AlCircle News Edited By "Debanjali Sengupta"
Debanjali Sengupta is a passionate content writer with 10 years of experience in Business writing, Web Content writing, Blogging, Editing and Research. She is responsible for generating and editing content for AlCircle Newsletter and other online and offline content for enhancing the brand value and its visibility among global users.
Rio Tinto to add 96 new AP60 pots to its Canada aluminium smelter investing $1.1 billion
According to a report on Monday, June 12, Rio Tinto will expand its state-of-the-art AP60 aluminium smelter at Complexe Jonquière in Canada with an investment of $1.1 billion (CAN$1.4 billion). This expansion will offset the closure of potrooms at the Arvida smelter on the same site and counterbalance the 170,000 tonnes of capacity loss. The report says the Quebec government will finance up to $113 million (CAN$150 million) of the project's total investment, with which 96 new AP60 pots will be installed, increasing the smelter's capacity by about 160,000 tonnes of primary aluminium per year. Hence, the total number of AP60 pots in the smelter will become 134, with a capacity of around 220,000 tonnes per annum. Rio Tinto's in-house AP60 smelting technology is one of the most efficient and...
China’s domestic aluminium production in five months record a Y-o-Y growth of 3% to 16.742 MT
Aluminium production in China stood at 3.472 million tonnes in May 2023 (31 calendar days), reflecting year-on-year growth of 1.08 per cent, found the Shanghai Metals Market survey. China’s total output from January to May totalled 16.742 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 3.36 per cent. The daily production also rose by 404 tonnes from the previous month to around 112,000 tonnes. SMM survey indicated the growth rate of aluminium production capacity was weak in May due to a few recommencements of smelter operation in Guizhou. However, with new capacity coming online in the Northwest and Southwest regions, the share of molten aluminium output at domestic smelters registered a record high of 75.5 per cent. In May 2023, operations of aluminium smelters remained unchanged, except for...
China’s metallurgical grade alumina output drops 4% Y-o-Y in May’23 after a hike last month
According to the Shanghai Metals Market survey, metallurgical grade alumina production in China during May 2023 (31 calendar days) amounted to 6.682 million tonnes, up 2.17 per cent from 6.54 million tonnes in April (30 calendar days). But the average daily output decreased month-on-month from 218,000 tonnes to 216,000 tonnes in May, although the number of production days in May was more than in April. The dip in daily output was due to the slow-down of new capacity growth and concentrated maintenance. China’s alumina production in May also fell 3.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis, citing the shut-down of some alumina facilities or lower operating rates due to poor profitability for high-cost alumina in Shanxi, Henan, Inner Mongolia, and other regions. As of the end of May, China’s...
Century Aluminum elects seventh Board of Directors and welcomes additional management changes
Century Aluminum Company announced last week that the stockholders voted Tamla Olivier as a seventh director to the board, with a term expiring in 2024. Ms Olivier is presently associated with Pepco Holdings, part of the Exelon family of companies, as a Chief Operating Officer. She has been working with Exelon in the energy market for over a decade, looking after the company’s electric and natural gas operations in Delaware. Earlier, Ms Olivier held senior leadership roles at T. Rowe Price, United Defense, and Wells Fargo. Jesse Gary, President and CEO of Century Aluminum, said: “Adding Tamla to Century’s Board is a big win for the Company. Tamla brings significant expertise in the electric and gas utility industries, providing the Company with great insight into electric power generation...
Hydro signs land agreement to build a new state-of-the-art aluminium recycling plant in Torija, Spain
Hydro is reportedly purchasing land in Torija, Spain, to construct a state-of-the-art aluminium recycling plant with an annual capacity of 12,000 tonnes. As per the report, Hydro has already signed an agreement for land purchase with a subsidiary of the Pulsar Properties Group. The facility will produce Hydro CIRCAL, an in-house brand of high-quality recycled aluminium ingot made with 75 per cent post-consumer scrap, which accounts for only 2.3 kg of CO2e/kg aluminium. Thus, it will boost Hydro's low-carbon aluminium production ability and European scrap storage. The new plant will hire about 65 direct employees. However, Hydro aims to make a final investment decision by the end of 2023, as the project is estimated to cost around EUR 130-140 million, depending on the final design, market...
Sanyuan Aluminium receives ASI Performance Standard Certification for coil & sheet processing
Aluminium Stewardship Initiative has reportedly presented Performance Standard V2 (2017) Certification to Sanyuan Aluminium Co., Ltd. (Sanyuan Aluminium) for the processing of aluminium coil and sheet at its two plants Zouping Xinsanyuan Aluminium Co., Ltd. and Shandong Longkou Sanyuan Aluminium Co., Ltd. The plants manufacture aluminium tab stock and end stock, with around 100,000 tonnes of output capacity. The products are destined for use in beverage and food aluminium can packaging. On receiving the certification, Sanyuan Aluminium said, “Forge ahead and be extraordinary’ is our constant company motto, which reflects both our determination to build a strong business and our perseverance in facing all kinds of difficulties. We continue to stick to this concept in our pursuit of...
Hydro signs 15-year deal with Statkraft for renewable power supply to its Norwegian aluminium plants
Hydro Energi AS has entered into a long-term agreement with Statkraft, Europe’s largest renewable energy generator, to secure 0.44 TWh of power per year for its Norwegian aluminium plants from 2024 to 2038. The deal ensures a total supply of 6.6 TWh of renewable energy to Hydro’s plants over 15 years. Aluminium production using renewable power and modern technology at Hydro produces 75 per cent less carbon footprint than the global average. Long-term power agreements at competitive prices will help Hydro lead the way to low-carbon aluminium globally. Ola Sæter, Head of Hydro's aluminium plants, said: "Hydro has a great need for power in the future and several of our existing agreements will expire from 2030. This agreement is an important step in sourcing parts of Hydro’s power demand,...
Hydro increases its offer to PLN 82.00 per share for Alumetal shareholders
According to a report released on June 8, Hydro is offering PLN 82.00 for each Alumetal share who subscribes for sale by 23:59 on June 15, 2023. The offer is also open to those who submitted their sale subscriptions before the price increased but with the condition that approximately 32.7 per cent of the shares owned by IPO30 UNIPESSOAL LDA will be acquired by Hydro at PLN 78.69 per share. From June 16, the offer price will return to the initial level of PLN 78.69 per share for all subscribers. Hydro has increased the tender price to attract subscribers in less time and meet the target of selling at least 50 per cent of all Alumetal shares as soon as possible. Approximately 39 per cent of Alumetal’s shares have already been subscribed, including shares held by two members of Alumetal’s...
RMIT Europe receives funding to develop recycled aluminium alloy coatings for steel products
RMIT Europe, a global university of technology, design and enterprise, has received funding of AU$434K from the EU Research Fund for Coal & Steel (RFCS) for its new research project ALCOAT. ALCOAT is a 42-month project to develop two new families of aluminium alloy coatings by recycling metal scrap destined for landfill. The outcome will be a more sustainable alternative to zinc for the galvanization of steel products. Steel is an inevitable metal for the construction sector for its mechanical properties, availability and affordability. But if left untreated, the metal is susceptible to oxidation and subsequent damages like cracking and rusting, especially in a moisture-rich environment. Here comes the role of aluminium alloy coatings to protect it from corrosion. “Scrap aluminium is...
Gunna Craft Soft Drinks to launch three flavours of lemonades in 500ml aluminium bottles
Gunna Craft Soft Drinks will reportedly launch three flavours of immunity-boosting lemonades in resealable 500ml aluminium bottles. The drinks – Tropical, Raspberry, and Twisted – are made from natural ingredients and contain vitamin C and zinc. They are claimed to be the first flavoured soft drinks available in this format. Gunna will introduce the product to the market via Amazon and the brand’s online store this summer. The drinks will also be available in a smaller packaging of 330ml aluminium cans, with two additional flavours over the coming months. Gunna, which called on to ban plastic bottles last year, said the new packaging would set a goal for the soft drinks sector, leading all other similar companies to transition from plastic to aluminium bottles. “We’ve invested heavily in...
India seeks exemption from years-old aluminium and steel tariffs imposed by Donald Trump
India is seeking aluminium and steel tariffs exemption from the US imposed by former President Donald Trump and removal of retaliatory duties, said two Indian government officials and one industry source familiar with the matter. They also said India is currently in negotiation with the US, and both parties wish to strike a deal during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States at the end of June 2023. According to official sources, India is willing to remove retaliatory duties on select agricultural items like almonds and walnuts if the United States exempts steel tariffs. But US negotiators are still unsure about the exemption of steel tariffs, said one of the sources. “We are discussing, (but) they are not very flexible whether there will be any substantial...
Capral Aluminium, Australia’s first extruder to have bagged ASI dual certification
Capral Aluminium Industrial Solutions, Australia's largest producer and distributor of aluminium products and architectural & building solutions, has been granted dual ASI certification to manufacture extruded products. Capral is Australia's first extruded aluminium product manufacturer to receive the certifications. The news came on Thursday, June 8, after the Aluminum Stewardship Initiative announced it successfully certified Capral against the Performance Standard V3 (2022) and Chain of Custody (CoC) Standard V2 (2022). The certifications apply to all Capral's 26 facilities, composed of mills, distribution centres, and trade centres, spread across every state and territory in Australia. Capral's aluminium products like geometric extrusions, machine rods, plates and sheets are destined...
Alba is dedicated to driving decarbonisation through technologies, says Chairman at Arab-German Business Forum
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the world's largest aluminium smelter (ex-China), attended the 26th Arab-German Business Forum on June 5-7, 2023, at The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin, Germany, wherein the company's Chairman Shaikh Daij bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said in his speech, "The world is changing and as we gather here in this Forum, we should take on the responsibility for finding answers to the most pressing ESG challenges of our time to foster a better future for generations to come." He pointed out the ongoing initiatives undertaken by Alba to reduce carbon footprint and support the Kingdom's aim to achieve 'Net Zero Emissions by 2060'. In this context, he said Alba is committed to achieving the net-zero goal by seeking partnerships to leverage advanced technologies such as Carbon...
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Alumina production in Europe (incl. Russia) records an annual plunge of 26% during April’23
Alumina production in Europe (incl. Russia) stood at 505,000 tonnes during April 2023, facing a fall of 52,000 tonnes or 9.34 per cent month-on-month, found the International Aluminium Institute. In March, the output was 557,000 tonnes, up by 13.21 per cent from 492,000 tonnes in February. On a year-on-year calculation, alumina output in Europe (incl. Russia) recorded a 26.06 per cent plunge during April’23 from 683,000 tonnes. In the first four months of 2023, Europe (incl. Russia) churned out 2.071 million tonnes of alumina compared to 3.113 million tonnes during the same period of the last year. That reflected a sharp decline of 33.47 per cent year-on-year. In April 2023, Europe (incl. Russia) produced 16,800 tonnes of alumina on a daily average. That registered a decline of 1,200...
MAAN Aluminium board members to discuss bonus issue & stock split plan; shares reach a new record high
Shares of MAAN Aluminium jumped 19 per cent to INR 296.60, surpassing the previous high of INR 258.55 on February 3 and reaching a 52-week high on the BSE in Tuesday's intra-day trade, following the company's announcement that its board of directors would meet to consider the bonus issue and stock split plan. As per the report, the board of directors will meet on Friday, June 9, to discuss the proposal for a sub-division/split of the equity shares of MAAN Aluminium, each with a face value of INR 10. They will also talk about the issue of bonus shares to shareholders, said MAAN Aluminium in an exchange filing. Bonus shares are additional shares given to the current shareholders without additional cost, depending on the number of shares a shareholder owns. A stock split is a corporate...
SHFE receives permission from Beijing to trade alumina futures
On Friday, June 2, the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) announced receiving alumina futures trading permission from Beijing after the Securities Regulatory Commission approved the plan. That makes the SHFE the first exchange on Earth to offer an alumina contract with physical delivery. Noting several benefits of listing alumina futures, SHFE said in a press statement: “The listing of alumina futures will enhance the competitiveness for China’s alumina industry and its price influence and also improve companies’ risk-management abilities.” However, the Shanghai exchange has not yet revealed the date of starting to accept alumina futures listings. The People’s Republic of China accounts for more than half of the world’s total alumina output. In 2022, China churned out 81.86 million tonnes...
Alba receives an award from British Safety Council for its commitment to safe work environment
On Monday, June 5, Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) announced that it bagged the 2023 International Safety Award with Merit from the British Safety Council (BSC). The prestigious award is a testament to Alba’s unwavering efforts to maintain a safe and healthy work environment during 2022. Alba’s Chief Executive Office Ali Al Baqali accepted the award at BSC’s International Safety Awards Gala Dinner on May 19, 2023, in the presence of Alba’s Directory Safety and Health Mohamed Khalil Saeed. The British Safety Council, founded in 1957, introduced the annual International Safety Award ceremony to recognise worldwide organisations which have demonstrated commitment to ensuring workplace safety and wellbeing. On receiving the award, Ali Al Baqali said: “We are honoured to have been recognised...
European aluminium foil deliveries during Q1 2023 dropped 3.3% Y-o-Y nearing the pre-covid level
According to the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA) survey, aluminium foil deliveries from European rollers dropped by 3.3 per cent year-on-year in the March quarter of 2023 after a prolonged period of increased deliveries due to demand surge. As per the data shared by EAFA, European foil deliveries were recorded at 231,700 tonnes during 1QCY2023, close to the pre-covid level of 239,500 tonnes in Q1 2020. High inflation, combined with weakened demand for packaging, led to a fall in European foil deliveries. Also, less in-home consumption and home deliveries than during COVID, affecting applications such as converter foil and semi-rigid containers, contributed to the dip in foil deliveries. After many quarters of strong demand, domestic foil deliveries fell 6 per cent, with the...
