Researchers at Trinity College Dublin are testing a new type of concrete made using red mud, a residue from alumina refining. The project, supported by Enterprise Ireland and carried out with Gannon Eco and McGrath Quarries, has progressed from laboratory research to trials using industrial batching equipment. The university reported on 22 October that the geopolymer concrete formulations reduced the carbon footprint by 67.8–79.8 per cent against a CEM II-A/L cement reference. The comparison included raw material supply, transport and manufacturing. To know the futuristic market and value proposition of red mud, explore the report " A Comprehensive Analysis of Bauxite Residue (Red Mud): Sustainability, Resource Recovery and Strategic Recommendations " Laboratory tests also found that the...
Domestic spot alumina prices edged down slightly last week amid flat trading activity. Recent alumina price movements were mainly attributed to earlier concentrated restocking by downstream buyers, which has led to accumulating inventories at rail stations and smelters. Coupled with supply-side maintenance-driven output cuts that are still building, readily available spot volumes have tightened relatively. Only sporadic tender deals were heard recently, leaving prices in a temporary steady phase. On the bauxite front, domestic ore prices saw limited movement last week. Supply-side bottlenecks are unlikely to ease in the near term, with mines prioritising captive supply, leaving little excess spot material available. For imported ore, freight rates rebounded slightly and consecutively last...
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Alumina output in South America during January-February 2022 totalled 1.859 million tonnes, reflecting a year-on-year downfall of 8.6 per cent from 2.034 million tonnes, found the International Aluminium Institute’s data. In February, alumina production in South America amounted to 864,000 tonnes (including both chemical and metallurgical-grade), seeing a sharp fall by 131,000 tonnes or 13.17 per cent month-on-month. In January, the output dropped by only 1 per cent from 1.004 million tonnes to 995,000 tonnes. Compared to the preceding year, South America’s alumina production in February 2022 stood 10.47 per cent or 101,000 tonnes lower than 965,000 tonnes. In the first two months of 2022, alumina production in North America scored at 391,000 tonnes, down by 19,000 tonnes or 4.63 per cent...
Geomega Resources, located in Montreal, has won funds to construct a C$4 million alumina waste processing plant in Quebec. Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a federal agency that funds small and medium-sized enterprises will provide C$1.5 million. Rio Tinto, a Geomega partner, will contribute C$1.2 million in funding. Quebec produces half of Rio Tinto's global aluminium production. In the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean area, Rio Tinto runs an alumina refinery, four smelters, six hydropower plants, its Arvida Research and Development Centre, and the Aluminium Operational Centre, a rail network, and one port. Geomega creates cutting-edge methods for extracting and separating rare earth elements and other key metals that are necessary for a long-term future. It is the developer of...
In the first two months of 2022, alumina production in Africa & Asia totalled 2.224 million tonnes, with the output in February at 1.075 million tonnes, down by 6.44 per cent month-on-month, found the International Aluminium Institute’s data. In January, alumina production in Africa & Asia stood at 1.149 million tonnes, also down by 3.29 per cent month-on-month from 1.188 million tonnes. Africa & Asia’s total alumina production in two months included 2.159 million tonnes of metallurgical grade, up by 7.57 per cent from 2.007 million tonnes during the same period last year. On a year-on-year calculation, Africa & Asia’s alumina output in February 2022 stood 4.78 per cent higher than 1.026 million tonnes. According to IAI data, alumina production in Africa & Asia during the second half of...
The Government of Ireland, which is the cabinet exercising executive authority in-country, is pursuing its dialogue with the European Commission and other EU nations in regards to the future of the Aughinish Alumina refinery to safeguard any type of job losses at one of the biggest employer of Limerick County. Following the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Aughinish Alumina’s Russian ownership has been in the headlines and the Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland professing for it to be pulled down earlier this month. The Irish Fine Gael politician who is serving as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment since June 2020, Leo Eric Varadkar has been in conversations with his French and Swedish counterparts to avert the 480 jobs at the largest alumina refinery in Europe. If the...
Norsk Hydro ASA, a Norwegian aluminium manufacturer, has secured a US$200 million sustainability-linked loan to assist its transition from heavy oil to natural gas, a more sustainable fuel that will help meet its greenhouse gas reduction objectives. Hydro Alunorte, located in the city of Barcarena, State of Pará, is the world's biggest alumina refinery outside of China. The Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil will be converted as part of the project, which is estimated to reduce CO2 emissions by 700,000 tonnes per year. “The Alunorte fuel switch project is one of the main enablers to deliver on Hydro’s sustainability ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2030. The strong relationship with the participating banks has enabled us to create a solution linking profitability...
World alumina production in February 2022 amounted to 10.606 million tonnes, which included 9.975 million tonnes of metallurgical-grade alumina. That reflected a month-on-month decline of 8.7 per cent from 10.926 million tonnes but a year-on-year increase of 0.8 per cent from 9.897 million tonnes, found the International Aluminium Institute. In the first two months of the year, world’s metallurgical-grade alumina production totalled 20.901 million tonnes, marginally up from 20.864 million tonnes during the same period last year. According to the IAI data, world metallurgical-grade alumina production in February 2022 recorded a hike of 0.80 per cent when compared to the output of 9.897 million tonnes last year. Daily average output of metallurgical-grade alumina across the world during...
United Co. Rusal International PJSC can’t get hold of its share of alumina contained in an Australian joint venture therefore increasing the pressure on Russian aluminium giant to find sufficient amount of raw material it needs to feed the company plants. Two weeks back when Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the ban of alumina exports to Russia, it was unclear whether Rusal would still be able to claim ownership of its share of production from the joint venture with Rio Tinto Group and eventually ship it elsewhere. But according to the people concerned and who wish to remain unnamed, the matter is not quite simple. The Prime Minister of Australia clearly said, “Russia must pay a very high price for its brutality. It must pay that price economically. It must pay the price...
The state-owned Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GDMC) is planning to expand its wings around the alumina and solar sector, as a part of diversification. The last one year has been very tremulous for GMDC since they have been trying to improve their bauxite, limestone, manganese, silica and power distributing divisions. Three advisory firms have been appointed by the firm namely; Boston Consultancy Group (BCG) for strategic transformation at the group level, AT Kearney for transformation of the power business and Deloitte as project management consultant. GDMC plans to invite a tender to construct an alumina refinery in partnership where assured amounts of bauxite produced in the mines would be sent for alumina production. “The company at present has 1.1 million tonne of bauxite...
China’s alumina imports were 212,900 tonnes and 201,100 tonnes in January and February 2022, reflecting a downfall of 16.58 per cent and 5.57 per cent month-on-month. On a year-on-year calculation, the country’s aluminium imports in January stood down by 35.67 per cent, while imports in February decreased by 28.18 per cent. Net imports in those two months were 208,700 tonnes and 197,300 tonnes, respectively. Exports in the said months were 4,200 tonnes and 3,800 tonnes. The import window was open for most of the time from January 4 to January 17, and the inflow of imported alumina was within a reasonable range. It is to be noted here that Indonesia emerged as the top supplier in February, far exceeding the imports from Australia. Nanshan’s alumina refinery in Indonesia started exporting...
War is never good for the economy and the earliest of its blows are felt in the industrial or manufacturing sector. This week has been full of turmoil and uncertainty following the Australian ban on bauxite import to Russia, Rusal’s Irish counterpart Aughinish Alumina is facing ownership crisis. While Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) has unleashed their malfunctioned machineries to release toxic sodium hydroxide on site, OxyChem and other U.S. chemical industries are putting in hard work for a purer variant of caustic soda. Their idea is to go carbon free in the upcoming years. Internal conflict puts on hold the construction of a joint venture under Antam-Inalum, Indonesia. The entire situation is not stable and reminds us of the harrowing consequences of war as witnessed in history. The...
The Deputy Governor of Ireland, (Tnaiste) Leo Varadkar and Minister of Finance, Paschal Donohoe in their talks about the Aughinish Alumina’s future exhibited the ownership of the refinery is under scrutiny and should be altered to change the course of business. All the European sanctions against its Russian owner could endanger the Co Limerick operations. Controlled by Rusal and its parent EN+, Aughinish is where the bauxite ore imported from other countries is put through an extensive process to extract alumina. From the break of the Ukrainian war one month ago until now Aughinish had somehow managed to avoid EU penalties. But billionaire industrialist Oleg Deripaska sunk under sanctions by the UK (last fortnight) and the US (penalties clubbed from 2018) has now renounced the majority of...
On March 20, in response to the Ukraine-Russia standoff, the Australian government had imposed a ban on the export of alumina, bauxite and other commodities to Russia. As a result, some industry analysts believe that Russia may now seek help from China for the alumina supply. However, Chinese aluminium smelters require the complete feedstock they can get and are apprehensive about sending alumina to Russia over the fear of falling under the sanction radar from the western world. The embargo has already put the Russian aluminium under pressure, as the company receives about 19% of its alumina supply from Queensland Aluminium (QAL) in Australia, where it holds a 20% ownership stake. The news about Russia looking for alumina from China is still not confirmed, observers believe the scale of...
On 25 th February 2022, Robert Peterson, the CFO at the American multinational organization engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States, the Middle East, and Colombia, Occidental Petroleum (OXY) claiming that its chemical division, OxyChem is planning to outdistance some chlor-alkali facilities to raise the capacity in the production of higher-value caustic soda. The caustic soda produced by OxyChem is a vital constituent in the production of aluminium (bauxite processing to alumina), pulp and paper and is used in battery recycling. However, in the fourth quarter of 2021, Peterson narrated OxyChem’s investment blueprint which reveals refurbishment of précised US Gulf Coast chlor-alkali facilities to transform from diaphragm-grade caustic soda to membrane-grade caustic soda...
Indonesian state miners Aneka Tambang (Antam) and Inalum’s joint venture operation is delayed for two years since its US$831.5 million alumina refinery is not ready yet, as reported by the president director of the joint venture Dante Sinaga who said all this at the parliament on Monday. On 4 th of April, 2019, PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Persero) had closed the JV deal with PT ANTAM Tbk., through their joint venture subsidiary PT Borneo Alumina Indonesia (PT BAI) for inaugurating the construction of a Smelter Grade Alumina Refinery in Bukit Batu Village, Mempawah Regency, West Kalimantan. As early as on January 6, 1976, PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (INALUM), a joint venture company between the Government of Indonesia and Nippon Asahan Aluminium Co., Ltd. was established in Jakarta....
Queensland Alumina Limited, one of the largest alumina refineries by alumina output capacity, on Tuesday unleashed a caustic spray of chemical following an equipment breakdown at Gladstone, central Queensland. The matter is being investigated by the Department of Environment and Science, according to which a high-pressure pipe bearing sodium hydroxide collapsed overnight on Tuesday, releasing the toxic spray over the sight and into the neighbourhood. Queensland Alumina Limited stated that none was hurt due to the chemical leak and after looking into the scope of the spray, they also revealed that the effects were expected to be limited. However, Department of Environment and Science is investigating the matter to decipher the reason behind the incident. According to Glenn Butcher,...
The average alumina spot price in China has increased by RMB 7 per tonne on Thursday, March 24, after remaining restrained for the past four days at RMB 2,963 per tonne. According to the Shanghai Metals Market, the rise today has brought the domestic alumina spot price to RMB 2,970 per tonne. In Lianyungang and Bayuquan, alumina spot price has hiked by RMB 50 per tonne to settle at RMB 3,425 per tonne and RMB 3,525 per tonne, respectively, followed by the growth of RMB 20 per tonne in Shandong and Guangxi to RMB 2,920 per tonne and RMB 2,960 per tonne. In Shanxi, alumina price has gained RMB 10 per tonne to RMB 2,965 per tonne, while the price in Henan and Guizhou has remained muted at RMB 3,000 per tonne and RMB 2,965 per tonne as of March 24. On the same day, A00 aluminium ingot price...
Built between1979-1983, Russian aluminium giant Rusal owned Aughinish Alumina refinery is facing decline both with import and export items, causing extreme fear among the North Kerry County Community, in Ireland. Aughinish Alumina is the largest alumina refinery in Europe and the largest of the alumina facilities operated by UC RUSAL. It mainly operates on the stewardship; circulation of raw materials and extracted products from or to other contracted companies. By the second week of March 2022 reports were being heard about the Anglo-Australian mining and metal company, Rio Tinto and how it had backed off from supplying raw material, i.e. bauxite to Aughinish Alumina. The latter had a contract with the Australian Kingpin to provide the same amount of alumina in exchange for the bauxite...
The Government of Australia, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison has prohibited sale to Russia for alumina, bauxite and other commodities used as raw materials in the production of aluminium in retaliation to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On 20 th March 2022, Morrison also declared that Australia would donate coal and further military amenities to Ukraine incorporating a new aid package that also comprises $30 million in emergency humanitarian assistance. The Prime Minister stressed himself by quoting, “Russia must pay a very high price for its brutality. It must pay that price economically. It must pay the price in diplomatic terms as well.” The alumina and aluminium ore export ban targets to impact aluminium production in Russia, which generally depends on Australia for 20% of alumina....
