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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New chemical alumina plant in Indonesia starts commercial operation
P.T. Indonesia Chemical Alumina (ICA), a joint corporation owned by Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) and PT ANTAM (Persero) Tbk (ANTAM), of Indonesia, has started commercial operation of its new chemical alumina plant established in the Tayan District, West Kalimantan, Indonesia. The term "chemical alumina" refers collectively to alumina and aluminum hydroxide for applications other than aluminum smelting, produced through the Bayer process. Chemical alumina is used for various industrial applications including chemicals for water treatment, functional materials (such as ceramic refractories, abrasives, and radiators), and electronic materials (such as IC packaging and LCD glass). SDK has been continuously transferring its industrial technology to produce chemical alumina built up over many years...
Indian Govt to look into import duty on scrap, FTAs
The mines ministry will look into the issue of import duty on scrap, special additional duty and trade pacts with countries, Union minister Vishnu Deo Sai said on Thursday. The Metals Recycling Association of India said that metal recycling has been badly affected by heavy import duty, special additional duty (SAD) regime and certain free trade agreements (FTAs) with countries. Addressing a conference in Mumbai he said that his ministry will “coordinate with the finance ministry and look into the aspects of import duty on scrap, SAD and FTAs with a view to solve the problems being faced by Indian Metal Recycling Industry.” The ministry will also look into the recommendations of the joint parliamentary committee, Sai said. The association demanded that government should draft a metal...
Rexam set to back £4.3bn takeover bid
REXAM’S board is keen to finalise a £4.3bn buyout offer from rival can-maker Ball, City A.M. understands. Bosses are thought to see the merger as the next obvious step in building the business, giving the two giants even more scale. UK-based Rexam’s share price has doubled since chief executive Graham Chipchase took the reins in 2010, restructuring the business by selling its plastics arm and bulking up in aluminium. US company Ball’s takeover offer at 610p represents a premium of 36 per cent, and the announcement of a price indicates talks are advanced. Rexam is already focused on cutting costs and building scale, particularly to help it deal with increasingly global buyers of cans. The main hurdle is competition concerns – the two firms would expect to shed some assets in norther Europe...
Indian Mines Ministry extends leases of govt firms
Ahead of auction of non-coal minerals, the Mines Ministry has extended the leases of government companies which had applied for renewal in time. An order of the ministry has said that in exercise of the power to remove difficulties in the MMDR Amendment Ordinance, “the tenure of the mining leases of all government companies or corporations whose mining leases have been expired and renewal applications have been made in time or which are due to expire…will stand to be extended till March 31, 2020. While transition provisions for extension of the lease period for 15 years for captive mines, and five years for non- captive mines, have been provided for in the MMDR Amendment Ordinance, 2015, the ministry said that there is no such provision for leases of government firms. President Pranab...
China Qinghai alumina imports up 48% in 2014
Qinghai Province imported 361,000 mt of alumina in 2014, up 48% from a year ago, local media reported yesterday. The average import price was 2,045 yuan ($332) per tonne, up a mere 0.3%. Imported alumina was cheaper than domestic alumina, offering incentive to import. Besides, Indonesia’s export ban on unprocessed ores interrupted raw material supply for China, also forcing Chinese companies to step up alumina imports, local customs authority said.
Queensland Bauxite to top up cash reserves for bauxite project
Queensland Bauxite will look to top up cash reserves for development of its South Johnstone Bauxite Project offering one new share for every four shares held at an issue price of $0.014 per share plus a free attaching option to shareholders. Offer proceeds will be used to prove up larger tonnages of Indicated bauxite resource from drilling an initial surface only Exploration Target area. The Exploration Target is a sturdy 193 million tonnes to 405 million tonnes of bauxite. If fully taken up by shareholders, the offering would raise $1,782,167 to add to current cash reserves of $4,340,000. In addition, the proceeds will be used to prepare for the mining of the existing indicated resources. A Scoping Study for the South Johnstone Bauxite Project in Queensland indicated a highly profitable...
Private equity-backed aluminum processor Aleris scraps IPO plan
Aluminum processor Aleris Corp IPO-ARS.N filed on Thursday to withdraw its $500 million initial public offering, nearly three years after postponing the listing due to market conditions. Cleveland, Ohio-based Aleris had planned to list 31.3 million shares in a price range of $15 to $17. At the upper end of this range, the company would have been valued at about $1.8 billion. The withdrawal is a blow to the private equity firms that own Aleris. Oaktree Capital Management LP, a unit of Oaktree Capital Group LLC, and Apollo Global Management are among its biggest shareholders. Apollo declined to comment on the withdrawal of the IPO filing. Neither Aleris nor Oaktree were available for comment. Aleris initially filed to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2011. When it...
VHE announces new order of rodding plant machines
VHE of Iceland is delighted to announce a new order for rodding plant machines for a North American smelter. Three machines to be delivered mid-2015 comprise a stub straightener, a rod straightener and an anode-rod mating station. VHE has supplied a number of stub straighteners to smelters worldwide and is able to offer designs suitable for all yoke configurations and stub diameters. The machines are designed to remove stub toe-in and return stubs to the original yoke geometry. The rod straightener from VHE is a multi-point design, able to remove complex bends from the rod stem. VHE‘s Anode-Rod Mating Station correctly locates the anode rod stubs into the anode block holes, centering them to ensure optimal cast iron thimble formation.
EGA introduces new technologies to improve production and optimize power consumption
EGA owned Jebel Ali smelter is introducing new technologies to its existing potlines to enhance the production of aluminium. A groundbreaking ceremony held at EGA Jebel Ali on Thursday, February 5, 2015 marks the official start of the project that aims to achieve higher energy efficiency targets and capacity creep using a three-pronged approach. The first change would occur in the potlines 1 to 3 where 513 pots will be introduced to D18+ Technology cells. The switch follows the pilot program started in 2012 where seven D18 Technology cells in Potline 1 were fitted with modern technologies that improved the performance and the economic competitiveness of the line. The earlier transition had allowed the cells to consume lesser energy which remained below 13 kWh/kg Al, producing 2 tons/day...
Leading downstream aluminium producers GARMCO and metals industries sign MOU for technical and investmentco-operation
Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mill Company (GARMCO), the Bahrain-based international aluminium rolling mill and one of the largest downstream aluminium facilities in the Middle East, today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for technical and operational co-operation with Dubai-based Metals Industries (MI), the holding company for the Saif Al Ghurair Group's aluminium and metals businesses. According to the MOU, GARMCO and MI will work together across a number of key areas covering operational, technical and warehousing/service centre functions in order to identify prospects for mutual benefit and the capturing of synergies. To this end, senior representatives involved in the commercial and operational functioning of each company will soon meet in Bahrain to assess...
Norsk Hydro: Enova support for Hydro's technology pilot approved by ESA
The EFTA (European Free Trade Association) Surveillance Authority has approved funding of NOK 1.5 billion from Enova for Hydro to test the world's most energy- and climate-efficient aluminium production in a full-scale pilot plant at Karmøy, Norway. Enova's support has been one of the prerequisites for realizing the pilot project. The main remaining condition to make an investment decision is a power solution for the pilot plant. Hydro has previously received the necessary assurances from Statnett, the national power grid authority, that the electrical power system in the region will be able to accommodate industrial development at Karmøy within a reasonable time.
Fire threatens BHP's Worsley Alumina mining site
A bushfire is hampering mining operations for BHP Billiton and Newmont Mining at two sites south of Perth. The mining giants are closely monitoring an out of control bushfire which has burned more than 30,000 hectares in the south west of Western Australia. A house has been destroyed and about 50 firefighters are creating containment lines. A Newmont Mining spokesman said the company's Boddington gold and copper processing operations had experienced power interruptions after a power supply line was damaged by fire. But he said all other operations were continuing as normal. "It's not major for us, it just means there's been a halt in the milling," the spokesman said. "The fire's moving slowly east, away from us." Around 50 firefighters from interstate are using Newmont's mine site village...
New technology to cut processing time for aerospace and automotive components
A new horizontal machining centre with 10-pallet pool is slashing throughput times for aerospace and automotive components. Subcontract machinist BCW has installed the Japanese-built Okuma MB5000H machine to add capacity for producing high precision components for the aerospace, automotive and off-road vehicle sectors. The machining cell was delivered by UK agent, NCMT, to BCW’s new, 30,000 sq ft unit opened in October 2014 on the Innovation Drive aerospace supply park in Burnley. Tony Kilfoyle, group engineering director said, “One aluminium aerospace part we machined on another make of twin-pallet HMC took 23 minutes to complete, whereas the Okuma finished it in well under half the time, taking just 11 minutes. “The reduction is partly due to being able to present a component on its...
Crown Holdings reports higher earnings and positive future prospects
Crown Holdings, a leading producer in global metal packaging products, reported a 31% YoY growth in earnings spurred by the strong demand for beverage cans in developing markets like Turkey and South-East Asia. In its third quarter earnings of 2014, the company reported $1.36 earnings per share while increasing its full-year earnings guidance to $3.27-$4.43 range. The market for carbonated soft drinks is weak in U.S. with growing health concerns related to the over-consumption of the drink while Asia Pacific is bogged down by the Chinese oversupply of metal creating fierce competition in the domestic can production industry. In Europe the industry is threatened by the high premiums. However, the acquisition of Mivisa and EMPAQUE will benefit Crown Holdings considerably despite the fact...
Ball Corporation in Merger Talks with British aluminum can maker Rexam
Rexam, the British aluminum can maker, said on Thursday that it was in talks to potentially be acquired by Ball Corporation in a deal that would value it at 4.29 billion pounds, or about $6.5 billion. The deal, if consummated, would combine two of the world’s largest makers of beverage cans. Rexam said the cash-and-share bid by Ball values the company at £6.10 a share. The bid consists of two-thirds in cash and one-third in new shares issued by Ball, Rexam said. Shares of Rexam jumped 23 percent to £5.50 in afternoon trading Thursday in London. Its shares traded as high as £5.75. “Discussions on other matters are continuing and there can be no certainty any formal offer will be forthcoming, or as to the terms of any offer,” Rexam said in a news release on Thursday. Rexam, based in London,...
Iran reports its ten-month aluminium production figures
In the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year, that is from March 21, 2014 to January 20, 2015, the country produced 293,595 tons of ingots, adding 30,595 tons in the month of December, 2014. These figures show a rise of 893 tons when compared to the production output seen last year says the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO). Of the total aluminium produced, 51.4% was produced by Iranian Aluminium Company with 151,163 tons, Almahdi Aluminium Company came second with 80,147 tons while Hormozal contributed 62,285 tons to the total production. Iran being one of the top ten mineral-rich countries of the world produced a healthy amount of alumina with 209,558 tons exceeding last year’s amount of 205,532 tons although none of it...
Pahang state government allows bauxite transport through Jalan Gebeng Bypass
The Pahang State government has announced that the Jalan Gebeng bypass will only be used to transport bauxite and iron-ore to the port, effective from 4th February, 2015. The decision was taken after a discussion with 106 entrepreneurs related to the industry to solve the issue of dirty roads caused by the bauxite loaded lorries in the port and Gebeng industrial areas, said the state minister Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob. Entrepreneurs will no longer be allowed to keep storages in the port or the Gebeng areas and state has given a two-month notice to the entrepreneurs to clear out the seven storage sites located in the areas, as decided in a closed door meeting held at Yayasan Pahang. New bauxite storage areas need to be sought by the entrepreneurs and the government has assured they too...
Gershow Recycling supports high school robotics teams with aluminium scrap
For the sixth year in a row, Gershow Recycling opened its Medford, New York, scrap metal processing facility to local high school robotics teams participating in the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island’s (SBPLI) upcoming Long Island Regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. A total of 15 high school robotics teams took advantage of the program and visited Gershow Recycling for free scrap metal. Some of the highlights of the program are the following: • Members of the Townsend Harris High School’s robotics team will use 162 pounds of aluminum scrap and their kit of parts to help them build a robot. • Members of the Longwood High School robotics team will use 26 pounds of aluminum scrap and their kit of parts to help them build...
