Rio Tinto and Rondo Energy have commenced front-end engineering and design for a 30 MW/360 MWh thermal energy storage project at the Yarwun alumina refinery near Gladstone, Queensland, marking a potential milestone in the use of heat batteries to reduce emissions from alumina refining. The Rondo Heat Battery will store energy as high-temperature heat in refractory bricks and supply continuous process heat to support Rio Tinto’s alumina refining operations. If progressed, the project would be one of the first large-scale demonstrations of thermal energy storage for industrial process heat globally and a world-first for the alumina industry. Heat batteries target round-the-clock industrial demand Australia regularly experiences four to six hours of surplus solar-generated renewable...
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...
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News that has topped the headline this week under the alumina sector is Altech Chemicals Limited’s establishment of its own research and development laboratory in Perth, Western Australia. The news came after the company itself announced it on Monday, July 5. The establishment was smoothly transformed to Altech’s R&D laboratory, as it was previously occupied by an environmental consulting business. So, Altech can now conduct a full range of research, development, and test work (including battery tests) to refine its graphite and silicon particle battery materials HPA coating technology, unhindered at its laboratory. To know more: https://www.alcircle.com/news/altech-chemicals-establish-its-r-d-laboratory-in-perth-western-australia-67735 Indonesia’s first and largest smelter grade alumina...
According to the Shanghai Metals Market data, China’s alumina production in June 2021 stood at 6.12 million tonnes, reflecting a downfall of 4.67 per cent from 6.42 million tonnes in the previous month. The output included 5.91 million tonnes of metallurgical grade alumina, which was 4.84 per cent down from 6.21 million tonnes produced in May. The daily average output of metallurgical grade alumina was 196,800 tonnes as it declined 1.73 per cent month-on-month but increased 7.38 per cent over the year. China’s total metallurgical grade alumina production during January-June came in at 35.33 million tonnes, up 8.25 per cent year-on-year. The decrease in China’s alumina output in June 2021 could be attributed to the shortage of ore in Henan and Shanxi and the general rise in coal prices...
According to the data released on Monday, July 5, by Brazil’s economy ministry, alumina exports from Brazil reflected a rise in June after registering a decline last month. In June, Brazil exported 816,785 tonnes of alumina, up by 20.13 per cent year-on-year from 679,916 tonnes. On a month-on-month basis, the export volume in June 2021 edged 13.62 per cent higher than 718,843 tonnes, attributed to significantly higher contributions from the northern Belém port in the Pará state. However, Bauxite shipments in June, on the other hand, fell 34.50 per cent. Shipments from the Belém port hit 497,230 tonnes in June, reflecting a year-on-year jump of 39.90 per cent from 355,414 tonnes. Norsk Hydro’s Alunorte alumina refinery operates near Belém.
The mining exploration company King River Resources Ltd has improved its finances upon securing a Research & Development tax rebate of $382,463.65. The fund will be utilized for working capital. The company’s research towards the development of the processing methodology conducted during the 2020 financial year meets the criteria set out for the Research & Development Scheme and permits the deductible cost of the research to be claimed as a tax rebate. The confirmation of King River Resources towards its plan for the Kwinana plant’s technical and economic viability came up, as a pre-feasibility study (PFS) for the High Purity Alumina (HPA) Project was released. The PFS predicts a production rate of 9,000 tonnes per annum of 99.99% HPA once at full production, with project revenue of more...
Altech Chemicals Limited, the Australian Securities Exchange-listed company has notified that is it has established its own research and development laboratory in Perth, Western Australia. The establishment was smoothly transformed to Altech’s R&D laboratory, as it was previously occupied by an environmental consulting business. Since, May 2021, the laboratory has been in a commissioning phase and was close to finalization. Altech can now conduct a full range of research, development, and test work (including battery tests) to refine its graphite and silicon particle battery materials HPA coating technology, unhindered at its laboratory. However, previously this work was being conducted at Curtin University (WA) and needed to be scheduled around laboratory availability, which did not...
In May 2021, alumina production in North America stood at 329,000 tonnes, reflecting a month-on-month increase of only 2,000 tonnes or 0.61 per cent, found the International Aluminium Institute. In April, alumina production in North America was 327,000 tonnes, 3.25 per cent less than 338,000 tonnes in March. On a year-on-year calculation, North America’s alumina production in May, however, stood 4.91 per cent lower than 346,000 tonnes. In the first five months of 2021, production in North America totalled 1.642 million tonnes, down by 1.38 per cent from 1.665 million tonnes. In South America, alumina output in May 2021 came in at 99,000 tonnes, which was up by 4,000 tonnes or 4.21 per cent from 95,000 tonnes in April. On a year-on-year basis, South America’s alumina production in May grew...
Indonesia’s first and largest smelter grade alumina producer, PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery management took seriously the issue of a strike that will be carried out by the PK-SBSI labour union and PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery’s FSBSPK regarding the issue of the structure of the employee wage scale on 5th July 2021. Boni Subekti, Director of PT Well Harvest Winning Alumina Refinery, said: “The company is always open to communicating in discussions aimed at finding the best solution.” “The company had carried out its obligations regarding the payment of employee rights that had been agreed upon in the collective work agreement (PKB).” “Based on the records, there is no agreement in the CLA that is not executed by the company. If there is any, then it is related to...
The Anglo-Australian multinational and the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation Rio Tinto is examining the technical implications of using hydrogen as a form of renewable energy in place of natural gas to reduce emissions from refining alumina. The feasibility study amounting to A$1.2m, which is equally funded by the mining company and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and will aim at replacing natural gas used during the calcination process. This is the last step in the production of alumina from bauxite and involves heating the mineral at around 1,000 degrees centigrade in heaters known as calciners. Rio Tinto will use a lab-scale reactor at its Bundoora Technical Development Centre in Melbourne, Victoria, to simulate calcination heated by hydrogen. It will...
The global frontrunner in sustainable minerals processing technologies, end-to-end solutions, and services, Metso Outotec has secured a contract for the engineering and delivery of bauxite grinding package to National Aluminium Company’s (NALCO) Damanjodi Alumina Refinery as part of NALCO’s fifth stream expansion project in Odisha, India. Generally, this type of order values around €12-15 million or $14.2-17.8 million, while the order has been booked in the company’s minerals division for the June quarter. Metso Outotec’s delivery comprises the basic design of bauxite silos and engineering and supply of two ball mills with a capacity of 434 t/h each, apron feeders, agitators, slurry pumps, instrumentation, as well as site advisory services. Kamal Pahuja, President of, Middle East, and...
According to the International Aluminium Institute data, alumina production in East & Central Europe in May 2021 stood at 425,000 tonnes, reflecting a month-on-month increase of 26,000 tonnes or 6.52 per cent. In April, East & Central Europe produced 399,000 tonnes, which stood almost flat compared to 398,000 tonnes in March 2021. On a year-on-year calculation, East & Central Europe’s alumina production in in May 2021 edged 13.64 per cent higher than 374,000 tonnes. Total production during January-May 2021 stood at 1.991 million tonnes, up 6.76 per cent from 1.865 million tonnes during the same period last year. In West Europe, alumina production in May 2021 stood at 467,000 tonnes, up 27,000 tonnes or 6.14 per cent from 440,000 tonnes in April 2021. However, on a year-on-year basis,...
The Australian listed resources company, FYI Resources, which is focused on developing an innovative and vertically integrated high quality, high-purity alumina for use in various high growth tech applications has developed an independent environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting platform to centralize the company’s ESG data and assist in managing key metrics. FYI has engaged Socialsuite, the globally acknowledged ESG impact monitoring technology company to establish and maintain a tailored reporting platform, following the awarding of an excellent independent ESG rating and to pursue building on its ESG credentials. The ESG platform will serve the company to effectively measure, monitor, and report on its ongoing ESG progress. FYI will monitor and track its ESG progress...
Aluminium Stewardship Initiative announced last week that it welcomed Dadco Alumina and Chemicals Limited as a new Production and Transformation member. That brought the total number of ASI members to 175. Dadco is an international group active in the aluminium industry. It is a leading supplier of high quality alumina-based products and services in Europe committed to the highest EHS standards and ISO certified in all relevant domains. Its extensive knowledge of the worldwide aluminium industry in built on decades of experience and numerous relationships within the industry sector. Dadco Alumina and Chemicals’ production facility, facility, the Aluminium Oxid Stade (AOS) refinery, is located in Lower Saxony spread across 40km West of Hamburg. It has a current production in excess of one...
According to the International Aluminium Institute, world alumina production in May 2021 stood at 12.166 million tonnes. That was up by 3.86 per cent from 11.714 million tonnes in April 2021. However, the output in April was down by 1.82 per cent from 11.931 million tonnes in the previous month. On a year-on-year calculation, world alumina production in May recorded an increase of 8.57 per cent from 11.206 million tonnes. In the first five months of the year, world alumina production totalled 58.158 million tonnes – 6.07 per cent higher than 54.829 million tonnes during the corresponding period last year. In China, alumina production in May came in at 6.510 million tonnes, reflecting an increase of 3.33 per cent from 6.300 million tonnes. On a year-on-year basis, the output grew 10.90 per...
Hydro’s alumina refinery in Barcarena, Brazil which processes bauxite from its mine in Paragominas, also in Pará state has secured the license to operate the deposit called DRS2, after the installation phase and all commissioning tests are approved by environmental agencies. The DRS2 deposit area is for the storage of bauxite residue left over from the processing of bauxite into alumina, which is the main raw material for making aluminium. On 21st June 2021, the operating license of the solid residue deposit area was issued. DRS2 is a long-term solution for the alumina refinery operation and fundamental for continuity of the aluminium value chain in the State of Pará. A new press filter technology is used at Alunorte that generates residue of about 78% solid content, which permits for...
The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) alumina refinery production is fed into Ma'aden’s Smelter. The Smelter’s annual production capacity is 780,000 tonnes per year of primary aluminium. The technology used in Ma’aden’s Smelter is AP Technology. The alumina refinery feedstock comes from large bauxite deposits in the Al Ba’itha mine, which includes the mine as well as the ore-crushing and handling facilities. The mine’s estimated production is 5 million tonnes per year of dry weight bauxite. The ore is then transported via the new North-South railway line to Ras Al Khair Industrial City, feeding the Ma’aden’s Refinery. The plant is the first alumina refinery in the Middle East, with a 1.8 million tonnes production capacity per year. The second-largest country in the Arab world, Saudi...
The global aluminium industry’s alumina segment remained heavily eventful this week. National Aluminium Company Limited, Government of India owned integrated and diversified mining, metal and power organisation has been obstructed by residents of a village in Odisha, when government staffs went for identification for red mud pond. While in the world’s sixth-largest country, Australia, the ASX has granted a trading halt to King River Resources ahead of the release of PFS on the Kwinana HPA project. The construction of the alumina refinery with a production capacity of 1 million tonnes per year in the Galang Batang Special Economic Zone has been accomplished, as confirmed by President Director of PT Bintan Alumina Indonesia (BAI), Santoni. To know more:...
Alcoa Corporation has laid out a detailed plan of leveraging renewable energy to refine alumina in an attempt to cut 70 per cent of carbon emissions. Among Australia’s emissions-intensive exports, alumina and aluminium are the highest at risk for carbon border tariffs that the European Union is set to announce in July, said think tank the Australia Institute. Alcoa official Ray Chatfield told in a conference in the city of Perth that it would take to around 2030 or so for getting the technology ready to roll out. The Australian government has already issued grants to help decarbonise the alumina refining process, which in 2019 accounted for more than 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, showed government agency data. Refineries will install a process that will replace the...
A prefeasibility study (PFS) for high purity alumina (HPA) project in the Kwinana industrial area, West Australia, has found that ASX-listed King River Resources can be a significant producer of high-value purity alumina. The HPA project will use King River’s ARC process to produce the high purity alumina from an industrial chemical feedstock. According to PFS estimation, the project will require a capital investment of A$203.4 million to support a production rate of 9000 tonnes per year of 4N purity. In the next 25 years, the project is estimated to have annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of A$ 193-million, an annual pre-tax free cash flow of A$190 million, and projected revenues of A$7.02 billion. The HPA project’s net present value before tax is...
