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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SMM data indicate that settlement prices for alumina long-term contracts in May are RMB 2,483/mt, 17% of the closing prices of SHFE three-month aluminum contracts. The price is RMB 25/mt lower than in April, and also down RMB 102/mt from January. Domestic alumina prices stabilized before and after the May Day holiday. The traded prices of domestic alumina are now RMB 2,460-2,590/mt, compared with RMB 2,550-2,590/mt in Henan and Shandong and RMB 2,460-2,530/mt in Shanxi and Guangxi. SMM understands domestic alumina prices failed to rebound due to persistently depressed aluminum prices and as aluminum smelters tried to push down input costs against their own losses. SMM expects alumina prices to remain weak for the foreseeable future given the production cuts by some aluminum smelters and...
State-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO), India's third-largest producer of aluminium, has issued a spot tender to export 30,000 tonnes of alumina, two company sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The last date of submission of bids is May 14 and delivery would be made at the end of this month, said the officials, who did not wish to be named. NALCO, whose tenders serve as a global benchmark, last sold 30,000 tonnes of alumina at $345 per tonne free on board (FOB) to a Dubai-based trader in March via a tender.
The green field bauxite mining and refinery project of Utkal Alumina International Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Limited and a part of the Aditya Birla Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate is ready for commissioning and will be operational by the end of this month. “The trial-run is on which will be followed by trial production thereby making the project fully operational,” said Rajesh Kumar Jha, the Chief-Executive Officer and Managing Director of the UAIL to this OdishaDiary Senior Editor today. The UAIL has set up a 4.5 million ton per annum bauxite mining plant at Baphlimali hills and has established its alumina refinery at Doraguda under Kashipur block in the district which once operational will produce 1.5 million ton per annum. Many development...
The Institute of Minerals and Material Technology has succeeded in extracting alumina from industrial waste fly ash and is all set to become the first laboratory in the country to develop the process into a commercially viable technology for the industries. The scientists at IMMT have extracted aluminium sulphate using fly ash. Fly ash is an industrial waste generated from thermal power plants and is used mostly in cement and brick making industries. The scientists got the project sanctioned by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research under 12th Five Year Plan for extraction of metals from industrial waste.
The government is to get a loan from GLENCORE to help fund the operations of Clarendon Alumina Partners Limited. The Administration recently indicated that it has put off plans to divest CAP but stressed that the loss-making entity would cease to be a burden on the public purse. Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips said GLENCORE is to give the government a line of credit to help with production at CAP. However, Phillips did not say the amount which will be provided. However, he said GLENCORE would retain payments to the government for the sale of alumina to service the loan. The government had to seek out a loan after negotiations between GLENCORE and the majority partner in the JAMALCO joint venture, ALCOA, were unsuccessful. The finance minister told the parliament that AlCOA declined a...
Data from the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association show that China’s alumina output hit nearly 3.5 million mt during March this year, up 12.36% YoY. YTD output through March amounted to 9.09 million mt, also up 13.88% YoY. The 3.5 million mt in alumina output in March is equivalent to an annualized capacity of 41.17 million mt/yr. The number was 3.11 million mt in March last year, with annualized capacity reported at 36.63 million mt/yr. This indicates a 4.54 million mt/yr increase in operating capacity in March this year, a sign of rising alumina supply in China. Chinese alumina producers using imported bauxite, including Chalco, cut production against the Indonesian government’s export restrictions on bauxite in 2012. Nevertheless, alumina supply in China has shown no signs of...
The public hearing on the environment impact assessment for the proposed $830 million alumina refinery project of RSB Metaltech Pvt Ltd in south Odisha’s Rayagada district was disrupted on Wednesday as several project opponents stormed the venue at Kiapadu, some 25 km from Rayagada town. The project opponents did not allow peaceful conduct of hearing by the State Pollution Control Board, forcing the district authorities to adjourn the hearing. Though tension prevailed at the area for some time, the situation was brought under control. “No clash occurred between the project supporters and the opponents”, said a senior police officer. It may be recalled that EIA for RSB's alumina project was also disrupted in 2011 when a host of affected people voiced their opposition to the project....
In an unexpected about-turn, the Government has announced it will discontinue the process of divesting its shares in the loss-making Clarendon Alumina Partners. The government has been attempting to offload its 45 per cent interest in the Jamalco Refinery held by CAP which has been racking up billions of dollars in losses. Making his contribution to the Budget Debate this afternoon, Mining Minister, Phillip Paulwell, said Cabinet made the decision to keep CAP after it received and considered a report from its negotiating team. He said he’s now awaiting approval from the boards of the proposed buyer Glencore and Alcoa, which owns CAP’s remaining shares, before making the report public. Paulwell said the approval from both entities is expected by month-end. He said shortly after assuming...
On Tuesday, more than a thousand people gathered at the main gate of Vedanta’s Alumina Refinery and met the President and Chief Operating Officer, Mukesh Kumar, demanding re-opening of the plant, the company said. The plant has stopped work since December 5, owing to non-supply of bauxite. They submitted a memorandum seeking restarting of the refinery, which provides livelihood to over 10,000 people in Kalahandi and Rayagada district. Kumar is said to have assured the locals that the management would try its best to re-start the plant. “We have been trying to procure bauxite to run the refinery but our attempts have gone in vain. However, after the decision of the Inter-Ministerial Committee of the State Government on April 30, we may be in a position to take some concrete steps. As of...
The Jamaican government and Russian mining company Rusal have agreed to reopen two of the Caribbean island's alumina plants within three years, Jamaica's energy and mining minister, Phillip Paulwell, announced on Wednesday. Rusal, the world's largest aluminum producer, has been operating in Jamaica since 2007 and controls 65 percent of the island's alumina production capacity. Jamaica is rich in bauxite, the ore used to produce alumina, a key ingredient for making aluminum. It also suffers from high production costs because of its dependence on imported oil. The two largely oil-powered plants, Alumina Partners and Kirkvine, will have a new energy source, Paulwell told the Jamaican Parliament in his budget presentation on Wednesday. "Rusal has presented a plan for an energy solution as...
Hydro's underlying earnings before financial items and tax rose to NOK 1,077 million in the first quarter, from NOK 172 million in the fourth quarter 2012. Higher alumina, aluminium and power prices, increased sales volumes and improved margins contributed to underlying results. "We continue to see positive effects of our ambitious improvement efforts across the company, further strengthening our industry position. We will strengthen our efforts, particularly in the strategically important Bauxite & Alumina business area, where operational performance is a top priority," Hydro's President and CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg said. "Overall, we experience increased macro uncertainty. We expect a balanced primary aluminium market in 2013, based on expected demand growth outside China of 2-4...
China's alumina imports fell by 55% y/y to 195Kt in March (down 45% m/m), but total Q1 imports of 1Mt were only 11% lower than last year, according to Barclays report. China also imported 19Kt of primary aluminium in March, down by 70% y/y from last year’s high base. Imports have rebounded from 8.7Kt in February as arb reopened in late March. Semis exports rose to 250Kt in March while imports held steady at 44Kt. As China became increasingly oversupplied but primary exports are subject to a high tariff, smelters may seek to export semis. So far, however, exports have risen only by 4% y/y in Q1.
According to China Customs, China imported 195,200 mt of alumina in March. YTD imports through March amounted to 1.03 million mt, down 10.9% YoY. China’s alumina imports began to fall sharply in March. Australia continued to be China’s largest biggest alumina supplier in Q1, whose alumina accounted for 99.38% of China’s total imports, compared with 89.5% in the same period last year. Two factors are behind the rise in China’s Australian alumina imports. First, Australia is the most import global alumina supplier. Second, CIF prices for Australian alumina are lower, which averaged USD 357/mt in March. China’s imports of Brazilian alumina, in contrast, fell sharply to zero in Q1
No families would be displaced by the proposed ‘Integrated Aluminium Complex’ project of RSB Metaltech Private Limited in Rayagada district, claimed the authorities of the company. The company proposes to invest $1199 million in this project which would have 0.7 million ton per annum alumina refinery in Rayagada district. It may be noted that the RSB Metaltech is a company completely owned by Odia entrepreneurs. As per the authorities of the company, the greatest plus point of their proposed project is that no one would be physically displaced for the project. This project would come up on 1516 acres of land of Gumma and Serigumma panchayats in Kalyansinghpur block of Rayagada district. Sixteen villages are to be affected by the project but the plan of the project has been drawn up in...
Vedanta Resources Plc, controlled by billionaire Anil Agarwal, may soon restart a mothballed alumina refinery after a change in mining rules helps resume supply of raw materials to the plant. Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. had to shut its factory in December at Lanjigarh in the eastern state of Odisha after permits held by bauxite miners in the neighboring states of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh expired. The environment ministry said March 13 that they don’t need fresh approvals to renew those licenses, clarifying an earlier court order and paving the way for replenishments of the ore. “The move has provided an opportunity to us,” Sushil Kumar Roongta, managing director of Vedanta Aluminium, said in an interview. “We’re working to see how soon we can get raw material commitment needed to restart the...
Deputy Minister-designate for the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, John Abdulai Jinapor, yesterday, appeared before the Appointments Committee of Parliament, and told its members that the government would not sit idle and see the Volta Aluminum Company collapse. He said, as per the assessment carried out on the company that was once the leader in the production of alumina in the sub-region, VALCO was still a viable venture which needed capital investment to operate at full capacity. "Ultimately, I believe VALCO can be made into a profit-making venture," he noted. According to Mr. Jinapor, VALCO was currently operating one out of its five port lines, due to unavailability of energy. "If we have enough energy, VALCO can run on all the five port lines. And with those five port lines, we can...
Credit Suisse downgraded shares of Alumina Limited from a neutral rating to an underperform rating in a report issued on Tuesday. Alumina Limited traded down 1.48% on Tuesday, hitting $4.325. Alumina Limited has a 1-year low of $2.65 and a 1-year high of $5.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $4.65. The company’s market cap is $3.034 billion. Separately, analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded shares of Alumina Limited from a neutral rating to a sell rating in a research note to investors on Thursday, January 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold.
Demanding resumption of operations in Vedanta alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Odisha’s Kalahandi district, a large number of locals today said livelihood of over 15,000 people was badly hit after the plant was shut down in December last year. A delegation of locals meet Kalahandi district Collector Gobinda Chandra Sathy today and apprised him about the problems being faced by them following closure of the refinery due to lack of bauxite. “We handed over a memorandum to our district Collector where nearly 10,000 people from our region have signed. We will also go to the Chief Minister with these signatures, even more, and will request him to take steps to resume the alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminium Limited,” said Sridhara Pesnia, President, Lanjigarh Anchalika Vikash Parishad. A...
