Caustic soda plant setup in India: How aluminium growth is reshaping demand, costs and opportunities
Caustic soda may not be the most visible ingredient in aluminium production, but without it, the journey from bauxite to alumina would look very different. The chemical, also known as sodium hydroxide, is a crucial reagent in the Bayer process, where it helps dissolve alumina-bearing material in bauxite and separate it from impurities. The dissolved material is then processed to recover alumina, which ultimately feeds aluminium production. That makes caustic soda more than just another industrial chemical. Its availability, price and efficient use can influence the economics of alumina refining and, by extension, the wider aluminium value chain. As India expands its alumina and aluminium capacity, the requirement for this chemical is also becoming increasingly important. For companies...
Aluminum investment across North America and Asia: Who leads reshaping the next phase of growth?
Aluminum investment has been spreading across the entire value chain, from primary smelting and alumina refining to recycling, rolling, extrusion and battery foil, building more integrated and higher-value supply chains. During the past 5 years, the US and Canada in North America and China in Asia have been grabbing headlines pertaining to the aluminum industry. These updates have involved growth stories or have shed light on volatile market situations. How have these headlines contributed to a greater picture for the benefit of the aluminum industries of the two continents? Between 2021 and 2026, major projects across North America and Asia have targeted new primary capacity, lower-carbon production, recycled aluminum and higher-value downstream products. But the investment pattern is...
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Aluminum price expects at $1,850-2,150/tonne in 2015, Says SMM
"Alumnum market in 2015 will repeat the trend of price movements seen in 2014," Shanghai Metals Market's alumnum analyst predicts. "In 2015, LME aluminum price will range $1,850-2,150 per tonne, and 12,800-15,000 yuan per tonne in SHFE alumnum market," said Wang Chunhui, SMM's aluminum analyst. Alumina price and producution cuts at high-cost producers will support 2015's aluminum price, he noted at 2014 SMM China Metal Summit in Shanghai on Nov. 23-24. "Liquidity conditions at producers should be also closely watched, despite of a surprise interest rate cut by the PBOC last Friday," he added.
ARABAL 2014 officially inaugurated
His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, deputised His Excellency Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, the Deputy Prime Minister, to inaugurate the 18th Arab International Aluminium Conference (Arabal 2014) today Wednesday, November 26, 2014, which is being held in the Kingdom of Bahrain from November 25 to 27, 2014. On this occasion, HE Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa expressed his sincere thanks and gratitude to His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the Prime Minister for honouring him with inaugurating the conference on HRH’s behalf, and confirmed that HRH is the leading supporter of the industry. Thanks to HRH’s visionary leadership, Bahrain was the leading country in the Gulf in establishing the...
Odisha-based Navratna PSU NALCO Opens New Stockyard at New Delhi
National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), the Navratna PSU of Govt. of India, has opened a new stockyard at New Delhi. Ansuman Das, Chairman-cum- Managing Director inaugurated the stockyard on 24th November, in the presence of Ms. Soma Mondal, Director (Commercial), Shri R.N. Lenka, Executive Director (Marketing), Shri A.S. Ahluwalia, Regional Manager (NR) and other officials of NALCO and customers of Northern Region. It may be mentioned that, New Delhi is the 11th stockyard of NALCO in the country. This will further boost the sale of aluminium metal in Northern Region.
Noranda Aluminum Holding (NOR) jumps 6.68% on November 26
Noranda Aluminum Holding (NOR) was among the biggest gainers on the Russell 2000 for Wednesday November 26 as the stock popped 6.68% to $4.15, representing a gain of $0.26 per share. Some 629,242 shares traded hands on 2,875 trades, compared with an average daily volume of 848,694 shares out of a total float of 68.87 million. The stock opened at $3.89 and traded with an intraday range of $4.18 to $3.82. After today's gains, Noranda Aluminum Holding reached a market cap of $285.8 million. Noranda Aluminum Holding has had a trading range between $5.64 and $2.3 over the last year, and it had a 50-day SMA of $4.13 and a 200-day SMA of $4.00. The stock has a P/E Ratio of n/a. Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp is a North American integrated producer of value-added primary aluminum products and high...
Rising demand and tightening supply boosts aluminium
Aluminium settled up 0.31% at 129.30 with the rise in demand and decline in the growth of supply. The demand growth in the domestic market would definitely considerably affect the export of aluminum to foreign lands. According to the forecast the domestic demand for aluminum from China will increase at least a 10 percent under the period 2014-2015, which would increase the global demand caused by the acute export of the commodity, and create a tight supply demand position hiking up the price. The State Council announced Wednesday to encourage private investment in key sectors of the economy to boost investment efficiency and fill the gap in supply of urban facilities, infrastructure, educational opportunities, health care and ageing services. By doing this, the Chinese government desired...
India not using domestic bauxite reserves adequately experts say
Tom Albanese from Vedanta Resources gave his key-note address at IBAAS, the International Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium Society, speaking about how India is lagging behind in the exploitation of bauxite reserves available in the country. There is plenty of good quality bauxite ore in the Andhra Pradesh and Orissa regions that are not being properly utilized due to some negative propaganda and misplaced concerns about ecological issues. Technologies in India have evolved that allow sustainable exploitation of the reserves so that the industry can develop in an eco-friendly way. However, the fixed, inaccurate notions continue to disrupt bauxite mining in the country, say Tom. These restrictions in the raw material are deterring investors from investing in the aluminium industry thereby...
Sapa puts aluminium in London’s crown jewel
The Crystal has been named for its architectural resemblance with a rock crystal, and the building has become one of the most remarkable in London. Sapa Building System has contributed energy-efficient windows for the Crystal’s complex façade. Built and operated by Siemens, the Crystal is a global center for sustainable urban development. Innovative techniques have led to what could be considered the world’s best and largest energy-efficient building. Its extraordinary shape, with many angles and slopes, is an architect’s dream and the epitome of passive design. Its shape ensures natural lighting and shading, and the outer shell of triple-glazing counts 150 controllable façade openings for natural ventilation. Rainwater, graywater and blackwater are collected and purified in the building....
Corubba Collision Corp. opens a new all-aluminium repair shop
Carubba Collision Corp. has opened a new aluminium-body repair shop at 1520 Niagara Falls Blvd. in Tonawanda in anticipation of greater demand for the service in future. The president and CEO of Carubba Collision, Joseph Carubba says that although the demand for aluminium vehicles and their repairs are not that great now but in the next couple of years there is a great probability of Chevy trucks and passenger cars coming in aluminium versions. Some vehicles have already started incorporating aluminium into their vehicles in terms of hoods and other parts, and now Ford has already launched in all-aluminium F-150 pick ups. Seeing the trend emerging, Carubba has invested around $200,000 to construct a separate building next to one of his shops. Carubba believes that aluminium repair...
Downstream Aluminium plays vital role in encouraging growth
Bahrain's manufacturing industry accounts for 15 per cent of its real GDP, the second largest sector in the nation's non-oil economy, said Dr Jarmo T Kotilaine, Chief Economist, Economic Planning and Development, Bahrain Economic Development Board. This comprises upstream and downstream aluminium industry, he told the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) on the sidelines of Arabal 2014. There is also a lot of industry outside of manufacturing because of industries such as Alba. If one were to look at the battery envelope calculation, Alba would be about three per cent of GDP," the chief economist said. Factoring in real numbers downstream aluminium could make for three percent of the manufacturing GDP, he added. Turning to the interest evinced by Asian downstream players in setting up plants in...
Rexam wins Can Recycling Challenge
Rexam's Beverage Can North America’s (BCNA) Chicago location has received first place in the Great American Can RoundUp (GACR) Industry Challenge. The contest was sponsored by the Can Manufacturers Institute(CMI). The contest winners are determined by the number of pounds of aluminum collected per employee. The GACR Industry Challenge runs for nine months and involves 51 facilities. Participating U.S. can manufacturers are Rexam BCNA, Crown Holdings Inc. and Ball Corp., as well as the two aluminum supplier companies, Novelis and Alcoa. Rexam’s Chicago site was lauded for recycling more than 78,000 pounds of aluminum cans, which equates to more than 2.7 million beverage cans. In total, the GACR Industry Challenge collected and recycled 217,350 pounds of used aluminum beverage cans, raising...
ARABAL 2014 successfully concludes
The 18th International Arab Aluminium Conference (Arabal 2014) came to a close today, November 27, 2014 after three days of discussions, workshops and presentations by experts from the regional and international aluminium industry. The final day, November 27, 2014 kicked-off with a keynote presentation by Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba)’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray on ‘Alba Safety Journey’ that highlighted the Company’s commitment to foster a zero-accident work environment. This was followed by a panel discussion ‘LME: Today & Tomorrow” on the business environment of the London Metal Exchange (LME) and later, a keynote presentation “Why the Aluminium market stands at a crossroad” by EGA’s Chief Marketing Officer, Walid Al Attar. This key session focussed on the strong demand for...
GE signs a CSA with EGA for the maintenance of its turbines
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) today signed a long-term contractual agreement (CSA) with GE Power & Water, to insure that the GE turbines installed in the Tasweelah smelter continue to run smoothly. The CSA will strengthen the special partnership GE already has with EGA as Tasweelah smelter is one of the first aluminium smelter sites globally where GE’s 9FA turbines were installed. In EMAL there are nine GE 9FA turbines and four steam turbines that were installed in two phases and have helped EGA to meet the goal of reducing their carbon foot print so as to meet the regulatory requirements set by the Abu Dhabi Environmental Agency. The CSA will extend the current contractual service agreement between EGA and GE for the three installed 9FA gas turbines as well as for the maintenance and...
Trimet proposes to use molten aluminium as “batteries”
The aluminium industry is constantly struggling with energy issues as it takes a lot of electricity to produce aluminium pushing up the cost of production. In this regard, renewable energy comes especially handy as you have the opportunity to avail cheap or even free energy. That is Germany is trying to do and manages is pretty well when the sun and wind cooperate in energy generation. At other times, the energy prices soar. Trimet Aluminium has come up with a solution to this disparity – storing energy in the large pools of aluminium. During the electrolysis process used in the smelting stage, the negative and positive electrodes are submerged in a tank with an alumina dissolved bath and using electricity it is separate into aluminium and oxygen. The heavy aluminium sinks to the bottom...
The Govt. takes a renewed interest in the Angul Aluminium Park
The prospect of Angul Aluminium Park has started to look a little better as the government has taken a renewed interest in the project. It has received approval in principle under Modified Industrial Infrastructure Up-gradation Scheme (MIIUS) of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is estimated that this elaborate project will cost approximately 125 crore and the Centre has granted a grant of 43 crore to get things started. The MIIUS has introduced a Special Purpose Vehicle that has been named Angul Aluminium Park Pvt. Ltd (AAPPL) where IDCO has 50.5 percent equity and Nalco has the remaining 49.5 percent share. Vishal Dev, the CMD of IDCO says that they are “committed to develop industrial infrastructure along with external...
EMR captures mighty aircraft carrier recycling contract
The US Navy has awarded metal recycling major EMR the contract to dismantle and recycle the 323-metre-long aircraft carrier USS Constellation, the company's European non-ferrous director Murat Bayram confirmed to Recycling International during Metal Bulletin's 22nd International Recycled Aluminium Conference in Berlin last week. The USS Constellation will be 'the largest aircraft carrier ever scrapped' in the USA, EMR claims. The vessel is currently on its final voyage and is expected to arrive in January at the company's shipbreaking facility at Brownsville in Texas where it will be recycled and remediated over the course of 2015. EMR expects further carrier contract awards over the coming years after having invested 'significantly' in its Brownsville facility in order to 'provide the...
EGA plans to make investments worth $5 billion in upstream aluminium by 2020
UAE-based Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) is bullish about the global aluminium market and plans a capital expenditure of $5 billion by 2020, said the chief executive of the company. An official gave a review of the two smelters making up EGA – Dubal and Emal – and said the company was taking care of future requirements in the upstream. He said the first phase of the bauxite mine development in Guinea would be completed by the end of 2017 while the alumina refinery in the African nation would be operational by 2022. “We’re also excited over the Shaheen Project in Abu Dhabi.” said Kalban, referring to the plan to build an alumina refinery near the Emal plant. “The feasibility studies have been completed and approved. Phase 1 capacity will be 2 million tonnes per year with completion by...
I-CAR launches 2015 trends course
The new I-CAR course, Vehicle Technology and Trends 2015 (NEW15), is now available industry-wide. This course brings the excitement of the auto show to the classroom and provides a preview of the latest trends expected to impact the collision repair inter-industry. Vehicle Technology and Trends 2015 provides information on upcoming vehicles and technology trends that will impact repair processes, including structural design innovations, system changes, and new materials and electronics throughout new and redesigned vehicles. The course also provides a glimpse into some of the aluminum-intensive vehicles coming to market that will require new training on aluminum repair. “I-CAR is committed to equipping the industry with training that provides the knowledge needed to perform complete, safe...
Qatalum showcases innovations in Qatar’s aluminium sector at ARABAL
Qatalum is currently participating in the 18th edition of the Arab International Aluminium Conference and Exhibition (ARABAL) in Manama. As in the previous years, Qatalum is represented at the most important trade event of the aluminium industry in the Middle East by a high-level delegation headed by CEO Tom Peter Johansen, deputy CEO Khalid Mohammed Laram, besides directors, department heads and specialists. Johansen spoke at an expert panel of GCC smelter CEOs, and Qatalum’s chief of Power Operations presented the company’s latest environmental and sustainability innovations at a renewable energy panel. At the ARABAL exhibition Qatalum met with investors, manufacturers, supply chain and logistics experts, and representatives of various regional international industries that Qatalum...
