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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MINING giant Rio Tinto has extended its deadline for the Northern Territory government to find a supply of gas to power the company's loss-making aluminium refinery in Arnhem Land, the NT's largest private enterprise. Chief Minister Terry Mills will now make a last-minute dash to Europe in a bid to stop the miner closing the refinery on the Gove Peninsula, with the loss of 1000 direct jobs. Mr Mills yesterday continued to hold out against Rio's demands the government unconditionally give up almost half its remaining contracted gas supply from a field east of Darwin to power the mining giant's plant. He declared to do so could expose taxpayers to 75 per cent utility price hikes in the future. "This government is doing all it can to secure the Northern Territory's electricity supply and...
Last-ditch efforts are underway to persuade Rio Tinto to maintain production at its Gove alumina refinery in Australia after talks with potential gas suppliers to reduce costs ended without a resolution. Rio Tinto subsidiary Pacific Aluminium has said if it can't run the 2.5 million tonnes-per-year refinery on natural gas it will suspend production, putting up to 1,400 jobs at risk, many from within the indigenous communities of far north Australia, one of the country's most economically depressed regions. The company set a Jan. 31 deadline to find the gas. The fate of the refinery represents the first hardline decision facing Rio Tinto's new chief executive, Sam Walsh, as under-performing units in the company come under tougher scrutiny following $14 billion in writedowns last month. The...
Fitch Ratings has affirmed Clarendon Alumina Production Limited's (CAP) foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) at 'B-'. Fitch has also affirmed CAP's USD200 million 8.5% unsecured notes due November 2021 at 'B-/RR4'. The notes continue to be supported by an explicit unconditional and Irrevocable guarantee by the Government of Jamaica (GoJ) for the timely payment of interest and principal. The Rating Outlook is revised to Negative from Stable. The Negative Outlook on CAP's ratings follows the revision of Jamaica's Outlook to Negative on Jan. 18, 2013 to reflect rising financing constraints in the context of elevated fiscal and external imbalances. CAP's ratings are directly linked to the GoJ. CAP is 100% owned by the GoJ and is the holding company for its 45% ownership in...
The loss-making Gove peninsula aluminium refinery and bauxite mine in Nhulunbuy, in the Northern Territory’s Arnhem Land, will have its fate decided today. Around 800 people staged a rally to display their concern at the possible closure of the plant, operated by Rio Tinto subsidiary Pacific Aluminium. A closure would end 1,200 jobs at the peninsula’s major employer. The plant, which loses an estimated $30 million each month, currently runs on diesel. Pacific is examining converting its energy supply to gas, but a pipeline would be expensive to build. Some rally attendees said yesterday that over half of Nhulubuy’s 4000 residents could leave if the smelter is closed. "Most of you won't be here if we don't get gas, it's as simple as that," Klaus Helms, the East Arnhem Regional Futures...
Rio Tinto said on Wednesday that it was producing alumina in Australia's Queensland state at lower rates following heavy rains and flooding caused by ex-tropical cyclone Oswald. Rio said production was temporarily suspended at its Yarwun alumina refinery due to record rainfall around the Gladstone facility, one of the largest owned by the company's Alcan unit. Rio is in the process of expanding annual production capacity at Yarwun to 3.4 million metric tons of alumina by the end of September. Rio also said the Queensland Alumina Ltd. refinery at Gladstone was operating at reduced rates following the storm. Rio owns 80% of the refinery, with the remaining interest held by United Co. Rusal PLC.
Platts Australian alumina assessment at $338/mt FOB was unchanged from Friday despite news of production cuts in Queensland, Australia due to storms and flooding. Reports of the run cuts came during the Asian business day, but market participants mostly said they planned to wait and see what impact they might have. Rio Tinto Alcan confirmed Monday it has curtailed alumina production in Queensland due to severe weather from the remains of Tropical Cyclone Oswald. The company has taken offline the 3.4 million mt/year Yarwun refinery, and reduced the operating rate of the 3.95 million mt/year Queensland Alumina Ltd refinery in Gladstone, spokesman Ian McGoldrick said. McGoldrick said the Yarwun refinery would restart when it was safe to do so. RTA's bauxite mining operations in Weipa,...
Alumina traders are struggling to find any available cargoes in the first quarter of 2013, as many producers sold forward much of their first-quarter material and will not be responding to enquiries until late March, when they will have material available for the second quarter. Metal Bulletin’s fob Australia alumina index price has stayed flat at $333.5 per tonne since January 11, with almost no business reported throughout the second half of January after several deals were transacted in the range of $330-336 per tonne in the early part of the month. Traders looking for material said that there is now almost nothing available until the end of March. “We’re enquiring for February but we can’t find anything – there’s a bit of a shortage,” a trader said. “Producers have contracted all...
People in the remote Northern Territory town of Nhulunbuy are planning a rally on Wednesday to show resources giant Rio Tinto Ltd, that "they matter". With Rio's self-imposed deadline of January 31 for a report on the viability of their Gove alumina operations, people in the satellite town of Nhulunbuy say they are being forgotten. Dave Suter from the Nhulunbuy Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the rally was to send a message to Rio Tinto's head office in London that people relied on the refinery staying open. "We are bitter and twisted over here, that is for sure," Mr Suter said. About 3500 live in Nhulunbuy, with most relying economically on the huge alumina refinery and bauxite mine run by Rio Tinto subsidiary Pacific Aluminium. But the high Australian dollar, low alumina prices...
National Aluminium Company ( Nalco), which has an exportable alumina surplus of nearly one million tonne per annum, stands to gain Rs 250 crore if it agrees to sell the intermediate product to its competitor - Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL). The business deal, though apparently lucrative, is not tempting enough for Nalco, which prefers to export the surplus alumina. According to a VAL source, “Nalco can save up to $22 a tonne (or Rs 1,200) towards alumina transportation cost from Damanjodi to Visakhapatanam. This includes Rs 600 per tonne of railway freight, Rs 300 a tonne towards port handling charges, Rs 150 per tonne for operation and maintenance and Rs 200 a tonne for loading and unloading at port.” "In their last tender for export of 30,000 tonne of alumina, Nalco had quoted a price of...
The Northern Territory outback town of Nhulunbuy is facing a devastating blow, as a government bid to save an alumina refinery may be too little too late. Nhulunbuy, a satellite town of the Gove alumina refinery and bauxite mine, has been waiting anxiously for news of whether mining giant Rio Tinto will keep the operation going. Analysts say the refinery has recently been losing $US30 million each month, or about $200 million in the past 12 months. Western Australia state manager of Patersons Securities, Lewis Fellowes, expects Rio Tinto to mothball the site. "Is Rio Tinto prepared to continue to operate on a plant that is currently losing $US30 million per month for at least the next 18 months in the current aluminium environment?" "My answer to that is no," Mr Fellowes told AAP....
The Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL) may miss its March-end deadline to start production at its plant as tribals have set development of the area as a precondition to allow bauxite mining in the area. Many official criteria also need to be fulfilled. The UAIL, a subsidiary of Kumar Mangalam Birla's Hindalco group, has set up a 4.5 million tonne bauxite mining plant at Baphlimalli hills and a 1.5 million TPA alumina refinery at Doragurah in Kashipur block of Raygada district. According to sources, the permission the company obtained in September, 2012, to start mining at Baphlimali Hills stands cancelled and now the company needs to apply afresh to begin mining. "As Utkal Alumina failed to start mining within three months of obtaining the permission in September,2012, that order...
On 22nd Jan, Orbite Alumina announced that it successfully produced its first tonne of high-purity alumina (HPA) during the last week of December 2012 and early January 2013 as part of the initial commissioning and testing activities at its commercial-scale HPA production plant in Cap-Chat, Quebec. HPA samples were independently tested by EAG confirming that an initial purity of greater than 4N (4N+) was achieved during this initial production period. Further commissioning activities -- and optimization of the purity towards 5N and greater -- are expected to take up to two months to complete and are proceeding according to schedule. "This is a great moment for Orbite. The initial production demonstrates the Company's ability to design, build, and operate a commercial alumina facility...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. shares rose more than six per cent in heavy trading Tuesday on news that the Quebec company has produced its first tonne of high-purity alumina. The stock reached $2.82 in midday trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up from the previous close of $2.65, with more than 2 million shares changing hands. Montreal-based Orbite is trying to commercialize a patented technology for extracting alumina from clay soil. The locally sourced alumina is extracted from clay in the Grande-Vallée territory in Quebec’s Gaspé region. Company founder, president and chief executive officer Richard Boudreault is betting that he can economically produce the alumina to supply the province’s aluminum producers and help them save millions of dollars in transportation costs to bring in the raw...
Subject to closing of the planned Sapa joint venture between Hydro and Orkla, Executive Vice President of Extruded Products, Hans-Joachim Kock, has been appointed Head of Finance in Hydro's Bauxite & Alumina business area after Eivind Kallevik, who has recently been appointed CFO in Hydro. The announced transaction between Hydro and Orkla to create a global extrusion company is subject to approval from relevant competition authorities.
Hindalco Industries, the metals flagship of the Aditya Birla Group, today said it has finalised arrangement for acquiring alumina refinery and bauxite mines in Brazil from its wholly-owned subsidiary Novelis as part of corporate reorganisation plan. "Hindalco Industries has finalised its arrangement for acquiring alumina refinery and bauxite mines from Novelis Do Brasil, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Novelis. The agreement was executed between Novelis Do Brasil, Novelis and AV Minerals (Netherlands), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hindalco Industries," the company said in a statement. The Alumina Refinery, with a capacity of 145 KTPA, situated in the city of Ouro Preto, State of Minas Gerias, Brazil, has mining rights of over 50 million tonnes of bauxite reserves. "This transaction will be...
Alumina Limited was downgraded by Goldman Sachs from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Thursday. Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded shares of Alumina Limited from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note to investors on Wednesday, January 9th. Separately, analysts at JPMorgan Chase upgraded shares of Alumina Limited from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note to investors on Friday, November 23rd. Finally, analysts at Bank of America upgraded shares of Alumina Limited from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note to investors on Friday, November 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy...
Non-ferrous metals producer Hindalco Industries plans to start its 1.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) alumina refinery in Odisha by the end of March 2013, a company official said on Wednesday. The plant, in Odisha's Rayagada district, was scheduled to start operations in January, but has been delayed due to slow progress of project work. "We hope to commission the plant by end of March," S.K Mishra, a senior advisor at Utkal Alumina International Ltd (UAIL), a wholly-owned unit of Hindalco, told Reuters. Hindalco's bauxite mining in the state, which was scheduled to start in October 2012, has also been delayed and may start by the end of January. Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL), a wholly-owned unit of Hindalco, may start extracting bauxite from its mines in Odisha's Rayagada...
Rio Tinto says it is too expensive to keep using heavy fuel oil as a power source and has threatened to shut its alumina refinery on the Gove peninsula, 600km east of Darwin. Rio's subsidiary Pacific Aluminium wants taxpayers to provide a $900 million gas pipeline over 600km from Katherine to Gove. It also wants up to five years' worth of the Territory's own gas supply reportedly worth a billion dollars, from Eni Australia's Blacktip field. If it doesn't get what it wants, the 3800-strong mining town of Nhulunbuy may lose 800 jobs. Gove has been losing money and Rio Tinto wants to sell it. Pacific Aluminium is conducting a review of its operations with results expected at the end of the month. And it has the Territory over a barrel. The new CLP Government doesn't want to see job losses...
