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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On asking about the current status of Vedanta’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery’s production capacity, CEO Rahul Sharma said, “Vedanta expects to raise Lanjigarh alumina refinery's capacity to 2 million tonnes this year.” He also said, “Growth is likely to double in next 5 years," while continued saying that Vedanta in the last year had achieved the production of 1.5 million tonnes, up 25 per cent year-on-year. This year, producing 2 million tonnes of alumina is the target, and going forward the plan is to expand in a phased manner, said Mr. Sharma. He further added, "As far as bauxite outlook is concerned, we are very happy. Post MMDR Act, now the government is going to auction and we are going to participate seriously and we are aiming for it." As far as coal is concerned, he said the past...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the alumina spot price has recorded a rise over the weekend ended on April 22, by RMB 10 per tonne to come in at RMB 2,675 per tonne. After a continued fall since the beginning of the year, the alumina spot price first rose this year on April 18 from RMB 2,646 per tonne to RMB 2,665 per tonne. On April 19, the price showed restrained and then again a growth on April 22. The average price today is expected to stand at RMB 2,675 per tonne. In all the major markets of China, including east, central, north, and south, the alumina price has also climbed by RMB 10 per tonne to stand at RMB 2,690 per tonne, RMB 2,680 per tonne, and RMB 2,670 per tonne, respectively. The A00 aluminium ingot price has also registered a growth today by RMB 80 per tonne and...
Mining company South32 reported total alumina production of 3.74 million tonnes in the nine months ended March 2019, compared to 3.77 million tonnes in the nine months ended March 2018. In Q3 FY19, alumina production stood at 1.2 million tonnes. This was down 13 per cent quarter-on-quarter. Production at Worsley Alumina increased by one per cent to 2.8 million tonnes in the nine months ended March 2019, as further calciner maintenance was undertaken and the refinery retained a substantial hydrate inventory position. In Q3 FY2019, alumina production stood at 893,000 tonnes, down 15 per cent QoQ. The company will increase production to nameplate capacity of 4.6 million tonnes per year from FY20. Sales from Worsley Alumina fell one per cent to 2.8 million tonnes in the nine months ended...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the average alumina price has recorded a rise today, on April 18, after continually falling for over three months. From the beginning of 2019 until yesterday, the alumina price saw an incessant fall, ranging between RMB 2,934 per tonne and RMB 2,646 per tonne. The price today has grown by RMB 19 per tonne to RMB 2,665 per tonne; therefore, could not beat the price of the same period last month. On March 18, the price was at 2,713 per tonne, up by RMB 48 per tonne. In the markets of east, central, and north China, the average alumina price has grown by RMB 20 per tonne to RMB 2,680 per tonne, RMB 2,670 per tonne and RMB 2,660 per tonne, respectively. In the south, the price has increased by RMB 15 per tonne to stand at the same price (RMB 2,660) that in...
Altech Chemicals Limited announced that the company hosted inaugural investor and stakeholder visit to the site of its high purity alumina (HPA) plant in Johor, Malaysia. Altech Managing Director Iggy Tan provided an update that covered the stage 1 construction plan; the status of project financing, corporate funding and the option to introduce a joint venture partner at project level; the plan to initiate stage 2 construction. The site visit concluded with a site safety briefing and induction by the appointed EPC contractor SMS group. “Stage 1 construction of the HPA plant commenced in late February 2019 and attendees were able to observe first-hand the progress made during the short 9-week period since the initiation of site works,” the company said. Also present at the visit were...
Norwegian metals maker Norsk Hydro recorded a rise of its shares on Monday, April 15, after winning further support to resume full production at its Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil. After operating at half capacity for over a year, the Alunorte refinery on April 12 saw a hope to resume full production, when Ministério Público and Alunorte provided a joint petition to lift the production embargoes at a conciliatory hearing in the Federal Court. The independent engineering consultancy Rambøll, which was hired on behalf of Ministerio Publico to conduct a third-party assessment, also confirmed Alunorte’s ability to resume safe operations. On this news, Hydro’s shares rose as much as 5.5 percent in early trade on April 15. “Conditions appear to be in place to secure a positive outcome,”...
According to a brief from Hindalco Industries on Wednesday April 10, the company temporarily suspended the operations of its alumina facility in Muri, Jharkhand, after an incident, in which the red mud storage area connected to the plant had collapsed leading to injuries. "There was an incident in the red mud (bauxite residue) storage area connected to the alumina plant situated at Muri, Jharkhand, on 9th April 2019 (Tuesday). The incident involved a spillage in the red mud cake storage area," the company said in a filing to the BSE. The company statement said that Hindalco suspended the operations temporarily to assess the situation and to prevent further damage. According to the preliminary investigations, the incident had not caused any material harm to the surrounding environment or...
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has announced the production start at Al Taweelah alumina refinery today, April 10. The refinery is expected to expand UAE’s upstream business in the aluminium value chain. Al Taweelah alumina refinery project, located in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi incurred a development cost of approximately $3.3 billion. It is the first alumina refinery in the UAE marking the beginning of a new industrial activity in the country. Commenting on the production start-up, Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said: “The start-up of Al Taweelah alumina refinery is transformative for EGA and the first of two major milestones this year as we complete our strategic growth projects upstream in the aluminium value chain. Al Taweelah alumina...
Sierra Mineral Holdings 1 Limited, subsidiary of Vimetco N.V., reportedly discussed its expansion plans with the country’s Ministries of Finance and Mines last week. The plans involve the construction of a value-adding alumina trihydrate plant within its concession, in support with the Pan-African Bank of Development and Afrexim Bank. Afrexim Bank, in particular, will act as the financial advisor and lead mandated arranger to help the company raise capital for the project. Since alumina trihydrate has a wide range of uses starting from aluminium and ceramics production to water purification, flame retardant filler and many more, the development of this plant is expected to create thousands of new jobs and businesses in various industries. Also, this proposed plant if developed...
Shanghai Metals Market survey found a drop of 7,000 tonnes in China’s daily average output of alumina for the month of March. Thus, from 201,000 tonnes, China daily average alumina output in March came in at 194,000 tonnes. Tight bauxite supplies, high costs, maintenance, and equipment upgrading were some of the factors that lowered the average alumina output for March. About 70.86 million tonnes of capacity on an annualised basis was in operation last month, after declining 3.6 per cent from 73.46 million tonnes in February. The production of metallurgical-grade alumina, however, expanded 5.07 per cent year-on-year in March to register at 6.02 million tonnes, showed Shanghai Metals Market data. Chalco Huaxing, Chalco Shanxi, East Hope’s Sanmenxia and Jinzhong branches of alumina...
As shown by the latest US Geological Survey latest release on Bauxite and Alumina in the Fourth Quarter 2018, imports of alumina by the U.S. in the fourth quarter of 2018 dropped to 273,000 tonnes from 441,000 tonnes in third quarter of 2018. The volume was 38% less than those in the third quarter of 2018, and 23% less than those in the fourth quarter of 2017. {newsStudioGallery} For the entire 2018, the import volume stood at 1.7 million tonnes, a 28% increase from 1.33 million tonnes in 2017. The full year data indicates growing consumption by the domestic aluminium smelters in the US. The growth was primarily driven by reopening of Alcoa and Century smelters. However, quarterly drop in the import volume was because of the increase in domestic alumina production that could help in...
Average spot alumina price in China has seen another drop on Monday, 08 April 2019. The average price of alumina has dropped to RMB2646 per tonne, down RMB26 per tonne or 0.97 per cent from its previous price of RMB 2672 per tonne. Spot alumina price in the South China market has witnessed the highest fall. The average price stands at RMB2645 per tonne, down RMB35 per tonne from RMB 2680 per tonne. The average price is expected to range between RMB2600 per tonne and RMB2690 per tonne. Spot alumina prices in East China, Central China, and North China markets have also declined today. The average prices of alumina (East China), alumina (Central China), and alumina (North China) stand at RMB2660 per tonne, RMB2650 per tonne and RMB2640 per tonne respectively on April 8. Australian alumina...
Vedanta’s Lanjigarh refinery produced 1,501,000 tonnes of alumina in FY2019, up 24% year-on-year from 1,209,000 tonnes in FY2018 due to plant debottlenecking. Alumina production from Lanjigarh increased from 638,000 tonnes to 827,000 tonnes in H2 FY2019, 30% higher year-on-year. The production was 23% higher as compared to H1 FY2019 due to plant debottlenecking. “Improved captive alumina production and locally sourced bauxite are key to drive our aluminium costs lower. The peak run rate at Lanjigarh Refinery during the year was 1.8 Mtpa,” the company said. “Bauxite supplies for the Lanjigarh refinery from Odisha Mining Corporation commenced in Q1 FY2019. The Odisha Mining Corporation production has ramped up during the year with production run rate of 3.0 Mtpa, with supplies as per state...
The Federal Court in Belém, Brazil, has scheduled for April 12 a hearing regarding the embargo on the production at Hydro’s Alunorte alumina refinery, Norsk Hydro announced on Friday, 05 April 2019. Alumina refinery has been running at 50 per cent capacity since March 2018. In yesterday’s hearing , Ministério Público and Alunorte provided information regarding the progress of the ongoing third-party assessment of two reports, both concluding that Alunorte can safely resume normal operations, Hydro said. On March 26, Hydro agreed with Ministério Público to have third-party technical assistance to assess the situation at Alunorte. Alunorte signed an agreement to assess whether reports from SEMAS and the University of Campina Grande comply with technical parameters and relevant applicable...
The Russian aluminium giant Rusal has signed a memorandum of intent with Tiocomposite to start test production of sulphur polymer concrete using red mud in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. Further details of the location of the project and its economic and organizational conditions are expected to be agreed upon this year. Usually, around 1.56 tonnes of red mud are generated while processing 2.87 tonnes of bauxite into 1 tonne of commercial alumina. With this project, the problem of red mud disposal will be solved, as the alumina production waste will be used as filler in sulphur polymer concrete. In the year 2017, Rusal had started the initial phase of research & development, in a bid to explore different uses of red mud for producing commercial products. Sulphur concrete production is...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the average alumina price starts off the second quarter of the calendar year 2019 with a drop today by RMB 22 per tonne to come in at RMB 2,672 per tonne. On March 22, the average alumina price had recorded the last plunge from RMB 2,704 per tonne to RMB 2,694 per tonne. Post that the price remained unchanged at RMB 2,694 per tonne till March 29. Since the average alumina price drop has touched upon all the major markets of China, the price in the east has slipped by RMB 10 per tonne to RMB 2,680 per tonne. The markets in the central and north have registered a price drop by RMB 20 per tonne to RMB 2,680 per tonne and RMB 2,660 per tonne, respectively. In the south, on the other hand, the price has recorded a plunge by RMB 35 per tonne to stand at RMB...
Norsk Hydro has agreed with Ministério Público to have third-party technical assistance to assess the situation at Alunorte alumina refinery, located in Brazil’s northern state of Pará. Alunorte has signed an agreement “to assess whether reports from SEMAS and the University of Campina Grande, both concluding that Alunorte can safely resume normal operations, comply with technical parameters and relevant applicable rules.” Alunorte alumina refinery has been running at 50 per cent capacity since March 2018. If the assessment supports the conclusions, Ministério Público will file a petition in the Federal Court confirming it would not oppose lifting Alunortes production embargo, Hydro said in a statement. Hydro said: “The agreement schedules a timeline for the assessment to be concluded in...
The Odisha High Court has reportedly granted permission to the mining giant Vedanta to participate in the tender floated by state-run navaratna company NALCO for sale of surplus alumina. This judgement from the Odisha High Court is expected to provide a major relief to Vedanta. The aluminium major reasoned that NALCO annually exports over 1.2 million tonnes of alumina after feeding domestic smelters at Angul. So, if some of its portions come to Vedanta, it can plan for production at full capacity. Anil Agarwal’s company also noted that procuring alumina from NALCO would also result in saving about 20 dollars per tonne towards the logistics cost. To their relief, the HC in its ruling on Tuesday stated, “We declare that petitioner No.1 (Vedanta) should be considered eligible to participate...
