Gove alumina refinery open, as he called on the global miner to "back the Northern Territory". Mr Giles said that at the meeting on Monday he offered gas to the company, including supply from ConocoPhillips and Santos and support from APA to build the pipeline. "We have provided certainty with that frame and have explained the options, and they have committed to go away and do some more number-crunching on how that might work and whether or not they want to continue down the path of looking at gas, stay with heavy fuel oil or see what the long-term prospectivity is for the refinery," he said. "In that meeting on Monday I made Rio aware of an approach we have received from a...
Junior resources companies MetroCoal and Cape Alumina are expected to announce a deal today after both companies halted trading in their shares ahead of finalising a corporate merger. Cape Alumina has a market capitalisation of $13 million and Metrocoal is valued at $8m. "The trading halt is necessary as the company is in the final stages of the completion of a corporate merger," MetroCoal said in its statement. This was similar to the request from Cape Alumina, which last traded at 7c. Cape Alumina has bauxite deposits in Queensland and is assessing its $1.2 billion Pisolite Hills venture, which is located 50km northeast of Weipa, while MetroCoal is focused on thermal coal projects in the Surat-Moreton Basin in southeast Queensland. Cape Alumina was also on the shortlist of five entities...
