AlCircle News Edited By "Rupankar Majumder"
A professional with a technical background, specialising in producing insightful content centred around metals, particularly aluminium, passionately engaged in the intricacies of the recycling sector.
Century Aluminum welcomes President Joe Biden’s Executive Order to support domestic manufacturing
Century Aluminum Company, a global producer of primary aluminium and operates aluminium reduction facilities in the United States and Iceland supports and praises Executive Order signed into law on 25 th January 2021 by President Biden to support domestic manufacturers, businesses, and American workers. This Executive Order is an essential part of US economic recovery as the nation work to rebuild the critical manufacturing base and domestic supply chains while ensuring that the future is made in America by all of America’s workers. Century Aluminium operates three U.S. aluminium smelters, in Hawesville and Robards in Kentucky and Mt. Holly in South Carolina, and one smelter in Grundartangi, Iceland. Michael Bless, CEO of Century Aluminum, said: “Manufacturing is the backbone of our great...
Egyptalum all set for modernization, post a huge record loss for FY 2019-20
On 25 th January 2021, Hisham Tawfik, Minister of Public Business Sector announced that “Egypt’s government is warming up to implement the modernisation project of Egyptalum, a national company for aluminium industries listed in EGX as Egypt Aluminium (EGAL).” Tawfik also stated: “US-based Bechtel, the project consultant, is expected to finalise the project’s feasibility study by mid-2021.” “The project includes the replacement of old parts over two phases and adopting new technology that uses less electricity intending to increase the company’s production capacity to reach 250,000 tonnes annually”, according to the minister. Hisham Tawfik added that six international companies participated in the public tender the ministry conducted to provide consulting services and prepare feasibility...
Reynaers Aluminium accomplishes its latest project in Sharjah
Reynaers Aluminium, the developer of aluminium products for the building sector has unveiled the accomplishment of the luxurious Terhab Hotel & Residences Project in Al Taawun, Sharjah, UAE, adding to a long list of several signature towers in the Emirates. The project incorporates the Five-star Pullman Hotel in addition to the residential apartments. Furthermore, the buildings feature the company’s most demanded curtain wall CW 50-SC variant, which includes structural clamped glazing offering a significant level of design freedom and transparency. Additionally, the CP 130 sliding variant adds versatility and luxury to the two towers of 40 floors. Concept Patio® 130 is a highly insulated slide and lift-slide system, which meets the highest requirements concerning insulation, stability and...
Brunei’s import of Aluminium Structures during 2019-20 records growth; 2021 forecasts downfall
It has been said that quiet is sometimes the best way to control a pandemic. As per Australian Institute of International Affairs, Brunei is Southeast Asia’s most overlooked nation and it has proven its bureaucratic brass and state system functionality, and its success gives credence to its effective leadership and recent reforms in the sultanate. Since its first officially reported case on 9 th March’20, the sultanate has suffered some 141 confirmed cases with only three deaths, while the remaining 138 victims are in recovery as of 8 th July’20. Presently, Brunei has no active cases and has not reported any new cases in two months. Brunei still encounters difficult challenges as it looks beyond the coronavirus pandemic, despite the success over the past few months. The collapse of global...
K2fly inks five-year SaaS resource inventory contract with Alcoa
K2fly, a software company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, servicing the mining and other allied industries have signed a five-year contract for its RCubed Resource Inventory solution with Alcoa USA, one of the world’s largest bauxite miners with mines in Australia, Brazil, Guinea and Saudi Arabia. K2fly offers enterprise-wide technical assurance software to support organisations deliver enhanced environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes. The SaaS (Software as a service) contract with Alcoa, valued at $573,600, will see the RCubed Resource Inventory solution roll out to six sites globally initiating in February 2021. A secure cloud-based platform, RCubed, enables mineral resource & reserve governance, compliance and reporting. The platform lowers overhead and upgrades...
EGA, LafargeHolcim’s Geocycle UAE renew 10-year partnership to create value from waste in the UAE
On 24 th January 2021, Emirates Global Aluminium, and Geocycle UAE, part of the world's largest building solutions group LafargeHolcim announced that they have signed an agreement to extend their ground-breaking 10-year partnership in creating value from industrial waste in the UAE. Since 2010, EGA has worked with LafargeHolcim to find productive uses in the UAE for spent pot lining, the used inner lining of reduction cells, which is one of the aluminium industry’s most significant waste streams. The two companies jointly developed a technique for pre-processing and then using spent pot lining as an alternative feedstock in local cement manufacturing. LafargeHolcim established Geocycle UAE as a subsidiary focused on pre-processing spent pot lining and other materials. EGA has supplied...
Novelis names Chris Courts as Senior Vice President, General Counsel
On 22 nd January 2021, the global leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, Novelis Inc., has publicized the name of Chris Courts as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Compliance Officer. In this role, Courts will have responsibility for all legal matters across the company and serve on the company's Executive Committee. Chris Courts has over 15 years of experience with Novelis, where he most recently served in this role in an interim capacity since March 2020. Before that, Courts served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel. During his tenure, he has held a series of leadership positions in the legal department, including overseeing intellectual property, contracts management, securities, compliance, governance, corporate secretary, as well as...
2021 Rogue: Nissan’s first global model built using ‘closed-loop’ recycled Aluminium
The all-new 2021 Rogue, the first global SUV model of Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer, is built using ‘closed-loop’ recycling systems for aluminium parts. The system helps reduction of CO2 emissions when compared with using parts made with primary alloys from raw materials. It also advocates the use of materials that don't rely on newly mined resources, as well as the reduction of waste from factories. However, to support the process, the Japanese auto giant, Nissan has associated with Kobe Steel, Ltd. and UACJ Corp in Japan, and with Arconic Corp and Novelis Inc in the USA. At the nucleus of the closed-loop recycling system is a large pneumatic conveyance system. As hood and doors are stamped into shape, scrap material is shredded and extracted, keeping aluminium grades...
Skoda Vagonka applauds for the opening of Europe's largest Aluminium machine tool in Ostrava
Skoda Vagonka applauds the opening of Europe's largest aluminium machine tool in Ostrava. The device is part of a large investment aimed at significantly increasing and accelerating the production of aluminium-box vehicles. The Skoda Transportation Group announced that the value of investments in the Skoda Vagonka plant in Ostrava, which celebrates its 120th anniversary, has exceeded 100 million crowns. The most important part of the plant's equipment is the aluminium machine tool, the design of which allows you to work with elements with dimensions exceeding the capabilities of standard machines (even up to 39 x 4.5 m). Machining is possible down to a hundredth of a millimetre. Weighing 360 tonnes, the device is almost 50 meters long and 10 meters wide. Adaptation of the new hall to the...
Senegal’s import of Aluminium Bar Rods and Profiles during 2018-20 reflects speedy growth
Senegal has remained as an attractive after the COVID-19 pandemic and it is a known fact that Senegal, of all Francophone African countries, indisputably offers a very welcoming environment for foreign investors, and delivers numerous advantages. Senegal is very politically stable and has competitive production costs, a skilled workforce, advantageous geographic location and no restriction on full ownership of a business by foreign investors. The West African nation’s import of aluminium bar rods and profiles during 2018-19 was recorded at 3547 tonnes and the revenue expended for the import stood at $ 11.18 million. The import for 2020 remained at 11,219 tonnes and the foreign revenue expended stood at $24.53 million. However, when the import volume and expenditure for 2020 gets assorted...
Lotus’ Hurricane Way facility begins production of iconic lightweight chassis
Lotus’ new manufacturing facility at Hurricane Way, Norwich, has accomplished the first extruded and bonded aluminium chassis. The unit, a chassis for the legendary Lotus Elise, was built for the validation and quality checking of the new manufacturing process. Even though not destined for a conclusive vehicle, it will remain at the factory for testing. As chassis manufacturing volumes rise significantly over the next few months, it will help ensure that the processes adhere to the globally recognised quality standards expected. The new 12,300 m2 facility at Hurricane Way can build several thousand chassis per year. It will produce around 1,500 units for the Lotus Elise, Exige and Evora during 2021. The facility is set to engage 125 highly skilled operatives, technicians and engineers....
Hulamin appoints Meganathan Gounder as new CFO
The South African Aluminium Company that specializes in rolled products, Hulamin appoints Meganathan (Mark) Gounder as CFO and Executive Director, with effect from 1 st April 2021. Gounder is an experienced finance professional with over 25 years’ experience. He has held various senior finance roles within the Illovo Sugar Group, which involved extensive operational experience across Africa, as well as exposure to Europe, Asia and North America. Laren Farquharson steps down as acting CFO and Gounder to take the charge. As the only major aluminium rolling operation in Sub-Saharan Africa, Hulamin is one of the largest exporters, representing more than 60% of sales. Hulamin Extrusions is South Africa’s leading aluminium extruder and operate the plant from Pietermaritzburg with a sales and...
BCAST to design light-weight battery casing for EV using recycled Aluminium
The Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Technology (BCAST), an academic research centre focusing on both fundamental and applied research on advanced solidification processes for metallic materials has joined a significant new multi-million-pound project to help design new light-weight battery casings for the next generation of electric cars. Funded by £3.3 million from Innovate UK, LIBERATE-lightweight innovative battery enclosures using recycled Aluminium technologies aims to use high-strength, low weight aluminium alloys to design a battery enclosure that is 30% lighter than current designs, whilst reducing material costs by up to 60%. The preferred aluminium alloys will blend strength, crash resistance, thermal management and infinite recyclability with a lower weight to make...
South Africa’s export of Aluminium Stranded Wire during 2018-20 exhibits seesaw movement
The economy of South Africa recovered robustly in the Q3 from a plunge inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. Africa’s second-largest economy expanded 13.5% Q-on-Q in July-September, "largely as a result of the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions," as per statistics agency StatSA. Manufacturing, trade and mining were 'the biggest drivers of growth in the third quarter,' statisticians added. The southernmost African nation’s export of aluminium stranded wires during 2018-19 was recorded at 1474 tonnes and the revenue earnings stood at $53.12 million. The import for 2020 remained at 517 tonnes and the revenue earnings stood at $18.62 million. However, when the import volume and earnings for 2020 gets summed with the previous two years, it denotes 1991 tonnes and $71.74 million...
Hindalco, Novelis Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla remains more optimistic than RBI
Indian business tycoon Kumar Mangalam Birla, the owner of $48 billion Aditya Birla Group has an interesting thought on how the recovery of the Indian economy is being distinguished, as per his view “markets are euphoric and economists are pessimistic.” The thinking which has come from one of the country’s biggest industry leader is significantly ahead of India’s annual budget on 1 st February 2021. However, Birla shared the same thought that even the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has. The RBI, in its latest financial stability report, highlighted that in India, while the economy has been called out as “weak”, the stock markets have moved to an all-time high. Kumar Mangalam Birla is more optimistic than the economists at Reserve Bank of India (RBI), or elsewhere. “In India too, the initial...
GMR rolls-out Bauxite residue treatment demonstration unit at Rio Tinto’s Vaudreuil Alumina refinery site
On 20 th January 2021, the Global Mineral Recovery Company (GMR) publicised this morning the commissioning of its commercial demonstration unit for the recovery of bauxite residues on the site of Rio Tinto’s Vaudreuil Alumina plant. The $ 9 million project was initiated in 2017. The US-based technology-focused company, GMR, has established a division in Montreal since 2018 and it has designed a pyrometallurgical technology to treat and recover the bauxite residues from the production of alumina. This process transforms and extracts specific compounds from the residue, making it useful in certain building material applications. GMR will also transform and market the substantial portion of the “red” iron oxide mined from the bauxite residue. Ultimately, GMR intends to succeed in extracting...
Crown plans to build sixth beverage can plant in Brazil
Beverage packaging manufacturer Crown has made public that its Brazilian subsidiary Crown Embalagens plans to build its sixth beverage can facility in the Latin American nation. The new plant will produce two-piece aluminium cans in various sizes and will have two lines, both of which are forecasted to begin production next year. Crown Embalagens’ upcoming facility will be located in Minas Gerais state in southeast Brazil, to grab the growing demand in the region for beer and soft drink cans. Djalma Novaes, President of Crown’s Americas division, said: “Brazil is an important growth market for us and our partner, Évora S.A. This expansion will help meet the country’s increased demand for beverage cans and demonstrates the Crown’s continuing commitment to grow with our customers.” “The...
AlCircle launches "Global Aluminium Industry Outlook 2021": A conclusive report
As we have crossed one of the difficult years in the history of industrialisation and entered 2021 with a lot of hopes and inspiration, AlCircle think tank came up with a conclusive preview report “Global Aluminium Industry Outlook 2021” . The preview report elaborates the future of the global aluminium industry in 2021 and ahead. The primary focus of the report is to touch upon the significant developments of this ongoing year vertical wise, in a bid to analyse how every vertical influence each other’s growth or counter-growth. The global aluminium usage is estimated to have declined by 4.1% to 84.5 million tonnes in 2020, while the rest of the world is still reeling under the impact of the pandemic. However, China has managed to strengthen up it's economy and aluminium usage, which is...
