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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THE CENTRE has asked the Odisha government to furnish the physical verification report on diversion of forestland for the expansion of the Vedanta alumina project and its captive power plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district. It was on this ground that the Centre had earlier stopped Vedanta’s 2 May public hearing in Lanjigarh. On 17 April, the Centre had sent a letter to the Odisha government to ask for documents on diversion of forestland for the expansion of the alumina refinery from 1 mt per annum (mtpa) to six mtpa plant as it involved forestland. However, the state government is yet to submit all the documents. On 26 April, the Centre sent a reminder to the Odisha government. In this, director, Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF), PL Ahujarai wrote, the plant area in...
Sasol Limited's Olefins & Surfactants Division (headquarters in Hamburg, Germany) announced today it will expand in a first step its capacity to produce ultra-high purity aluminas (UHPA) by at least 3000 metric tons per year. Construction will begin immediately at Brunsbuettel, the company's Germany manufacturing site on a process to supply Sasol North America's Ceralox® alumina production facility in Tucson, Arizona with ultrahigh purity alumina precursor. Sasol Olefins & Surfactants, a recognized leader in ultra-high purity alumina materials for sapphire and other applications for more than 20 years, will then convert the Brunsbuettel alumina precursor into tailored products for customer specific applications. Of particular focus to Sasol are the increasing raw material requirements of...
Orbite Aluminae Inc. CA:ORT +6.67% (the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of two new members to its management team. The Company is also proud to announce that it has added another patent to its intellectual property portfolio and has filed five new patent applications. In addition, Orbite wishes to provide an update on the conversion of its Cap-Chat high-purity alumina production plant as well as the latest developments on its upcoming smelter grade alumina plant, with all of these milestones aligned to its business objectives for the current year. Finally, Orbite is the proud recipient of an Alpha award for the innovation of its technological processes and announces its upcoming participation in two rare earth conventions. Appointments As part of its preparation for...
Shares of Alumina (NYSE:AWC) traded today at $3.82, breaking its 52-week low. So far today approximately 470,000 shares have been exchanged, as compared to an average 30-day volume of 341,000 shares. Alumina Limited is an Australian resource company that produces alumina. The Company owns about forty percent of Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals through a joint venture with Alcoa. Alumina (NYSE:AWC) has potential upside of 129.0% based on a current price of $3.93 and analysts' consensus price target of $9.00. The stock should run into initial resistance at its 50-day moving average (MA) of $4.99 and subsequent resistance at its 200-day MA of $5.82. Alumina share prices have moved between a 52-week high of $10.29 and the current low of $3.82 and are currently at $3.93 per share. Over the...
Alcoa Inc. (AA)’s plan to expand an alumina refinery in Western Australia remains on hold because of unfavorable economic conditions, the largest U.S. aluminum producer said after gaining approval to increase capacity. Alcoa received a five-year extension of an approval for the expansion of the Wagerup refinery, the Western Australia state government said in a statement today. The earlier five-year permit expired in October. “The extension gives Alcoa the opportunity to continue evaluating market conditions and construction costs,” Alcoa’s Australian unit said in an e-mailed response today. “The project remains on hold because of the challenging economic environment and the need to obtain competitive and secure energy supplies in Western Australia.” Aluminum prices in London have declined...
The Western Australian state government said Wednesday it has granted the Australian unit of Alcoa Inc. (AA) a five-year extension for its proposed Wagerup alumina refinery expansion. The approval, by Environment Minister Bill Marmion, follows the Environmental Protection Authority's recommendation in February that Alcoa be allowed to defer the start of construction under the terms of its 2006 approval. "The EPA recommended that, as the environmental factors of the proposal had not significantly changed and no new factors had emerged since the initial approval, the time limit be extended a further five years," said Marmion in a statement. However, before starting construction Alcoa will still require a works approval from the Western Australian state government, which would involve public...
ALCOA'S partner in the troubled Point Henry smelter in Geelong, Alumina, has pinpointed the future direction of the Australian dollar as the key factor in determining the fate of the 49-year-old operation once Alcoa completes its review of the smelter's long-term viability next month. More than 600 jobs are at stake. Alumina, a 40 per cent partner in the Alcoa-managed AWAC joint venture that owns the smelter, says the smelter was a loss-maker in the December and March quarters, and continues to lose money with aluminium priced at US93.5c a pound and an exchange rate of $US1.03. The dollar has weakened from $US1.08 since Alcoa announced the review on February 8 but the relief on that front has been largely offset by a retreat in the metal price from more than US95c a pound. Alumina chief...
Highlighting some of Ord River's recent achievements, just last month the company delivered a 73.8% increase in the JORC Resource for the bauxite and alumina project in Laos, with a Bankable Feasibility Study the next step in progressing the project. The new Resource comprises 226 million tonnes at 26.7% alumina and includes a Measured Resource of 69 million tonnes at 28.1%. The Measured Resource is sufficient for a mining operation that would last 34.5 years at the proposed 600,000 tonne alumina refinery. The Laos project is held by Sino Australian Resources (SARCO), a joint venture company owned 49% by Ord River and 51% by China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Company (NFC). SARCO has already secured a letter of proposal from China Minsheng Banking...
John Bevan, CEO of Alumina Limited, has been appointed Chairman of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) at its 81st Board of Directors meeting, held in Abu Dhabi on 30 April. The IAI Board and Annual General Meeting are being held in Abu Dhabi to coincide with the 17th World Aluminium Conference, organized by CRU and hosted by IAI member company Emirates Aluminium. Bevan replaces Svein Richard Brandtzæg, President and CEO of Hydro. "It is a great honour and privilege for me to take on the role of IAI Chair, to continue the work of Svein Richard and to have the opportunity to work with my industry peers and colleagues in advancing the Institute and the industry over the next two years," said Bevan "Our industry is exciting and we are committed to addressing the global issues before...
Bauxite miner and alumina and aluminium producer Alumina says the future of its loss-making aluminium smelter at Point Henry will depend upon its long-term prospects. Alcoa, which is the manager of Alumina and Alcoa's joint-venture company Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC), is currently reviewing the Pont Henry smelter at Geelong in Victoria. The review is expected to be completed in June. Alumina chief executive John Bevan on Wednesday said the Point Henry smelter was an efficient but old smelter, built in 1963, and it also was suffering from the high Australian dollar and low aluminium prices. "The aim of the review is not about the short term: trying to fix things as it relates to the conditions today," Mr Bevan told reporters after Alumina's annual general meeting. "Clearly,...
Alumina says pricing and demand will remain subdued in 2012, as the high Australian dollar continues to put the company under pressure. Addressing shareholders at Alumina's annual general meeting in Melbourne, chief executive John Bevan spoke cautiously about the short-term outlook. "2012 has started with weak pricing and an uncertain market, due to the macroeconomic outlook for Europe," he said. Aluminium demand growth looks to be up by five to seven per cent in 2012 due mainly to China, but slower than in 2011, he said. "Pricing is likely to remain subdued until sufficient alumina curtailments are implemented," Mr Bevan said. Alumina is a joint venture partner with Alcoa in the Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC) company. The company's costs have risen significantly because of the...
Employees of Nalco here have threatened to launch protests against the reported move of the company to sell alumina to Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL). On Friday, a few employees under Nalco Sramik Congress Union organized a demonstration in front of the company's captive power plant. A day before, the Aluminium Mazdoor Sangha (AMS), had held demonstration in front of the smelter plant, while another demonstration has been planned on May 3 in front of Nalco's corporate office in Bhubaneswar. Nalco produces 16.5 lakh metric tonne alumina at its Damanjodi plant. Of the total output, its Angul smelter plant gets about 8.18 lakh metric tonne annually, while the rest is exported through London Metal Exchange (LME). The Nalco authorities came under suspicion after its August 26, 2011 tender in...
Current trading conditions in the aluminum industry are challenging, driven by soft aluminum prices, the strong Australian dollar, and increasing input costs. We affirmed the 'BBB' rating on Alumina and removed it from CreditWatch negative, as we expect that Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (AWAC) would adjust its operations to respond to market conditions or Alumina would exercise its financial levers to protect its credit metrics. The outlook is negative because we expect Alumina's earnings to be weaker in 2012 if these trading conditions were to persist, which could worsen its credit metrics. Rating Action On April 30, 2012, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services affirmed its 'BBB' long-term corporate credit and debt ratings on Australian mining company Alumina Ltd. We also removed the...
Rio Tinto hopes to seal the sale of four alumina plants in France and Germany by the end of September, the chief executive of its aluminium arm said, advancing its push to reduce its footprint in the highly competitive sector. Rio Tinto Alcan said at the end of March it had received a binding offer from private equity group HIG for its three specialty alumina plants in France and one in Germany and would respond to the offer after consulting unions. The head of the unit said on Tuesday the deal now looks set to be concluded in the next five months. "It is going very well and if all goes well we should finish the transaction some time in the third quarter," Jacynthe Cote said at an aluminium conference in Abu Dhabi. Rio Tinto unveiled plans last October to sell 13 assets only four years...
BAUXITE miner Cape Alumina is preparing to mine the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on Cape York after pre-poll promises by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman that he would repeal Wild Rivers legislation. Wilderness Society spokesman Glenn Walker said yesterday the company was moving to kick-start mining prospects in the remarkable Wenlock River area on Cape York. This was based on Mr Newman's promise that in his first 100 days in office he would begin winding back Labor's conservation legislation. "The Wilderness Society is aware that the company last week listed an investor presentation on the ASX website noting that the new Queensland LNP Government would soon repeal the Wild River declaration for the Wenlock River," Mr Walker said. The Cape Alumina bauxite project northeast of Weipa has...
Preliminary data from the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) showed that exports of alumina leaving ports Rocky Point, which is operated by Jamalco, and Esquivel (Windalco) totalled 490,000 tonnes during the review period, compared to 475,000 tonnes during the first three months in 2011. Windalco output was 16 per cent higher, or 153,000 tonnes up to March 2012 compared to 132,000 tonnes for the three-month period in 2011. Jamalco’s output was down by 1.8 per cent.
Sterlite Industries is in talks with state-owned National Aluminium Company (Nalco) to source alumina for its Vedanta Aluminium plant. The flagship company of Vedanta Resources Plc is also looking at importing alumina in order to ramp up the capacity of its Lanjigarh plant in Orissa to 2 million tonne (mt). “Our first aim is to take the capacity to 1.2 mt this year and then, based on further approvals, we would like to ramp it up to 2 mt,” the company said in a conference call on Wednesday. He said since bauxite mining is banned in Lanjigarh by the Union environment ministry, the company has no backward integration and is therefore talking to Nalco and some exporters for sourcing alumina. Alumina is obtained from bauxite, which is further processed to make aluminium. Roughly, it takes 2...
Resources company Cape Alumina says it will look to build a bauxite mine on land preserved in honour of environmental campaigner Steve Irwin if Queensland's Wild Rivers laws are changed. The Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve, a part of the Wenlock River basin on the Cape York Peninsula, was established with Federal Government assistance in 2006. Cape Alumina Limited's plans for a large scale bauxite mine at the site were halted when the Wenlock River was declared a wild river by the former Queensland Labor government in 2010. Areas declared as wild rivers are subject to rigorous environmental standards, and Cape Alumina said the declaration made the mine unviable. But Cape Alumina managing director Graeme Sherlock on Monday said the company would renew the plans if the Liberal National Party...
