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.
Nyinahin bauxite: Chiefs demand CEO from Tano-Offin area
Chiefs of Tano-Offin holds accountable the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) of ambiguity in its operations and plans as far as the mining of bauxite in the Nyinahin forest reserve in the Ashanti Region is concerned. In a statement of protest jointly signed by Nana Tabbri Gyansa III, Mpasaso Omanhene -I; Nana Kusi Amankwaa Marfo II, Nkawie Paninhene; and Nana Apofo Twumasi III, Mpasaso 11hene, said: “In principle, we are not against the mining of the bauxite” but noted that the “steps taken so far by GIADEC have not been transparent”, adding: “This has further left us in the dark. Our only source of information has been the media”. The chiefs, in a statement copied to the Chief of Staff at the Office of the President Nana Akufo-Addo; the Chairman of the...
15.38% sharp decline of US import of Al crude, metals and alloys from India during Jan-Sept
A 15.38% sharp decline of USA’s import towards aluminium crude, metals, and alloys from India during the period Jan’19-Sept’19 has been recorded. 121,000 tonnes has been accounted for as US import from India during Jan’19-Sept’19 and in the previous year at the same phase, it was accounted for 143,000 tonnes. This record to 22,000 tonnes, a de-growth of 15.38%. There is a continuous downfall of aluminium crude, metals and alloys during June’19 to Sept’19 of US import from India (June – 10,100, July – 6360, August – 6470, Sept – 4110). The figures say the actual scenario of the downfall month by month. When compared to Sept’18 and Sept’19 month on month basis there is a huge decline of US import from India which has been accounted for 70.64%. In Sept’18 the import towards the USA from...
Hindalco’s INR 8000 crore new alumina project gets approved by Odisha Govt.
The apex body to clear investment projects in Odisha, The High-Level Clearance Authority (HLCA), has approved a new Greenfield alumina refinery unit, proposed by Aditya Birla Group-owned Hindalco Industries. The estimated cost of the project is INR 8,000 crore and is proposed to come up at Kansariguda near Rayagada in Odisha, with a predicted volume of 2 million tonnes/annum. The project is expected to create employment for 4,250 people. Hindalco will depend on the Odisha government on raw material for catering to the refinery. Bauxite from any of the leases of Odisha Mining Corporation is likely to feed the planned and approved refinery project of Hindalco. This project is scheduled to go into its mainstream production in 4 to 5 years. The alumina refining unit is projected at the...
ThinTech® Aluminum casting technology succours General Motor to win Award
Shiloh Industries, known for an environmentally focused global supplier of lightweight, noise and vibration solutions and proud supplier for the redesigned Corvette Stingray congratulates General Motors on the car being named the 2020 Free Press Car of the Year. The vehicle’s new design attributes Shiloh’s exclusive ThinTech® aluminum casting technology. This pioneering technology empowered the strengthening of select structural components by nearly 70% and a weight reduction of roughly 35% compared to the previous model. Also, Shiloh’s advanced solutions are delivering manufacturing advancements by reducing vehicle joining operations, assembly cycle time, and tooling investment. Scott Borovich, Vice President, Business Development and Technology "Shiloh is thrilled to see the Free Press...
0.71% decline in USA’s import of Aluminium Crude, Alloy and Metals from Bahrain during Jan–Sept
The scenario has reflected that there is a 0.71% de-growth of the USA’s import of aluminium crude, alloy and metals from Bahrain during Jan’19- Sept’19 when compared to the same period of 2018. The total imports from Jan’19 – Sept’19 accounted to 97,400 tones, whereas in the previous year at the same period it accounted to 98,100 tonnes. There was a gradual rise of 1800 tonnes from June’19 to July’19 (June’19 – 11,000 tonnes and July’19 – 12,800 tonnes). But the import declined hugely from August’19 to September’19 (August’19 – 5130 tonnes and September’19 – 4970 tonnes). A de-growth of 59.92% has been recorded in August’19 from its previous month which has accounted to 7670 tonnes downfall. A decline of 160 tonnes has been again reflected in September’19 which has accounted for 3.21%...
The world’s largest Aluminium Yacht gets ready for sail
Royal Huisman’s 266-foot schooner is ready to set sail. The Dutch builder has rolled out the world’s largest aluminum sailing yacht to the gratification of worldwide marine enthusiasts. The 266-foot schooner, known as Sea Eagle II, spread her wings and left the nest on 7 th January’20 with her new owner insight. Built for eminent Taiwanese businessman, philanthropist, and owner of the first Sea Eagle, Dr. Samuel Yin, this enormous vessel is Royal Huisman’s largest vessel yet. The serial yacht collector took the yard’s mantra “If you can dream it, we can build it” quite literally. The epic three braced schooner eclipses the original Sea Eagle by more than 120 feet. It also brags a further 800 GT in volume than its predecessor. The sporting exterior lines by Dykstra Naval Architects, Sea...
Revolutionary Aluminium Alloy wheel debuts: Rio Tinto
Rio Tinto, the global mining and metals production firm says it has started securing orders for its new aluminium alloy wheel known as Revolution-AI. As per the company’s communication, researchers at its Arvida Research and Development Centre in Quebec, Canada, have spent more than 5 years in developing a car wheel alloy, which can be considered stronger and also reduces fuel consumption, improves safety and handling and succeeding “an industry-standard no one had better for more than four decades.” In September’19, London-based Tinto obtains its first order for the new Revolution-AI alloy and it has been designed in a way so that it can be easily recycled and it can also be used at the existing wheel-manufacturing plant. Jerome Fourmann, who is a technical director at Rio Tinto states...
Plan for $300 million CAPEX on Lanjigarh alumina refinery in FY20: Vedanta
The giant in metals and mining, Vedanta Ltd has planned a capital expenditure of $250-300 million in the next fiscal on the ramp-up of its Lanjigarh alumina refinery in Odisha. Vedanta, in an astonishing manner, has proposed to expand the capacity of the refinery to 6 mtpa. The refinery's present gridlock capacity is 2 mtpa. The company aims to recover the invested sum within two years by banking on locally sourced bauxite to trim logistics costs. Arun Kumar, Chief Financial Officer of Vedanta Ltd at the company's recent results conference said “Every tonne of aluminium produced with the Odisha sourced bauxite which can be used in expanding refinery capacity, will give us Ebitda advantage of $400 per tonne. So, if we can cover 50 per cent or 60 per cent of our requirement, then to that...
Log9 Materials bets on aluminium fuel cells, 1000 km range electric car battery
Log9 Materials, a Bengaluru-based start-up, believes that the fundamental is to focus on the generation of energy, in place of energy storage. It says that a car powered by aluminium fuel cells can have a drive of 1000 km, post which the aluminium plates can be replaced within minutes. The contest is always about top speed or luxury when it came to premium cars with big price tags and it was about better mileage when it came to mass-market cars and there is still abundant focus on these subject matters, but clean mobility employs the centre stage of every car manufacturer's agenda today. Being from Hyundai to Porsche, they all have plug-in electric car models in their launch line up - even Ferrari developed hybrid cars of which the SF90 Stradale is a PHEV that can run on battery only as...
Aluminium prices show signs of recovery over improvement in macro sentiment: ICRA
ICRA announced that the signs of recovery for aluminium prices are been seen in the last three months, as trade tensions in international markets have softened to an area leading to an improvement in sentiment. Accordingly, aluminium prices at the spot market have inclined by 4% in the last three months. Jayanta Roy, Senior Vice-President and Group Head, Corporate Sector Ratings, ICRA said “The prevailing global supply-demand scenario in both aluminium and copper has been conducive to a price recovery, given the deficits of these metals in the physical market. But weak macroeconomic sentiments arising out of the trade tensions weighed on prices thus far.” The unpredictable nature of macro-economy, as well as feeble sentiments due to the trade war, have driven to a sharp slowdown in global...
Aluminium encased laptop is the future: Asus Zenbook Pro Duo (UX581)
Today everybody enjoys having a laptop which is oblique, decent display, good-pace processor to be placed on their work table. Asus Zenbook Pro Duo (UX581), the full aluminium encased laptop delivering the superior look and feel, with its logo surrounded by concentric circles on top of the computer. This PC is going to put every laptop in the market to nail-biting. It is a dream come true for every creator: architects, interior designers, graphic designs and artists of every nature. The features: CPU: 2.4GHz Intel Core i9-9980HK (octa-core, 16MB cache, up to 5GHz) Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 RAM: 32GB DDR4 Screen: 15.6-inch, OLED Ultra HD (3,840 x 2,160), 14-inch Ultra HD (3,840 x 1,110) touch display Storage: 1TB SSD Ports: 1 x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), 2 x USB-C 3.1, HDMI 2.0,...
A slew of tax incentives to strengthen the domestic mineral market: FIMI, India
A slew of indirect tax incentives have been seeking by The Federation of Indian Minerals Industries (FIMI) to strengthen the fading mining industry. The submission of a list of changes in indirect tax levies on various minerals and mining products by FIMI in a memorandum to the Ministry of Finance, pursuing their incorporation in the country’s budget to be placed before the Indian Parliament next month. FIMI has solicited scrapping of the 15% export tax on bauxite. It has requested that Indian having 3.896 billion tons of bauxite reserves and being the fifth largest in the world, with 84% of the reserves being of the metallurgical grade used mainly for alumina extraction is essential to have excellent conservation of these bauxite reserves. The as large volume of aluminium smelters been...
Regional aluminium demand should be supported by USMCA
The House of Democrats in the USA on 10 th December’19 announced their support on an amended version of the USMCA, an agreement that was signed on November’18 by all three countries – USA, Mexico, and Canada. The amended agreement which involves changes made to labour and environmental standards and enforcement thereof was swiftly signed by Mexico, but it must now pass through US Congress and Canada’s Parliament for approval. The US Aluminium Association rapidly endorsed the new USMCA but stated that “strong import monitoring and trade enforcement are vital to effective USMCA implementation.” The major concern is the tremendous increase in Chinese aluminium sheet and plate exports to Mexico, which is standing up at 94% YTD October’19 in comparison to the same period in 2018, and risen...
NALCO raises its aluminium ingot prices for the third time in a row
The National Aluminium Co. Ltd. raises the price of its aluminium ingots third time in a row. The Government of India owned aluminium producer has hiked the prices of its ingots by 2% approximately, and the cost now stands at INR 152,850 – 156,350 per tonne. As considered most of the aluminium producer’s link prices of their products to the three-month futures of aluminium on London Metal Exchange, this was up by nearly 6% in December quarter. At the same period, NALCO has raised the prices of its products by over 3%. Alumina and aluminium products account for nearly two-thirds of NALCO’s gross top line; chemical sales take care of the rest of its revenue. The company produces aluminium wire rods, aluminium billets, chequered sheets and rolled coil.
Chalco ships first bauxite from Boffa mine, Guinea
The Aluminium Corporation of China Ltd., CHALCO, shipped the first cargo of bauxite from its Boffa mine in Guinea, as per a company spokesman confirmed on 7 th January’20. Alumina is produced from a rock known as bauxite, which is then refined to make aluminium metal. As on 7 th January’20, it has been reported that the first 55,000 tonnes cargo left Guinea on 5 th January’20, onboard Cosco Shipping Bulk’s Qu Shan Hai vessel. The ship is bound to the port of Rizhao in eastern China’s Shandong province as Chalco has alumina refining in Shandong. It was reported officially from Chalco’s parent company Chinalco in November’19 that the first shipment from Boffa mine which is slated to eventually produce 12 million tonnes of bauxite per year, starting from early December’19. “The mining...
Aluminium in cosmetics is safer for usage: European experts
The usage of aluminium in antiperspirants, lipsticks and toothpastes in the form of concentrations which has been in consent with the limits as defined by European Regulations, is safe for human health, according to the primary standpoint adopted by the Scientific Committee for Consumer Safety (CSSC) during its comprehensive assembly on October 30 th and 31 st , 2019. The text is open for remarks until 17 th February’20. Aluminium is considered as a systemic toxicant at high doses. This has caused numerous controversies and alarming media reports in the safety of use in cosmetics, mainly in antiperspirants. As expected, a few studies have suggested that cosmetics may be a more important source of exposure than food. A committee assembling seventeen independent experts in chemistry and...
Aluminium roof rails and sporty face, the new appeal of KIA Stonic
A car which is designed solely for the European market is surprisingly put on sale in its country of origin due to public demand and that says a lot about its appeal. The KIA Stonic 1.0 T-GDI in its first instance was designed for buyers in the west but when it went on show in South Korea where the demand for it went so high that the carmaker expresses to change its plan. Designed in Frankfurt with a fair help from Korea the KIA Stonic is a cool, trendy little car which has instant visual appeal. A sporty face and distinctive brushed aluminium roof rails have added an instant appeal. The model comes with two-tone paintwork as standard with the roof, rear spoiler and door mirror in a contrasting colour to the body which immediately lifts the appearance of the car. In the generously...
Aluminium chassis Acer Spin 5 convertible tightens belt and added stylus pen for 2020
Acer has announced its Spin 5 convertibles with slimmer forms and rapid charging active stylus pen by using Wacom technology as a part of its Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2020 casting. The Acer Spin 5 comes with magnesium aluminium chassis, which assures it weighs only 1.2kg. The Acer Spin 5 two-in-ones come with the latest 10th Gen Intel Core processors inside, plus Windows 10 Home preinstalled. They also sport Wi-Fi 6 for fast, reliable wireless connectivity, and a series of ports including USB Type-C for Thunderbolt 3. The Acer Spin 5 is amazing; with a 3:2 aspect ratio 13.5-inch display and it has a 2K resolution. The integrated fingerprint sensor which supports Windows Hello security is also available. The device comes with an included fast-charging Acer Active Stylus. The Acer...
