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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Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation announces secondary offering of common stock by Apollo
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation announced today the commencement of a secondary public offering of 22,840,000 shares of the Company's common stock by certain funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC (the Selling Stockholders). The Company itself is not selling any shares and will not receive any proceeds from the proposed offering. Prior to this offering, the Selling Stockholders owned or controlled approximately 33.1% of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock. Following the completion of this offering, the Selling Stockholders will no longer own any shares of the Company's common stock and we expect Matthew R. Michelini, Matthew H. Nord, Eric L. Press, and Robert J. Kalsow-Ramos, who are affiliates of the Selling Stockholders, to resign from our board of...
Researchers develop a faster welding technique for aluminium auto parts
Researchers from the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in partnership with General Motors, Alcoa and TWB Company LLC have come up with a new technique for processing aluminium for automobiles that will enhance the speed, scale, quality and consistency required in the auto industry. The new technique promises to reduce production time and costs for creating strong yet strong automotive parts and has been reported in the May issue of the Journal of Materials. Friction stir welding or FSW is a new joining technique that can be used to join aluminium sheets of varying thickness ten times faster that any former FSW technique providing speeds that can meet high-volume assembly requirements. "We looked at the barriers preventing the use of more lightweight alloys in...
Audi launches its upgraded RS& Sportback 2015 in India for INR 1.4cr
Audi’s popular model, the aluminium-bodied RS7 is debuting in India, with a makeover and a new name – Audi RS7 Sportback 2015 with a price tag of INR 1.4 crore (ex-showroom Mumbai), 11 lakhs more than the current model. The lightweight new stunner has impressive spec complementing its good looks including V8 4.0 TFSI engine capable of producing 560PS and 700Nm of torque, with a lightening pick up of 100kmph in just 3.9 seconds and top speed of 255kmph. There is an option of ‘dynamic package’ that pushes the top speed to 305kmph. Other notable changes include the new hybrid aluminium body, new Matrix LED head and tail lamps, adaptive air suspension and honeycombed single-frame grille with Quattro badging.
Century Aluminum delays lockout at Hawesville, Kentucky Smelter
Century Aluminum of Kentucky General Partnership, a subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, today delayed the effective time of its potential lockout of USW Local 9423 at its Hawesville, Kentucky smelter in order to allow the union to hold an additional vote on a modified version of the Company's last, best and final (LBF) offer. The vote is expected to take place on May 11. If USW Local 9423 does not approve the LBF on May 11, the lockout is now scheduled to commence at 8 a.m. CDT on May 12, 2015. While the Company is hopeful that the union membership will approve the LBF, the smelter is fully prepared for the lockout and is expected to continue to operate safely and at full production. The Company has created a dedicated website to keep employees, families, community members and others...
Japan’s aluminum premiums hold at $240-250/mt to LME in thin trade
Japan’s spot aluminum import premiums held at $240-250/mt plus London Metal Exchange cash, CIF Japan, Monday, in thin trade as market participants closely monitored the LME price moves. Twelve Japanese buyers and three overseas sellers contacted Monday reported no deal, offer or bid, and Platts assessment stayed at $240-250/mt plus LME cash CIF Japan, unchanged since April 16. The market was still lacking in spot demand, as three Japanese consumers said their consumption for the next few months was unlikely to exceed their forecast. Three overseas sellers said there was no inquiry from Japan at all. One South Korean trader said his focus was to sell in Southeast Asia where there were more buyers, although for small lots ranging from 25 mt to several hundred tons. One Japanese consumer...
Nawailevu landowners will get their fair share of money - Mere Vuniwaqa
Public consultations will be held soon on the determination of the fair share of royalty to be paid to the Nawailevu landowners where bauxite mining is currently underway. This has been confirmed by Lands and Mineral Resources Minister Mereseini Vuniwaqa following questions raised by SODELPA parliamentarians on the payment for landowners. Opposition MP Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu questioned Vuniwaqa why the royalty payments have not been made. Vuniwaqa says the royalty payment is being held in trust with the Mineral Resources Department until the fair share is determined after the consultations as stated in the constitution. She also highlighted that for the Nawailevu bauxite mine, Aurum Exploration Fiji Limited has paid the premium and rent payable for the surface lease, lease and premium...
Another Solomon bauxite miner may lose lease
The Solomon Islands Government is threatening to cancel a company's lease to mine bauxite on Rennell Island. It would be the second such cancellation after the government last week withdrew the lease of PT Mega Bingtang Borneo for its failure to meet the conditions laid down by the Mines and Minerals Board. Now Asia Pacific Investment Development Ltd has been given 14 days to respond to the government's concerns or lose its lease. The government says its mining ministry has faced heavy criticism since the leases were issued last year under the previous administration. It says the lease decisions will end ongoing confusion about the legitimacy of the companies' operations on Rennell Island. The government says it will now negotiate with the company for royalties payments on the three...
Rio Tinto cutting up to 170 positions in Montreal; scaling back use of Alcan name
Rio Tinto is shedding between 110 and 170 jobs in Montreal as the mining company prepares to move early next year into its new Canadian headquarters, with the Alcan name missing from the building. The company said Monday that the staff reductions are part of the London-based company's efforts announced last February to streamline global operations to reduce costs. "We are in a cyclical industry and we have to adapt with the market," spokesperson Claudine Gagnon said. The reduction of corporate jobs that support various metal groups will begin in a few weeks and be completed by year end. About 800 employees currently work for the aluminum and other metal group divisions in Montreal. The aluminum division's global headquarters will remain in the city, but the name Alcan will gradually...
Alcoa to close the Anglesea power station
Lightweight metals leader Alcoa today announced that Alcoa of Australia will permanently close the Anglesea coal mine and power station on August 31, 2015. The Anglesea power station previously supplied approximately 40 percent of the power needs for the Point Henry smelter in Geelong, Victoria. Alcoa said in February 2014 that it would conduct a sales process for the site, which has been operating as an independent supplier to the National Electricity Market since the smelter closed in August 2014. The sales process did not result in a sale. “Our key concern now is for our 85 employees who have done a great job in continuing to run the operation during this period of uncertainty,” said President Alcoa Refining and Managing Director, Alcoa of Australia, Alan Cransberg. “Alcoa has been a...
BoA to consider Vedanta SEZ extension
The Board of Approvals (BoA) under the Union commerce & industry ministry would consider the proposal for extending the validity of product specific Special Economic Zone (SEZ) by Vedanta Ltd at Jharsuguda. The validity of the notified SEZ is lapsing on May 22 this year. The BoA is scheduled to meet on May 19. The development commissioner, Falta SEZ recommended extension of Vedanta's SEZ till May 22, 2016. Formal approval for the SEZ was granted on May 23, 2007. Since then, the developer has been given five extensions. Vedanta claimed to have completed 95 per cent work on the SEZ and hopes to complete the unfinished work by May 22 next year. Vedanta's product specific SEZ includes an aluminium smelter complex where the proponent has already invested Rs 12,000 crore. The project was set up...
Group touts beverage container recyclability
A new brochure from the Washington, D.C.-based American Institute for Packaging and the Environment (AMERIPEN) portrays what the group calls the sustainability benefits of different beverage package types and the materials from which these containers are produced. The brochure, titled Beverage Packaging: Delivering Taste, Safety, and Sustainability, says Americans each drink about 175 gallons of beverages each year, “much of which is delivered in plastic jugs, aluminum and steel cans, glass bottles, gable top and aseptic cartons and flexible pouches.” According to AMERIPEN, such packaging “reduces economic and environmental waste by matching the amount of beverage to be served or properly stored with the packaging type needed to effectively and efficiently deliver that product.” Regarding...
Napco posts $1.8m net profit
National Aluminium Products Company (Napco), a leading extruders of aluminum profiles in the GCC, has posted net profit of RO701,000 ($1.8 million) for last year, with revenues totalling to RO19.3 million. Continuing with the momentum, it has recorded a profit of RO165,000 for the first quarter of the year, compared to RO159,000 for the same period last year, said a statement. The company has attributed its remarkable performance during last year to increased sales volume, better plant capacity utilisation, increased market share, deeper penetration into domestic markets, a wider product offering, improved services, and more thrust on marketing activities. Meanwhile, the Q1 figures are a result of streamlined production along with active marketing and branding initiatives. Despite low oil...
Analysts predict profitable start for Hulamin’s new recycling plant
The growing demand from Nampak follows the conversion of beverage can body stock in South Africa from steel to aluminium. “In the rest of the world aluminium makes up 90% of all beverage packaging, so we appreciate that Nampak has decided to convert their plants. While the conversion has taken place in soft drinks, beverage cans as a packaging material are still under-represented in alcoholic drinks packaging. This is changing as supermarket retailers distribute ever greater amounts of alcoholic beverages. They tend to prefer cans because they are lighter, stack better, use space more effectively and get colder quicker,” says Jacob. While the company is staying mum on the financial benefits of its new recycling plant, investment managers have been taking a stab at what the investment will...
After Wall Street Banks exit controversial aluminum trade, prices return to normal
For the last five years, every beer guzzler in America paid a tiny surcharge to some of the nation’s largest banks. According to manufacturers, practices at warehouses owned by Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions inflated the price of aluminum used in beer cans and thousands of other goods, costing consumers as much as $3 billion a year, as one MillerCoors executive estimated. Now, drinkers can belch a sigh of relief. Aluminum markups are falling as quickly as they once rose. By the end of 2014, Goldman and JPMorgan Chase & Co. had exited the warehouse business, as the London Metal Exchange (LME), which sets benchmark aluminum prices, pursued reforms. With new rules in effect since February and banks out of the business, aluminum surcharges have plummeted. The Midwest premium...
Aluminium futures fall on global cues
Aluminium prices fell 0.41 per cent to INR 120.40 per kg in futures trading today, taking weak cues from global markets. Further, subdued demand in the domestic spot markets also weighed on the metal prices. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in June shed 50 paise, or 0.41 per cent, to INR 120.40 per kg in business turnover of 41 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in current month contracts traded lower by 55 paise, or 0.38 per cent, to INR 119.05 per kg in 1,410 lots. Market analysts said the weakness in aluminium at futures trade was mostly in tune with a downtrend in select base metals at the London Metal Exchange (LME), shrugging off China's bid to boost growth with a third interest rate cut in six months in the world's largest consumer of the metal.
EC’s intervention over alleged state aid ‘not helpful’
MEP for Ireland South, Deirdre Clune says a decade long battle between Ireland and the European Commission over alleged state aid to Aughinish Alumina is “not helpful” to business development in the west. The European Commission wants €10m of what it believes were illegal tax breaks given to Aughinish Alumina between 2002 and 2004 paid back, and is pressing the Irish government to do this. The case was back in the general court of the European Union this Wednesday for mention. It dates back to 2005 when the commission ruled that Aughinish Alumina - one of West Limerick’s biggest employers with almost 500 people on its books - has received €10m of illegal tax breaks in the three years previously. The Irish government argued it had exempted the aluminium powder producer from paying excise...
Next BMW 5 and 3 Series to benefit from lightweight tech
The next generation of BMW’s 5 Series and 3 Series will be able to use the advanced carbonfibre and aluminium construction techniques from the forthcoming 7 Series, according to comments from senior company insiders. The next 7 Series’ chassis mixes carbonfibre, aluminium and high-tensile steel in a manner in which, BMW claims, “no other company could produce right now”. The techniques wipe 40kg from the bare body and the use of aluminium in other key areas increases the total saving to 200kg, although extra sound deadening and safety kit reduce the net gain to 130kg. However, a senior 7 Series project insider told Autocar: “Arguably, the biggest achievement with the 7 Series is the industrialisation of these processes. We have learned many lessons from i3 and the carbonfibre components...
Presentation of Elval to the Hellenic fund and asset management association
Elval Group’s annual ordinary briefing to the Hellenic Fund and Asset Management Association took place today, Tuesday, May 5, 2015. During the briefing Elval Group shortly presented its progress, production facilities, products and financial results for Financial Year 2014. Elval Group since the beginning of its activity on 1973, with constant investments, achieved to operate today a number of modern industrial facilities in Greece, United Kingdom and Bulgaria, marking acontinuous increase of their production capacity, which today exceeds 350 thousand tons per year. The Group’s rolling and extrusion products, offer solutions in food and beverage packaging, car industry, shipbuilding, constructions, lithography, industrial applications etc. Throughout an international network of...
