AL Circle Analysis: Bauxite developments, alumina trade & primary aluminium market dynamics across Australia, Guinea, US & India
The aluminium industry is entering another phase of supply-chain repositioning. Across bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium, companies are investing in new resources, consolidating strategic assets and expanding processing capacity, while governments are increasingly treating domestic supply as a strategic priority. The latest developments from Australia, Guyana, Guinea, Indonesia, the US and India point to a market where resource security, processing location and control over supply chains are becoming as important as production growth. At the same time, new trading mechanisms and changing investment patterns are beginning to influence how aluminium and its raw materials reach the market. Bauxite supply expands, but securing the right tonnes is becoming harder In Western Australia, VBX...
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...
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Hitachi Rail develops a PRM-TSI compliant, lightweight aluminium storage unit for bicycles
Working in close cooperation with its design and production partners, Hitachi Rail has developed a PRM-TSI compliant, lightweight storage unit for bicycles for its new class 800/801 series train. According to TRB Lightweight Structures (TRB), these new Hitachi Class 800/801 trains will be replacing existing high speed trains in the UK as part of the latest Intercity Express Programme (IEP). The original concept for the new class 800/801 series train was to design spacious new passenger carriage interiors, including convenient bike storage facilities. It explains that, right at this early concept stage, Hitachi also brought in Lyndon Newman, Engineering Director of TRB and his team. The role of TRB was to evaluate the design and provide a cost effective method of manufacturing the bike...
Novelis UK win at the Awards for Excellence
Novelis UK were unveiled as the winner of the Circular Economy Success category at this year’s Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management, 2015. The annual Awards for Excellence are renowned for delivering true value and recognition to leaders of the innovation in the sector. The Circular Economy Success category – sponsored by the Textiles Recycling Association – was targeted at businesses, local authorities and organisations that show how they have provided for success within the circular economy process in the waste management and recycling sector. Novelis were chosen as the winner for their ‘promotion of recycling aluminium’ and were praised for being a ‘true closed loop pioneer in the UK’. The entry focused on how Novelis are building a new circular economic model for...
North American Aluminum scrap prices declined on Index, 19th May, 2015
The North American Aluminum scrap prices declined on ScrapMonster Price Index as on May 19th, Tuesday. 1100 Scrap prices declined by $0.02 per Lb. The prices of 3003 Scrap too fell $0.02 per Lb. A down move of $0.02 per Lb was witnessed in 356 Aluminum Wheels and 6063 Extrusions/Fe. Meantime, prices of 5052 Scrap and 6061 Extrusions too dropped by $0.02 per Lb. 6063 Extrusions witnessed a decline of $0.02 per Lb over the day. The prices of Al/Cu Radiators and Al/Cu Radiators/Fe were down by $0.01 per Lb each. Aluminum Radiators and Aluminum Radiators/Fe went down by $0.02 per Lb each. Aluminum Transformers and Breakage 50% Recovery prices dropped by $0.01 per Lb each on 19th May. Chrome Wheels and E.C Aluminum Wire prices edged lower by $0.02 per Lb each. Mixed Aluminum Turnings prices...
Malaysia's Press Metal smelting plant catches fire
A smelting plant of Malaysia's biggest aluminium maker, Press Metal Bhd, in Borneo caught fire last Sunday, the company said late on Tuesday. The company said it was unable to ascertain the cause of the fire or estimate its full impact, and that the incident did not cause any harm to any persons or any known uncontrolled emissions. The plant, which produces aluminium products, belongs to the company's 80-percent owned unit Press Metal Bintulu Sdn Bhd. Press Metal said preliminary estimates showed the impact on its earnings was not expected to be "substantial" and would be mitigated as it is adequately insured.
South32 arrives with focus on yield
BHP Billiton's (BHP) new baby South32 (S32) has been christened, having commenced trading on the Australian Securities Exchange. With the much heralded listing several brokers step up to initiate coverage of the stock. At this stage, there are three Buy ratings on the FNArena database with a consensus target of $2.62, suggesting 15.0% upside to the last share price. South32 is a diversified miner, primarily exposed to aluminium and alumina, but spread across geographies, mainly Australia, Brazil and South Africa. Other commodity exposures include manganese, nickel, thermal & coking coal, silver, lead and zinc. Three attributes stand out for JP Morgan: valuation, management and gearing. More than half of the broker's earnings estimates are driven by aluminium and alumina, with the...
Orbite announces change to its Board of Directors
Mr. Peter Crossgrove , Director of the Company since May 2013, will not seek reelection to the Board of Directors at the upcoming shareholders meeting due to personal and health reasons. Claude Lamoureux , Chairman of Orbite, stated, "We would like to thank Peter for his dedication to and support for Orbite during an important transformational period for the Company. We are sorry he will no longer be able to serve on our Board, and wish him well for the future." Orbite Aluminae Inc. announced that it will hold its annual and special meeting of shareholders on June 18, 2015.
Sasol expands alumina spheres production capacity in Germany
On May 20, 2015 Sasol announced that it has expanded the production capacity of its alumina spheres plant in Brunsbüttel to 4,000 tonnes per annum. Through the company’s Performance Chemicals Inorganics & Catalyst division, a leading global producer of inorganic specialities, it produces high purity and ultra-high purity alumina that is used in a range of catalytic and non-catalytic applications. The expansion marks another step in the company strengthening its position in the alumina market to meet growing market demand for alumina-based shaped carrier materials for industrial catalytic and non-catalytic applications. Due to physical and chemical properties, the shaped carriers produced by Sasol’s Performance Chemicals Inorganics & Catalyst division are sought-after in fast-growing...
Queensland Bauxite drilling to expand Indicated Resource base
Queensland Bauxite has committing to a significant drilling program at its flagship South Johnstone project near Innisfail in Queensland and has encountered new bauxite in areas not explored before. The project has an overall massive exploration target area of between 193 million tonnes and 405 million tonnes. Current drilling to date is still only a small sub-set of that area. The exploration target is being confirmed by targeted regional drilling confirming the extensive bauxite throughout the region within the 250 sq. km Atherton Basalt that covers the majority of the South Johnstone tenement area. This drilling is looking to give a big bump to the current JORC Indicated Resource which would underpin a straightforward DSO mining and export operation development from the project....
Constellium takes part in space exploration to Mars, providing AIRWARE® aerospace technology to NASA’s Orion spacecraft
Constellium N.V. announces its AIRWARE® technology was aboard Orion’s successful first flight test, Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1). Built by Lockheed Martin, NASA’s Orion spacecraft is designed for human exploration of deep space. In 2010, after a two-year materials study by Lockheed Martin – AIRWARE® 2195 and 2050 low density alloys manufactured at Constellium’s facilities located in Ravenswood, West Virginia, USA and Montreuil-Juigné and Issoire, France, – were chosen as key structural materials of the Orion spacecraft based on their proven reliability and safety in space in the study. The alloys’ inherent low density, high-specific stiffness, strength and excellent mechanical properties ensure material high-performance characteristics during demanding launch and landing phases, and...
Midas secures $53m deal to deliver fabricated parts for high-speed rail in China
Midas Holdings' subsidiary Jilin Midas Aluminium Industries (Jilin Midas) has received a series of contracts worth CNY328.9m ($53m) to deliver high-speed train car body components in China. The latest contracts include CNY185.4m ($29.8m) worth of orders from CNR Changchun Railway Vehicle and CNY143.5m ($23m) worth of orders from CNR Tangshan Railway Vehicle. As part of these deals, Jilin Midas will supply aluminium-alloy extrusion profiles and certain fabricated parts for high-speed trains that will operate at speeds of up to 350km/h and 380km/h respectively. Midas executive director and chief executive officer Patrick Chew said: "As a quality supplier with a long-standing track record and relationship with our customers, we are heartened that our efforts have been rewarded with the...
Aluminum Association study finds aluminum cans to be the most recycled, highest value beverage container on the market
Aluminum cans are the most recycled and highest value beverage container on the market today, according to a new report released by the Aluminum Association and Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI), and available at www.aluminum.org/CanAdvantage . The aluminum can has the highest recycling rate of any beverage container and contains 70 percent recycled content on average – more than three times the recycled content of glass or plastic (PET) bottles. The study also found that aluminum can recycled material is worth nearly 300 percent more per ton than plastic or glass. “This new report confirms that aluminum cans are recycled by U.S. consumers at rates more than 20 points higher than that of other beverage containers, making them the sustainable package of choice,” said Heidi Brock, President...
Aluminum Association updates on downstream market situation in North America
The Aluminum Association’s “Index of Net New Orders of Aluminum Mill Products” for April decreased 5.5 percent from the previous month. Orders for flat roll products were down 6.8 percent, while orders for extruded products declined seven-tenths of one percent and orders for redraw rod were off 6.3 percent. Compared to April 2014, orders rose 3.0 percent. On average, orders recorded by domestic producers through April were up 6.0 percent over last year. Excluding domestic can stock, year-to-date orders are up 6.1 percent over last year. Shipments of can stock by domestic producers totaled 337.0 million pounds during April 2015, off 1.4 percent from the April 2014 total of 342.0 million pounds. Compared to the previous month, shipments decreased 6.5 percent from the March 2015 revised...
Shree Narmada Aluminium Industries Ltd to consider FY15 results on May 28, 2015
A meeting of the Board of Directors of Shree Narmada Aluminium Industries Ltd is scheduled to be held on May 28, 2015, to take on record the Audited Financial Results for the quarter / year ended on March 31, 2015 along with report of auditors thereon. Pursuant to the Code of Conduct for prevention of Insider Trading, the Trading Window for Trading/dealing in the securities of the Company for the directors and other designated employees covered under the Code shall remain closed from May 22, 2015 and reopen after expiry of forty eight (48) hours from the result.
Fiji MP wants restrictions imposed on bauxite export
A Fiji opposition MP says a law should be put in place to limit the amount of bauxite that can be shipped out of the country. The SODELPA MP Mosese Bulitavu presented a petition to parliament last week, calling on the Government to handover royalties to landowners at the Nawailevu bauxite mine. The Chinese company Aurum Exploration Limited has nearly completed mining at the site which has produced almost 1 million tonnes of bauxite. Mr Bulitavu says they've discovered that there is no limit on bauxite exports. "There should be a law, because it's dealing with soil and rock that will not be returned back to Fiji. It's an environmental issue so there has to be a stop in regards to the limit of things that you can take out of Fiji." The Lands and Mineral Resources Minister Mereseini Vuniwaqa...
Southwire sees no aluminum supply disruption from Century lockout
May 19 Cable and wire manufacturer Southwire has taken steps to ensure supplies to its Kentucky rod plant continue, a spokesman said on Tuesday, as a lockout at supplier Century Aluminum Co's nearby smelter enters its second week. "We have taken steps to ensure that we have an adequate supply of aluminum, and we are continuing with current production plans," spokesman Gary Leftwich said on Tuesday, without disclosing further details. Southwire, which buys aluminum from Century's Hawesville smelter for its aluminum rod, wire and cable plant next door, used to own the plant, but sold it to Century in 2001. Unionized workers have been locked out of the 244,000-tonne-per-year smelter since last Tuesday after they rejected for a third time a labor deal agreed between the union's negotiating...
Century Union workers ready to negotiate deal again; dates not yet fixed
Union workers that are locked out of the Century Aluminium say they want to restart negotiations however no dates have yet been fixed. President of the United Steelworkers Local 9423, Andy Meserve says they want a deal not a lock out, representing more than 560 locked out workers at the smelter. Century spokesperson, Kenny Barkley said on Tuesday that they were "committed to the bargaining process" and the last offer made to the workers still stands in case they want to reconsider it, Meanwhile, Century has hired some temporary, non-union workers to operate the smelter during the lock out so that there is no disruption in the production. The company has already made three offers to the workers over the course of six weeks of negotiation after the expiration of the previous five-year...
New Audi R8 due to release in India in the first half of 2016
The all new aluminium-bodied Audi R8 is ready to be launched in India in the first part of 2016 according to recent reports. Audi R8 will be the second generation for the German supercar. The use of aluminium in its band new space frame structure and liberal use carbon-fibre reinforced plastic makes the car super light supposedly weighing only 200 kg. The light weight will be teamed up with a 5.2-litre V10 petrol mill with the ability to generate 601 bhp power and is fitted with freshly developed Quattro All-Wheel Drive system. The supercar is able to sprint 0 to 100km/h in just 3.2 seconds with a top speed of 330 km/h. Supposedly the new car is likely to improve 10 percent from the previous models in terms of efficiency owing to its light weight and powerful engine.
Kobe Aluminum celebrates 10 years in Kentucky
Gov. Steve Beshear today joined company and local officials at Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products LLC (KAAP) to celebrate the company’s 10th anniversary in Bowling Green. The company’s leadership from Japan also participated in the event. “Today is a celebration of success,” said Beshear. “Kobe Aluminum has grown in size and significance since establishing in Bowling Green 10 years ago. The company continues to be a crucial part of Kentucky’s thriving automotive industry and a source of quality jobs.” Since establishing in Bowling Green in 2003, KAAP has invested more than $180 million in its Kentucky operations. The company, which has undergone five additional expansions over the past decade, currently employs almost 400 Kentuckians. The need for lighter vehicles is expected to accelerate...
