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Anil Agarwal confidently welcomes Adani, Reliance Into Aluminium as Vedanta targets 10Mt
India’s aluminium industry may be on the cusp of a more competitive era. With the Adani Group and Reliance Industries exploring opportunities across the aluminium value chain, established producers could soon face stronger competition on capacity, efficiency, costs and raw material access. Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal, however, appears to see the potential disruption as an opportunity rather than a threat. “We welcome competition. Competition makes you more efficient,” Agarwal said. His comments come as Adani Enterprises, alongside UAE-based International Resources Holding, advances plans for an USD 11.5 billion integrated aluminium project in Odisha, while Reliance Industries has shown interest in the state’s bauxite resources. Showcase your brand, aluminium recycling initiatives and...
CMI targets 70% US aluminum can recycling by 2030 as MRF losses come under focus
The US aluminum beverage can industry is stepping up efforts to recover more used cans as it works toward a 70% aluminum can recycling rate by 2030. The latest push is focusing on a critical weakness in the recycling chain: cans that enter the system but are lost during collection and sorting. The Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) is pursuing a combination of improved material recovery facility (MRF) sorting, stronger collection systems, deposit return programs, extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes and consumer education to increase the amount of aluminum flowing back into the domestic recycling system. Roxanne Sharif, CMI’s director of sustainability, outlined the industry’s priorities during Climate Week NYC, where representatives from across the aluminum supply chain...
India’s aluminium extrusion output falls to close to 900kt as capacity utilisation slumps near 30%
India’s aluminium extrusion industry is facing mounting pressure as production has dropped while manufacturers operate at only about 30 per cent of installed capacity, prompting concerns over the viability of several factories. The Aluminium Extrusion Manufacturers Association of India (ALEMAI) has also sought the removal of the 7.5 per cent basic customs duty on primary aluminium which, together with the applicable surcharge, results in an effective duty of about 8.25 per cent, arguing that the levy is adding to raw-material costs for domestic downstream manufacturers. According to the latest industry figures, India’s aluminium extrusion production has declined to around 800-900 thousand tonnes, from approximately 1.2 million tonnes earlier. This compares with an installed extrusion...
Odisha commits local bauxite for Vedanta’s Lanjigarh alumina refinery as ₹1 trillion aluminium push gathers pace
Odisha’s aluminium story is gaining another significant raw-material link, with the state government committing to provide local bauxite for Vedanta’s alumina refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi. The commitment came during a September 26 meeting between Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal, as both sides discussed accelerating the company’s proposed INR 1 trillion (USD 10.42 billion) aluminium investments in the state. The focus on bauxite security is particularly relevant for Vedanta’s integrated aluminium operations in Odisha, where Lanjigarh serves as a major alumina-producing asset. The latest commitment comes alongside plans for new large-scale aluminium and alumina capacity in the state. INR 1 trillion investment, 9 MTPA proposed capacity...
More domestic aluminium, recycling and energy needed to strengthen US supply chain
With 18 years of experience in the aluminium industry, Charles Johnson brings a deep understanding of the policy, trade and sustainability issues shaping the US aluminium value chain. As President and CEO of the Aluminum Association, he represents an industry seeking to strengthen domestic supply while maintaining reliable access to imports. In this interview with AL Circle, Johnson discusses why the US needs an “all-of-the-above” approach, combining greater primary production, expanded recycling, stronger energy infrastructure and targeted trade enforcement, to build a larger, more resilient aluminium supply base for American manufacturing. AL Circle: How serious is the US aluminium supply gap right now, and which parts of the value chain are feeling the pressure most acutely? Charles...
$150 billion, 12+ countries, one Gulf player: Inside the UAE's ports-to-bauxite web across Africa
Stretch a line from the Red Sea through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean all the way to the Atlantic coast, and you'll pass through a decade-old network of ports, long-term concessions, roads, and logistics corridors built by a single Gulf state. The common thread running through the United Arab Emirates is bauxite mines, the raw ore behind aluminium production, sit alongside renewable energy plants, and data centres. On 20 September 2026, Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, put a number on that footprint sharing that the UAE investment in Africa is approaching USD 150 billion, with annual two-way trade now exceeding USD 107 billion. He framed the expansion as part of Abu Dhabi’s push to build direct ties with the continent, bypassing traditional Western...
China's 22.87 Mt extrusion market faces a structural shift as 317 GW solar growth counters weak construction demand
The global aluminium extrusion landscape is undergoing a structural transition driven by industrial decarbonisation, global electrification, and the rapid deployment of clean energy infrastructure. Historically anchored by civil engineering and residential real estate, demand for extruded aluminium profiles in China, the world’s dominant manufacturing hub, is decoupling from traditional property sectors. Persistent structural weakness in China’s domestic construction market has slowed the consumption of conventional architectural profiles such as window frames, door sections, and curtain walls. Conversely, advanced industrial applications, specifically solar photovoltaic (PV) racking, battery energy storage systems (BESS), power grid modernisation, and electric vehicles (EVs), have...
India’s 8.25% aluminium duty paradox puts downstream manufacturing under pressure
India is producing more aluminium, but a growing policy debate is asking a different question of how much value is the country actually retaining from every tonne it produces? India is the world’s second-largest aluminium producer, with primary aluminium output reaching around 4.2 million tonnes. Yet, according to the Ministry of Mines’ Aluminium Vision Document, 76 per cent of India’s aluminium exports by volume are primary aluminium, while downstream products account for only 24 per cent. That imbalance has brought India’s aluminium import duty, particularly the effective 8.25 per cent duty on primary aluminium, back into focus. The 8.25% question Primary aluminium currently attracts a 7.5 per cent Basic Customs Duty (BCD), along with a 0.75 per cent Social Welfare Surcharge, taking the...
Novelis cuts nearly one-third of Kingston workforce as US tariffs squeeze aluminium demand
Novelis is cutting roughly one-third of its workforce at its Kingston, Ontario, aluminium facility, with the company citing the impact of US tariffs on aluminium imported from Canada. The company is reducing its salaried workforce by 10 employees and temporarily laying off approximately 70 hourly workers, according to a statement issued by Novelis on Friday, September 18. The cuts affect roughly one-third of the facility's workforce. “These are difficult decisions that affect our colleagues and their families, and we are supporting those impacted through this transition,” Novelis said. Novelis pointed to the Section 232 duties imposed by the US on aluminium imported from Canada as the reason behind the workforce reduction. To know the global production, demand and consumption forecasts of...
Alba runs at 1.3 mtpa as Bahrain smelter navigates Middle East disruptions
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) is currently producing aluminium at an annualised rate of around 1.3 million tonnes, with the smelter operating at roughly 80 per cent of its pre-Iran war capacity, according to CEO Ali Al Baqali. Alba had a pre-war capacity of around 1.6 million tonnes per year, but production was disrupted after the outbreak of the war and restrictions around the Strait of Hormuz affected exports. The smelter was also hit by an Iranian attack in late March. The Bahrain-based producer is now operating Lines 4, 5 and 6, together representing annualised aluminium production of approximately 1.3 million tonnes, Al Baqali told Reuters on the sidelines of the Fastmarkets Aluminium Conference in Budapest on September 16. Al Baqali described the damage from the Iranian strike as minor...
Metro Mining ships 756,000 WMT of bauxite in August as Ikamba returns to full strength
Metro Mining has ramped up bauxite shipments from its Bauxite Hills Mine in Cape York, Far North Queensland, after its offshore floating terminal Ikamba returned to full strength in late July. The Australian bauxite producer shipped 756,000 wet metric tonnes (WMT) of bauxite in August 2026, marking an 8 per cent increase from July, according to its September 16 operational and marketing update. The August performance also put the spotlight on Ikamba’s ability to operate independently. With the offshore floating terminal back at full capacity, it handled the month’s shipments without the contribution of the TSA Skardon, which was undergoing dry-docking. The TSA Skardon has now completed its dry-docking and is scheduled to return to site in mid-September, just as shipping conditions are...
H1 2026 sees more renewable energy than ever: Here’s a region-by-region guide to renewable energy supply in the recent past
In the first half of 2025, humanity generated more electricity from renewables than from coal for the first time ever. What led to it? It was possible only because of two decades of falling solar panel prices, taller wind turbines, and governments finally treating clean power like an economic opportunity instead of a favour to the planet. But the renewable energy scenario cannot be portrayed as a single global story. To get the full picture, one has to connect dozens of regional stories moving at wildly different speeds. Some countries are already powered almost entirely by sun, wind and water. Others are still warming up. Here is a tour of how renewable energy supply looks across the world’s regions right now, and who is actually leading the charge. The global scorecard: Renewable energy...
Ghana puts bauxite, lithium and iron ore in the spotlight to woo Australian capital
Ghana has stepped up efforts to attract Australian investment into its growing critical minerals sector, pitching the country as a stable and reform-driven destination for mining and value-added mineral development at the 2026 Africa Down Under (ADU) Summit in Perth. The Ghanaian delegation was led by High Commissioner to Australia Doris Brese and Maxwell Yao Akpene Klu, Deputy Chief Executive of the Minerals Commission in charge of Small Scale & Industrial Minerals. Addressing mining executives, financiers and policymakers, Klu said Ghana is looking to move beyond its traditional gold dominance and position itself as a strategic partner in battery minerals and green technologies. “Our country is not just about extracting resources, we are committed to a paradigm shift in mining, one that...
Can Oklahoma reshape US aluminium supply? EGA’s Ziad Fares explains the project
As the US seeks to rebuild its domestic aluminium production capacity, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and Century Aluminum are advancing plans for a new primary aluminium smelter in Inola, Oklahoma, targeting more than 750,000 tonnes of annual production. In this exclusive conversation with AL Circle, Ziad Fares, Project Director for Oklahoma Primary Aluminum , discusses the project’s strategic rationale, progress towards a targeted construction start in early 2027, planned smelting technology, power and infrastructure requirements, investment considerations, and its potential impact on US aluminium supply chains. He also addresses environmental safeguards and stakeholder concerns. Fares brings more than 20 years of experience across engineering, strategy, finance, metals and mining, and...
Collapsed Canada tariff talks put Indiana's aluminium jobs back in the spotlight
Indiana has emerged as an unlikely flashpoint in the latest round of US-Canada trade friction, after Washington's now-collapsed negotiations with Ottawa briefly put a proposed cut to aluminium tariffs on the table, one that industry advocates say would have hit the state's fabrication workforce hard. Industry veterans argue that Indiana, one of the last significant strongholds of US aluminium manufacturing, had much to lose in a deal that ultimately fell apart. What was on the table As part of the recent US-Canada trade talks, the Trump administration had proposed cutting the tariff on Canadian primary aluminium from 50 per cent to 25 per cent, while also extending a similar cut to fabricated aluminium products. Those talks broke down in late August, prompting Washington to impose fresh...
Carbonation curing could extend the field life of red mud-based backfill, new study suggests
Chinese researchers show that a few extra hours of CO2 curing can roughly double the wet-dry service life of red mud–CFB ash–MgO backfill, while keeping leaching of hazardous elements low even after weeks of exposure to alkaline red mud liquor. Red mud remains one of the aluminium industry’s largest unresolved waste streams. Global bauxite residue generation has been running well above 175 million tonnes a year, against roughly 140-155 million tonnes of alumina output, and only a small fraction of that residue, commonly cited at around 2-5 per cent, is currently converted into a saleable by-product. The rest continues to swell tailings dams that, by some industry estimates, already hold more than 4 billion tonnes of accumulated material worldwide. Turning red mud into cemented backfill...
NALCO picks EGA’s DX+ Ultra for 0.5 MTPA Angul aluminium smelter expansion
National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has signed a Technology Licensing Agreement with Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) to deploy EGA’s UAE-developed DX+ Ultra aluminium smelting technology at its proposed 500,000 tonnes per annum (MTPA) brownfield smelter expansion at Angul, Odisha. The agreement was signed in Dubai on September 7, 2026, in the presence of NALCO Chairman-cum-Managing Director Brijendra Pratap Singh and EGA Chief Executive Officer Abdulnasser Bin Kalban. Biju K, Chief General Manager (Projects), signed the agreement for NALCO, while Abdalla Zarouni, Acting Executive Vice President – Midstream, signed on behalf of EGA. NALCO Director (Projects & Technical) Jagdish Arora and Director (Finance) Abhay Kumar Behuria also attended the signing ceremony. To know the...
Advanced sorting could unlock $2.3 billion in US aluminium scrap value: WBCSD
Advanced sorting technologies could help the US unlock up to USD 2.3 billion in annual domestic aluminium processing value by upgrading mixed scrap that is currently exported or downcycled, according to a new initiative by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The North America Aluminum Initiative, launched by WBCSD’s Critical Materials Collective, examined how technologies such as X-Ray Transmission (XRT) and Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) could separate mixed aluminium scrap into alloy-specific streams. The initiative also assessed whether complementary demand from different industries could support investment in advanced sorting infrastructure. The opportunity is significant because around 2 million tonnes of US aluminium scrap are exported...
