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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India's state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) has finalised a long-term contract to export 330,000 tonnes of alumina for shipment in 2013 at 16.07 percent of the LME aluminium price on an FOB basis, the company sources said on Tuesday. The Singapore-based buyer will receive the alumina in batches between January and December next year. NALCO, whose tenders serve as a global benchmark, last November sold 240,000 tonnes of alumina for deliveries in 2012 to a Switzerland-based buyer at 16.39 percent of the LME aluminium price on an FOB basis.
According to China Customs, China imported 320,000 mt of alumina in August, up 811% YoY, but down 30% from July’s 460,000 mt. YTD imports from January through August were 3.24 million mt, up 192% YoY. SMM attributes monthly decline of alumina imports to falling domestic alumina prices and the fact that imported alumina enjoyed no price advantage. Without price advantage, domestic aluminum smelters with long-term contracts mostly sold alumina overseas. Price advantage of imported alumina, especially that of Australian alumina, can best explain why alumina imports grew significantly in China in the first eight months of this year. Entering 2012, prices of Australian alumina dropped along with LME aluminum prices. Besides, some overseas aluminum smelters shut down capacity to reduce...
Street clashes broke out on Sunday in the Guinean industrial town of Fria, home to RUSAL's huge alumina refinery, after local youths armed with knives and guns attacked suspected black market fuel salesmen, witnesses and officials said. At least 20 people were injured in the fighting which ran for several hours before regional security forces arrived in the afternoon to break it up, witnesses said. "Some youths ... were angry at some traders who, according to them, were selling diesel stolen from the refinery on the black market," a resident told Reuters, on condition of anonymity. "Several of them were attacked and the merchants retaliated." Guinea is the world's top supplier of the aluminum ore bauxite and holds rich iron ore deposits, but is struggling to attract investment due to...
Orbite Aluminae, a leading provider of clean technology and developer of alumina projects, today announced it recently received a notice of allowance for two patent applications in Russia and in China for its alumina extraction technology. This unique process is for extracting aluminum from aluminous ores and efficient separation of iron from aluminum resulting in the production of high-purity alumina (HPA) or smelter-grade alumina (SGA). Orbite has already been issued six patents for this same technology: two in Canada, two in the United States (the most recent on August 14, 2012), and recently added two important ones in Australia (the most recent on July 26, 2012). "Building the Company's intellectual property portfolio is a vital part of our long-term growth potential, and we are...
BHP Billiton came out with its annual report recently showing that the record annual production at the Alumar refinery, Brazil, contributed to a 4% increase in total alumina production in FY2012. Metal production was lower as potline capacity at Hillside in South Africa was temporarily curtailed following a major unplanned outage in the March 2012 quarter. Underlying EBIT for FY2012 decreased by $557 million to a loss of $291 million as weaker prices and cost escalation drove significant margin compression. An 8% reduction in the average realized price of aluminium to $2314 per tonne and a 3% decline in the average realized price of alumina (to $333 per tonne) reduced Underlying EBIT by $245 million, net of price-linked costs. Higher raw material costs for inputs such as coke and caustic...
Orbite Aluminae today announced that, leveraging its patented processes for high-purity and smelter-grade alumina production, the Company has developed a purification technology to purify silica based on its hydrochloric acid leaching process. This development allows the Company to purify silica to the 99.9% (3N) level and provides a conceptual base to eventually reach purities of 99.999% (5N) to 99.99999% (7N). "We are very proud of this technological development," stated Denis Primeau, the Company's Chief Engineer. "Utilizing Orbite's existing processes, we can now take a product that was already at acceptable levels of purity – 96% – up to levels of 3N and greater, making it a value added product." Worldwide, metallurgical grade silica consumption was 1.37 billion metric tonnes in 2009...
Euro Pacific Canada analyst Luisa Moreno has initiated coverage on Orbite Aluminae Inc. which has developed a unique technology to produce alumina from clays, with a "buy" rating, the Globe & Mail reported. She believes the company will be able to start up a full-scale smelter-grade alumina plant by 2015 that will also produce significant byproducts. "If the process viability is proven, we expect to see an increased interest in the Orbite process as the need for new alumina refineries arises," she said. Moreno set a 12-month price target of $8.
In a major setback toVedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), the Odisha Government on Tuesday expressed its inability to immediately supply bauxite to Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) after the company sought permission to shut down its refinery at Lanjigarh due to scarcity of raw material. After attending the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) meeting Chief Secretary B K Patnaik said, "The state government is not ready at the moment to supply bauxite to Vedanta's refinery at Lanjigarh. VAL's case in the matter of bauxite mining is pending in the Supreme Court ... They (VAL) are trying to arrange raw material for the plant Though the state has a vast reserve of the mineral, it is not able to explore it due to different reasons including forest clearance and mining plan, he said. The state...
Orbite Aluminae today announced that it has prepared a series of detailed white papers covering the Company's technology and markets as well as competitive advantages. "Orbite is pleased to share these in-depth white papers with our investors, customers, and industry colleagues, as they lay the foundation for our growth strategy going forward," said Richard Boudreault, President and CEO of Orbite. "While our business is considered complex by many, our vision is clear – to leverage our advanced technology to cleanly extract alumina and other elements from the earth, meeting rising industry demand. Orbite's proprietary process for alumina extraction does not produce toxic red mud, as do conventional methods; our non-polluting technology recovers a high percentage of alumina and other...
The government will make a purchase offer for Bakonyi Power Plant, which supplies troubled alumina maker MAL, the government spokesman’s office said on Wednesday. The government decided to make the offer after discussing the situation of MAL and the question of bills it owes Bakonyi Power Plant, the office said. “Preserving the affected jobs and provision of heating in the area, Ajka, is of great importance for the government; thus, to manage the problem, the government established a workgroup with the participation of the ministries concerned and will make a negotiated offer with regard to the Bakonyi Power Plant,” it added. On Tuesday, unions of MAL submitted a petition to the government asking for help to save jobs at MAL and its suppliers. MAL employs more than 1,000 workers and the...
Ormet Corp. plans to lay off 200 people at its alumina plant in Ascension Parish because of reduced demand caused by rising power rates in Ohio. The Advocate reports Ormet issued 60-day federal layoff notices last Tuesday for the Burnside plant, which produces the primary raw material used in aluminum production. This comes two weeks after Ormet said it would reduce operations at its aluminum smelter in Hannibal, Ohio, which uses the Burnside alumina. Ormet reopened the shuttered Burnside alumina plant in late 2011, after the plant had been closed for five years. The 60-day notices mean layoffs could begin in early November.
Hundreds of tribals of Kashipur block in Odisha’s Rayagada district blocked the road leading to the mines of Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL) on Friday, demanding fulfillment of their demands. The tribals, who blocked the road near Andrakancho under Baphlimali Surakhya Samiti (BSS), vowed not to allow mining in the area till their demands are fulfilled. "The company has done nothing for the improvement of the living conditions of tribals residing in the mining area. It had promised all-round development of the villages, but has not kept its word," said BSS president Jhudeswar Jhodia. The villagers are demanding among others a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the family of three tribals who were killed in police firing during an anti-mining rally against the UAIL at Maikanch in 2000...
If you go back to the 1960s in Gladstone the biggest employer was the Meatworks and it was a much different place to now. When the meatworks closed down, the entire complexion of the town changed dramatically with a new player in town, Kaiser Engineers and Constuctors who came to build the Queensland Alumina refinery. Jim Elliott and Dick Woolcock are two of the engineers who worked on the construction and they're behind a reunion of past workers who helped construct it happening next month.
After Vedanta Aluminium Limited’s Lanjigarh alumina plant closure notice to the State Government, the save-Vedanta movement seems to be escalating further with hundreds of local people working at the alumina refinery meeting Kalahandi MP Bhakta Charan Das on Saturday and pleading for saving the plant from closure. The locals handed over a memorandum to the MP seeking his intervention in taking their concern to the appropriate authorities so that closure of the Lanjigarh refinery can be averted. The local workforce, more than 300 in numbers, approached the Congress leader at his residence in Bhawanipatna and requested him to consider their demand. “If Vedanta at Lanjigarh will be shut down, thousands of local people working at the refinery will be jobless and livelihood of more than 10,000...
Orbite Aluminae, the company that supplies clean technology and alternative techniques for the alumina manufacturing industry, is set to become the first manufacturer in North America to produce extremely high quality alumina of 5N or 99.999% purity. Orbite is planning to commence production of the high purity alumina (HPA) at its new facility in Cap-Chat in Quebec by the first quarter of 2013. The HPA market is a rapidly growing business primarily driven by the rising demand for LED based lighting and products. The LED market already constitutes more than 50% of the overall HPA market. This market share is expected to expand to 60% by the end of the year 2015 owing to legislation mandates directing the replacement of CFL and incandescent lights with LED. According to Richard Boudreault,...
Bosai will be the only company that owned three foreign bauxite private enterprises. It is learned that this group will invest in Indonesia to build alumina plant after the acquisition of Guyana and Ghana bauxite, which will also gain at least 0.1 billion tons of bauxite mining area. Bosai Minerals Group Co., Ltd. has signed an agreement with Indonesia, recently will invest 1 billion dollars and build 2000 thousand tons alumina plant in local place. At the end of 2006, Bosai Minerals had already bought Guyana Oumai Mining Company, received 0.2 billion tons of aluminium ore resources, became the largest overseas investment at that time in Chongqing. Then, Bosai Minerals invested 30,000 thousand dollars to buy Ghana bauxite the second largest mine, which was belong to Rio Tinto. The...
The global demand for high-quality aluminium trioxide or high-quality alumina (HPA) is expected to soar by a yearly compounded growth rate of 52% over three years to 2015, a report said on Thursday. HPA project developer Orbite Aluminae had commissioned consulting firm Secor to undertake a study to establish the market potential of HPA and Orbite's potential competitive advantages, the results of which was released on Thursday. The study found that the HPA market was expected to increase from 2 030 t in 2009, to 25 350 t by 2015, driven higher mainly by the increasing demand for light-emitting diode (LED) lighting and other high-technology applications. "Global demand for high-purity alumina is quickly exceeding the available supply. Orbite should help address this deficit, which is...
H.I.G. Europe (“H.I.G.”) today announced the closing of its acquisition of the Specialty Alumina business of listed global mining firm Rio Tinto Group. With effect from 1 August 2012, the new group will be renamed ALTEO. With turnover of nearly €300 million, ALTEO is the leading global integrated producer and supplier of specialty non-metallurgical grade alumina. In recent years, ALTEO has faced a number of challenges and undergone significant transformations, particularly in terms of development of high value added products. H.I.G. intends to use its resources to reinforce and accelerate, with the management team, the planned development of the business. “The acquisition by H.I.G. fits perfectly within the framework of the growth project that we have initiated. We share with H.I.G. a...
