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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HUDSON RESOURCES INC. is pleased to announce that the Company has successfully produced alumina (aluminum oxide) from initial bench-scale testing on the calcium feldspar anorthosite from its White Mountain Project. The objective of the testwork, which has been undertaken at SGS Lakefield under the supervision of Hudson's consulting metallurgist, Dr. John Goode, P. Eng., is to produce smelter grade alumina (SGA). As announced in January 2013 (NR-2013-02), testwork using hydrochloric acid (HCl) leaching demonstrated the high solubility of the anorthosite material at normal atmospheric pressure and relatively low temperatures of 100 degree Celsius. Alumina recoveries from the latest four tests ranged from 95% to 98%. The process also generates an amorphous silica by-product which has...
Police on Friday charged six Lithuanians with the embezzlement of 19.4 million Bosnian marka ($13.4 million) from Bosnia's alumina plant Birac Zvornik, which was forced into bankruptcy and taken over by the government. The ongoing investigation has revealed tax evasion and irregular spending by the former management at the loss-making plant while it was majority-owned by Lithuanian lender Ukio Bankas, which was itself placed in administration by Lithuania's central bank after it ran into financial trouble. Ukio's main shareholder is Vladimir Romanov, owner of cash-strapped Scottish soccer club Hearts. "The six are charged with economic mismanagement, abuse of office and forgery," Bosnia's Serb Republic police director Gojko Vasic told reporters but declined to identify the group. Birac,...
Guinea's 2013 growth target could be undermined by a lack of alumina output in the first half of the year stemming from a prolonged shutdown of RUSAL's 630,000 tonne-per-year Friguia refinery, a finance ministry report said. Work at the refinery was suspended in April 2012 following a labour dispute. Guinea has fixed a 2013 GDP growth target of 2.9 percent, down from an initial forecast of 4.5 percent.
Aneka Tambang will commence commissioning of its chemical grade alumina (CGA) plant - Indonesia’s first - located in Tayan, West Kalimantan, in October. Construction of the Tayan CGA project began in June 2011 in order to process Aneka’s bauxite reserves to produce up to 300,000 tonnes of CGA per annum. The project is developed by PT Indonesia Chemical Alumina, a jointly controlled entity between ANTAM and Showa Denko of Japan. ANTAM owns 80% shares of PT ICA and SDK holds the remaining 20%. CGA products will be exported as well as sold to the Indonesian domestic market. Chemical grade alumina produced will be widely applied in the production of functional and electronic materials such as refractories, abrasives, building materials, packaging, and LCD screens. Aneka also has gold and...
Pacific Aluminium won't commit to the struggling Gove alumina refinery - claiming it now needs even more time to consider the NT Government's gas offer. The company's Canada-based chief executive Phillip Strachan flew into Darwin on Monday to hold crucial face-to-face talks with Chief Minister Adam Giles. High-level negotiations were shelved last month so the Rio Tinto subsidiary could "ensure the discussion is valuable to both of us". The latest official line is that the company needs more time to make a thorough assessment of the government's gas supply offer. Within the Territory there is a growing fear Rio Tinto's stalling means it is considering walking away from the underperforming refinery that provides an economic lifeline to the East Arnhem town of Nhulunbuy. Mr Giles put it...
Allen & Overy has advised CPI International Minerals (CPIIM), a wholly owned subsidiary of China Power Investment Corporation, on the conclusion of the mining convention for CPIIM’s world-scale alumina project in the Republic of Guinea. The convention, which was signed in Conakry, the capital, on 6 September 2013, constitutes a cornerstone for the $6bn (£3.8bn) project, which encompasses a bauxite mining operation with an annual target production volume of four million tonnes, an alumina refinery and a range of associated infrastructure including a dedicated deep-water port and coal-fired power plant that will provide additional power to Conakry. The Allen & Overy team was led by partners Matthias Voss (Beijing/Tokyo) and Alexandre Ancel (Paris), supported by partner Meredith Campion...
Hungarian alumina maker MAL is laying off about 250 people as it ceases processing its own bauxite, liquidator Judit Kemerle Szego said yesterday. About 72% of the layoffs are skilled workers. The layoffs will take place by next May, she added. MAL earlier laid off 183 people at its bauxite mine in Halimba. The company closed the mine early this year, around the same time it was ordered into liquidation proceedings. MAL owes creditors and suppliers HUF 19 billion. It must also pay almost HUF 150 billion in waste management and recovery fees. MAL was fined HUF 135.1 billion in 2011 for environmental damage caused by a toxic sludge spill at its plant in Ajka. A reservoir at the plant ruptured in October 2010, sending a flood of red sludge through surrounding villages that killed ten people...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. wishes to update the market on its ongoing financing initiatives. Orbite management reconfirms that it is actively focused on completing an equity offering within the coming weeks. The financing initiative has progressed positively since the last update of August 14, 2013. "As reported on August 14, our primary objective continues to be the completion of the construction and optimization of our HPA production facility. We are working on a number of financing alternatives and remain confident about completing an equity financing that will raise at least a significant portion of the funds required," said Glenn Kelly, Orbite's Chief Operating Officer. This release does not constitute an offer for sale of securities nor a solicitation for offers to buy any securities. The...
Alumina exports remained practically flat year-on-year in August as a reduction in volumes sent to Norway was offset by increased trade with Canada. Exports totalled 480,625 tonnes, compared with 484,733 tonnes in August 2012. Revenues for the month totalled $121.34 million, from $120.99 million a year ago. Canada increased its volumes to 162,961 tonnes in August 2013, from 114,582 tonnes in August last year. Norway reduced its volumes to 98,309 tonnes, from 184,936 tonnes acquired a year ago. In the January-July period of 2013, alumina exports totalled 4.02 million tonnes, down 5.5% from the same period last year.
Chief Minister Adam Giles has further reduced his offer of gas to power Rio Tinto's alumina refinery at Gove in the Northern Territory. Speaking at the South East Asia Australia Offshore Conference (SEAAOC) conference in Darwin, Mr Giles again justified reneging on the offer of 300 petajoules of government-contracted gas to Rio Tinto subsidiary Pacific Aluminium for 10 years because it would expose taxpayers to $3 billion worth of risk. He also announced that the revised offer of 195 petajoules of gas over 15 years has now been cut to 175 petajoules. He said he had received a commitment from the Federal Government to underwrite an $800 million loan to build a gas pipeline from Katherine to Gove, a distance of nearly 1,000 kilometres. Mr Giles told the conference that Rio Tinto could...
Graphene can reinforce ceramics, simultaneously making them conductive – at least that's what Graphenea's most recent scientific work demonstrates. The team of researchers found that when a bit of graphene is added to the ceramic alumina, the material becomes up to 50% less likely to break under strain, a feature highly desired for many end uses of ceramics. Furthermore, the method is simple, fast, and upscalable, making it virtually ready for industrial application. The team believes that the same method could be used for reinforcing other ceramic materials, such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride, titania, and zirconia. What's more, the addition of graphene makes alumina a hundred million times more conductive to electricity. Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms connected in a...
Finnish company Outotec has been awarded a contract by Mubadala and Dubai Aluminium in UAE to provide a license and design support for a potential new alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi. The value of the contract has not been disclosed. The company said that Mubadala and Dubal had placed the order to secure access to its alumina digestion technology that it had jointly developed with fellow engineers Hatch, which would be used as the basis for a feasibility study into a potential greenfield alumina refinery which would serve its own smelters. An Outotec/Hatch Integrated Digestion and Evaporation Facility has already been installed in the huge Ma'aden aluminium smelter built at Ras Al Khor in Saudi Arabia under a €50m ($65.9m) contract awarded in 2010.
Alumina prices dropped back to what sources said was a more representative level on Friday September 6, following a summer of higher prices supported by decent interest for the sporadic deals on offer over the past weeks. Metal Bulletin’s fob Australia alumina index fell to $312.88 per tonne from $320.16 previously, reflecting price levels in the Pacific region. Price levels in the Atlantic market were $10 per tonne below those in the Pacific, and offers in the Atlantic region were reported at $302, sources said. “Alumina prices of $312 per tonne are now representative of the Pacific market,” a producer said. Prices traded at $318-320 per tonne throughout August as each cargo offered found good interest among buyers, allowing sellers to add a few dollars to their price. But as larger...
Outotec agreed to deliver a technology license for a potential alumina refinery in the United Arab Emirates. Outotec and Hatch, as an unincorporated joint venture, have been awarded a contract by Mubadala and Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) for the provision of a technology license as well as the basic and detail engineering of an integrated digestion and evaporation facility relating to the assessment of a potential alumina refinery development in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. The contract price will not be disclosed. Outotec and Hatch have jointly developed tube digestion and integrated evaporation technologies and the related intellectual property is jointly owned. Mubadala and DUBAL placed the order to secure access to required process technologies and to support their feasibility...
Government of Jamaica announced today the issuance of an aggregate principal amount of US$161,904,731 of its 8.50% amortizing notes due 2021. The 2021 Jamaica Notes were issued in connection with Jamaica's offer to exchange with Eligible Holders outstanding 8.50% amortizing notes due 2021 issued by Clarendon Alumina Production Limited and guaranteed by Jamaica for the 2021 Jamaica Notes. Eligible Holders representing 100% of the outstanding aggregate principal amount of the CAP Notes validly tendered their CAP Notes and Jamaica validly accepted such tenders pursuant to the terms of the Exchange Offer. CAP and Jamaica announced today amendments to certain provisions of the fiscal agency agreement under which the CAP Notes were issued. Holders representing 100% of the outstanding aggregate...
China’s alumina imports during July totaled 234,200 mt, down 49.08% YoY. YTD imports through July were 1.88 million mt, also down 35.78% YoY, according to China Customs. China’s alumina imports in July were up from June levels, however, since falling Australian alumina prices stimulated Chinese aluminum producers to ramp up imports. The average monthly FOB price for Australian alumina in July fell to USD 318.4/mt, and although this price is still higher than the USD 309/mt from a year ago, it is the lowest price since September 2012.
After a failed bid to buy surplus alumina from National Aluminium Company (Nalco) to run its alumina smelting facility at Jharsuguda, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) has sought the intervention of the Odisha government on the matter. With its aluminum smelter at risk, VAL wants the state government to convince Nalco to sell its surplus alumina at export prices. The Lanjigarh alumina refinery of VAL is running at a depleted capacity of 30-40 per cent on outsourced bauxite from states like Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and this is hurting alumina availability for its smelter plant. "Presently, Nalco is exporting surplus alumina to the tune of of over one million tonne per year. The diversion of this surplus alumina for VAL's alumina smelter will generate extra revenue to Nalco of around...
National Aluminium Co (NALCO), based in Bhubaneswar, India, is planning to raise its alumina output by 19% and its alumina exports by 40% for this fiscal year, in a bid to increase dollar inflow into India’s weakening economy. With the recent decline in the value of the rupee, Asia’s third largest economy is looking to boost exports and reduce imports of commodities such as gold. NALCO is India’s largest exporter of alumina, and its latest plans to increase alumina exports to 1.4Mt could raise roughly US$400m based on current prices. This weakness in the rupee is making Indian products more competitive abroad, and has prompted other state owned companies, such as the Steel Authority of India Ltd, to raise their exports as well.
