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...
Grow with
AL Circle
More than 100 former construction workers will reunite this weekend at Gladstone in central Queensland, to celebrate 45 years since the construction of the world's largest alumina refinery. It took three years and thousands of workers to build Queensland Alumina Limited's (QAL) refinery in Gladstone, which was completed in 1967. The development transformed the then small rural township into one of the country's largest industrial cities. Original QAL worker Jim Elliot says he is expecting some surprised reactions from those attending. "Many of these people have not seen Gladstone in 40 years and Gladstone in that time has multiplied five, six, seven-fold in size in some of the areas," he said. "I think there's going to be a lot of amazement and in truth, a lot of us local people - I went...
Melbourne-based Alumina Ltd has secured an agreement limiting its exposure to Alcoa's $US85 million ($83m) cash settlement of a US civil bribery and fraud lawsuit from state-controlled Aluminium Bahrain (Alba). The Alcoa settlement was without admitting any liability and includes a long-term alumina sales agreement that Alba said had an additional settlement value of $US362m. Alba filed the lawsuit in 2008 in what was the first case of its type brought by a foreign business in a US court. It alleged it paid $US500m more than it should have for alumina supplies over more than 20 years because of bribery and fraud. Alcoa and Alumina are 60:40 partners in the Alcoa-managed AWAC global alumina alliance which supplied alumina from its Australian operations to a Singapore-based company...
The Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. (VAL), which will soon close down its refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district, has also decided to discontinue operation of its 75 mw captive power plant there. The VAL on Wednesday informed this to the local executive engineer of the power distribution company, WESCO, the reason being to buy electricity from the public grid for keeping some of the highly sensitive machineries of the refinery and the captive unit alive. "Since the refinery is going to close down, there is no need for keeping the power plant running. All that we need 8 to 10 mw of uninterrupted power for idle running of the systems of the whole project. Hence, we have approached the WESCO," said a Vedanta functionary. The letter said the refinery had been "facing great difficulties for the...
Alumina received no dividends from its joint venture partner Alcoa in the three months to September after the US company posted a third quarter loss of $US143 million ($A140.96 million). Melbourne-based Alumina's only earning asset is its 40 per cent stake in Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC), which it co-owns with Alcoa. Alcoa's loss in the third quarter of calendar 2012 was caused by one-off charges relating to legal action and environmental issues. Its underlying earnings of $US32 million ($A31.54 million) were higher than analyst expectations. Alumina chief executive John Bevan said AWAC's third quarter financial performance reflected lower alumina prices and the Australian dollar's continued strength. But, he said, there were signs of better conditions. "There have been early...
Rumours that jobs will be lost at Gladstone's Queensland Alumina Limited refinery have been confirmed, with the company announcing plans to restructure its operations to ensure the refinery can compete successfully in all market conditions. QAL chairman Armando Torres said the aluminium sector in Australia was facing extremely difficult market conditions due to a high exchange rate, higher costs of production, low metal process and new taxes. "The organisational restructure is a necessary step in the process of protecting QAL's long term viability and ensuring the refinery is stable and profitable under all market conditions." The restructure will involve a reduction in the number of support roles across the site. No front line roles will be made redundant. QAL has today begun...
Orbite Aluminae is making significant progress in the development of a smelter-grade alumina (SGA) plant to process aluminous clay using its proprietary process at its Grande-Vallée property in Quebec. In September, Orbite was granted a 20-year mining lease for its Grande-Vallée deposit and confirmed it is ahead of schedule on construction of the Cap-Chat high-purity alumina (HPA) plant, due to start production in Q113. Orbite continues to reinforce its green credentials, having recently developed its proprietary clean process technology to produce alumina from fly ash, a waste product from coal-fired thermal power plants, as well as red mud. In March, Orbite signed an MoU with RUSAL to invest in a JV to realise an SGA plant by 2015. In May, the revised Preliminary Economic Assessment...
The US$460-million Tan Rai alumina plant in Lam Dong Province will be put into operation on November 1 instead of this month as previously announced, the Tan Rai bauxite project management board has said. The delay, because of unsatisfactory preparation, was announced at yesterday’s meeting between the board, the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Group (Vinacomin), and Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Le Duong Quang. At the meeting, Phan Boi Loi, director of the board, said that nearly all the work items of the plant have been completed, but a number of them have yet to meet requirements in terms of technique and stability. For example, the thermal power house has failed to run at a capacity of 30 MW, while some other times have yet to operate stably, Loi said. When discussing about the...
Russian aluminium producer Rusal is expected to halt its plans for a $400 million gas-fired power plant at its Queensland Alumina refinery, The Australian Financial Review reports. According to the newspaper, Rusal Australia chairman John Hannagan said the company is uncertain if it will able to access supplies of lower-priced gas needed to ensure the project's viability. “That is one investment we don’t believe stacks up in the current environment," he said. “It’s a significant project but to really make it work you need a very long-term secure gas contract that is competitive and at the moment we don’t think the environment for a competitive gas contract is there.” Rusal has been looking to commission a gas-fired co-generation plant with its joint venture partner Rio Tinto Ltd in a push...
Tax profits at Rusal Aughinish in Limerick have fallen 80pc to $4.9m (€3.7m). The plant at Aughinish on the Shannon Estuary, which employs 450 staff, is Europe's biggest alumina refinery. Profits are down on rising costs, which have squeezed margins at the plant from 5pc to just 1.4pc. The Aughinish Alumina refinery has been valued at $1.2bn by its Russian parent, United Company Rusal. At the end of last year accumulated profits at the Irish venture were $229.4m, according to accounts filed with the Companies Registration Office. Its parent company Rusal is controlled by Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, who bought the Irish plant from the Swiss trading firm, Glencore, in 2007. Revenues dropped by almost a quarter to $496.9m last year, according to the accounts. The Aughinish refinery...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. is a high flying Quebec-based junior miner hoping to strike it rich extracting alumina and rare earth elements from a vast deposit of mineral-rich clays in the Gaspé region. If the technology works as hoped, Orbite could offer a low cost and environmentally superior alternative to bauxite, the current source of the world’s supply of alumina, which is smelted into aluminum. The technology could also be adapted to produce extremely pure, high-grade alumina needed for such applications as LED lights and computer screens. Excitement over Orbite’s prospects has propelled the stock from as little as 14 cents a share in mid-2010 to around $3.10 now. The shares had a pop Tuesday, following the company’s announcement that it has designed a breakthrough that would chop 30 per...
Resources company Cape Alumina Limited has resumed planning a bauxite mine on a wildlife preserve named in honour of environmental campaigner Steve Irwin. Cape Alumina planned to build a large bauxite mine at Pisolite Hills, on Cape York, where the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve is located. The plans were shelved after the former Queensland government in 2010 declared the Wenlock River to be a wild river, placing stringent environmental regulations on the entire basin. The current government has promised to repeal the Cape York Wild Rivers declarations and has established a Cape York Regional Planning Committee to identify zones of economic development and environmental protection. Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney has said there should be greater scope for mining in the region. In a statement to...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. said it has achieved major technical achievements building the final design phase of the smelter-grade alumina (SGA) plant. With the support of M&K, a North American leader in chemical process design, Orbite successfully modified the SGA plant design by incorporating the best practices from the chemical industry and expanding the breadth of its innovative processes, resulting in a significant reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels by at least 30%, and of water by at least 60%. According to the Orbite Aluminae press release, these advancements should lead to a major reduction in the number of operational units required in various aspects of the SGA plant, and provide the basis for a decrease of the estimated operating and capital costs. The SGA plant feasibility...
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has promised to initiate efforts to avert the closure of the Lanjigarh plant of Vedanta Aluminium. The company has said it would shut down the plant from December 5 citing the lack of assured supplies of bauxite. This promise was given to a 30-member delegation comprising representatives of the employees and the local community when they met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar on Saturday. They appealed to him to save the Vedanta alumina refinery at Lanjigarh. The delegation submitted a memorandum and appealed for regular supplies of bauxite from Odisha to the alumina refinery at Lanjigarh so that the company doesn’t close it down. The Chief Minister told the delegation, “I will follow it up and take the matter forward in consultation with the...
Interfax-China reported that higher alumina prices overseas weighed on China’s imports of the aluminum ingredient in August and prices continue to rise on the back production cuts among major global players. Alumina imports August dropped 31.61% MoM to 35,035 tonnes show customs data released September 21st 2012. Mr Zhang Chengguang an analyst with SMM Information & Technology attributed the drop to higher prices overseas. The average FOB price for alumina was USD 311 per tonne in July, while in August it climbed USD 8 per tonne to USD 319 per tonne. Mr Zhang said that "The rising trend has continued in September with many deals in the last two weeks going through at USD 325 per tonne. Adding freight and insurance costs the total would reach CNY 2,700 to CNY 2,800 per tonne higher than...
Orbite Aluminae today announced that, based on its patented clean technology for producing alumina, the Company has successfully developed process parameters and a final design for the production of alumina (smelter-grade or high-purity) using fly ash which is created during coal combustion. This is a promising advancement of Orbite's green technology, offering attractive opportunities for thermal power producers worldwide. Fly ash typically contains alumina concentrations ranging from 5-35% along with significant levels of silica, iron, rare earths and rare metals, depending on the original composition of the coal. According to the International Energy Agency, coal generates approximately 41% of the world's electricity and is a significant fuel source for many industrial thermal...
Hundreds of workers and leaders of Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) Monday held a demonstration at Damanjodi in Koraput district against the central government's decision of disinvestment in state-run Nalco, a party leader said. Demanding a rollback of the decision, the activists demonstrated outside the alumina refinery of the National Aluminium Company Ltd. in Damanjodi. The protestors said they would intensify their agitation until the government withdraws its decision. "This is an unfortunate decision. When the public sector undertaking was making profits, we do not know what prompted the government to disinvest," said Jayaram Pangi, Lok Sabha member from Koraput. The central government holds an 87.15 percent stake in the aluminium maker. The union cabinet recently decided to...
The head of an alumina plant that caused a massive toxic spill in western Hungary in 2010 went on trial Monday along with 14 employees, accused of negligence. Ten people were killed and some 150 injured after a holding reservoir at the MAL alumina plant in Ajka burst its walls on October 4, 2010, sending 1.1 million cubic metres (38.8 million cubic feet) of poisonous red sludge into the surrounding area. The 15 accused, headed by MAL's managing director Zoltan Bakonyi, have been charged with negligence, waste management violations and damages to the environment. Witness hearings are to be held at the court in Veszprem, near the site of the disaster, until late October. It was unclear when a verdict was expected. MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company was already ordered in...
Chinese power equipment manufacturer Shanghai Shandong Nuclear Power Construction (SSNP) has filed a case against Vedanta Aluminium for allegedly causing losses due to work stoppage at the latter's controversial alumina refinery in Lanjigarh, Odisha. SSNP has pleaded for arbitration to recover its dues against Vedanta saying the firm has incurred "tremendous losses". The dispute can be traced back to Vedanta's controversial plan to expand its alumina capacities in Lanjigarh, Odisha, with bauxite mined from the nearby Niyamgiri hills. The environment ministry put a stop to the plans by denying clearance, thus depriving the alumina plant of a crucial raw material and forcing it to shut down. According to the petition, the order for a power plant by Vedanta Aluminium was placed in 2008 for...
