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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China top aluminum production province short of aluminum
Shandong, China’s top aluminum production prince, is finding itself short of the light metal, as processing business booms, says Zhang Shiping, Chairman of Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group, as saying yesterday. Aluminum has found wide applications in China’s beverage can, automobile and other sectors, boosting demand for the light metal, Zhang added. Zhang proposed shifting to higher-margin aluminum processing business as a countermeasure against severe overcapacity in China’s aluminum market.
Press Metal’s expansion will benefit Bintulu Port
Press Metal Bhd’s bid to increase aluminium production at its Samalaju smelter is helping to boost Bintulu Port Holdings (Bintulu Port) as well. As a part of Press Metal’s Phase 3 expansion, Press Metal had announced the decision of doubling the capacity of the Samalaju aluminium smelter to 640,000 metric tonnes. The additional 320,000 metric tonnes could be utilized by Press Metal through 2016 and the remainder by early 2018, said AmResearch Sdn Bhd. Bintulu Port is already benefitting from the surge in Press Metal’s production, with a throughput of 860,000 metric tonne and 18,000 TEUs of aluminium, alumina anode carbon and other cargo from Press Metal. With Press Metal promising increased capacity, the Bintulu Port is likely to flourish even more in the coming months.
Hindalco waits for the government to reallocate mines
Hindalco Industries has shown promise in the second quarter of this financial year with a hike in the revenues by 36% when compared to last year and 7% when compared to the last quarter. The overall report seemed fine with 66% growth YOY and 20% up from the previous quarter however the net profit in the second quarter crashed by 78% YOY and 76% quarter-on-quarter and the major cause was the coal issue. Hindalco had to pay a one time provision of INR 563 plus INR 295 per tonne for the coal extracted out of the Talabira-I mine between 2003-04 and September 2014. This obviously depleted a large chunk of the profit at a time when the company was actually planning an expansion. It had hoped to boost the primary aluminium production from 560 KT to 1,278 KT by the end of 2014-15. Novelis, the...
MetroCoal names new CEO post Cape Alumina acquisition
ASX-listed MetroCoal on Monday announced the appointment of Simon Finnis as the new CEO, effective from January 12. Finnis would replace CEO Mike O’Brien, who will continue on as project director. Finnis is currently the CEO of Grand Côte Operations SA, in Senegal, and has been involved in the mining industry for some 28 years. Meanwhile, the acting CEO of recently acquired Cape Alumina would continue on as CFO and company secretary of the post-merger MetroCoal. MetroCoal’s shareholding in Cape Alumina recently exceeded 90%, prompting a compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares in the takeover target. MetroCoal is offering Cape Alumina shareholders one of its own shares for every 1.3 Cape Alumina shares held.
BFS optimisation of high purity alumina (HPA) plant output
Highlights • Altech’s Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) confirms an optimised annual production rate for its proposed high purity alumina (HPA) plant • Proposed HPA plant annual production rate increased to 4,000tpa • BFS is on schedule for completion during Q3 2015 Altech Chemicals Limited is pleased to announce that as part of its current Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS), engineering studies have established an optimised plant production rate of 4,000 tonne per annum (tpa) for the proposed high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant. The revised annual production rate will result in further positive economies of scale and it is anticipated that operating costs per kilogram of final product (99.99% 4N HPA) will be significantly reduced. The revised 4,000tpa production rate provides an...
LME sees a flat week while premiums continue to rise
LME officials saw a flat week, with cash prices hovering about $2,025/metric ton. The promise of additional policy support that helped rally prices over the past five weeks (September’s European Central Bank interest rate cut and October’s Bank of Japan QE announcement) has collided with fresh evidence of continuing softness in aggregate demand, highlighted this week by disappointing flash Purchasing Manager Index reports for both the Eurozone and China. The more interesting story, however, was in premiums, which continued to rise globally and have now crashed through $500/metric ton in North America. While much attention has been focused on the reasons why premiums are elevated, (see the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report on bank involvement in commodity...
General Motors adopts a new welding system for aluminium
General Motors is also joining the aluminium bandwagon but quietly unlike Ford Motor Co., who has spent millions of dollars for the complete restructuring of its assembly plants. Ford has come up with rivets and industrial adhesive to join its aluminium parts but General Motors is adopting a new welding system for the joining task. General Motors will keep the existing production lines and simply spot weld the aluminium sheets for the doors, hoods and tailgates using the same robots and welding guns that are used for steel. The special technique of aluminium welding adopted by GM is being called a breakthrough in manufacturing technology by Richard Schultz, MD of a consulting firm in suburban Detroit named Ducker Worldwide. Mark Reuss, the global product chief of GM says that they have no...
Australian Bauxite shares suspended, looks to material capital raising
Australian Bauxite will undertake a material capital raising and its shares have been voluntarily suspended from trading pending an announcement and details. The voluntary suspension continue until the earlier of the release of the announcement until Wednesday 26 November 2014. The company is progressing its Bald Hill project into production in Tasmania. It signed a binding term sheet for 50% of future offtake produced from the project with Noble Group to provide $6 million project finance supported by a $2 million stand by facility.
Iran signs contract with German company for producing Alumina Powder
Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade on Saturday signed a 9.3 million euro worth contract with a German company for implementation of a project to produce Alumina Powder near the city of Sarab in northwestern Iran. Deputy Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mahdi Karbasian told the signing ceremony in Tehran that the project could serve economic development of East Azarbaijan province. Karbasian said the implementation of the project in the country would lead to producing an additional 200,000 tons of Alumina Powder, as raw material for producing Aluminum bars. He said the project is projected to be completed within eight months and once completed it is expected to lead to direct employment of 2,000 persons and indirect employment of 10,000 others. The city of Sarab is located...
Malaysian bauxite turning into a “game changer” for China
The Indonesian ban and China’s ramped up production has put the Malaysian bauxite industry in the limelight and is being termed as “game changer” in the aluminium industry in general but more specifically in China. It is expected that China would need around 130 million tonnes of bauxite next year and 36.8 million of that amount needs to be imported to feed the voracious aluminium industry in China. The first nine months of the year has already seen a jump in Malaysian bauxite imports in China by 12 times, from 105,000 tonnes in 2013 to 1.27 million tonnes in 2014 and analysts predict that number could go up to 10 million tonnes next year. In a bid to keep up with demands, Malaysia is also ramping up its mining activities. Idea Mineral Resources opened a mine few months back which is...
Torfaen & Rhondda Cynon Taff residents urged to make their metals matter
TV presenter Iolo Williams has called on residents of Torfaen and Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT) to ‘make their metals matter’ and recycle more of the metal packaging items they use at home every year. With the average household in the Torfaen Borough using over 60 million items of metal packaging* each year and the RCT Borough using 106 million items (joint total 166 million), the campaign is encouraging residents to recycle more of the food tins, drink cans, foil trays and empty aerosols. The metal used to make each item is endlessly recyclable, saving natural resources, energy and greenhouse gas emissions and cutting pressure on landfill for waste disposal. The new campaign, which is backed by Waste Awareness Wales and the metal packaging industry, aims to help people understand what can be...
Ford’s new aluminum-bodied F-150 truck more gas efficient
Ford revealed the EPA label ratings for the F-150 at an event in Dearborn, Mich. Friday. There are multiple variations of the truck, depending on engine, cab configuration and whether the truck is 2- or 4-wheel-drive. Each change creates a different fuel economy figure. Overall, the trucks achieve between 5% and 29% better fuel economy compared with the current model. “It’s a significant achievement in 2015 to be able to reduce the curb weight by as much as we have,” said Raj Nair, the global product development chief. “There is still is a lot of upside available” in terms of further increasing fuel economy. He said Ford is likely to introduce a hybrid F-150 by 2020 and Ford is working on a 10-speed transmission withGeneral Motors Co. that will be used on the truck in the next few years....
Removal of Australia alumina export tariff to have little impact on exports to China
The 8% export duty on Australian alumina has been removed under the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement signed on November 17, but this move will have little impact on Australian alumina exports to China, Shanghai Metals Market understands. The current FOB price of Western Australian alumina is $ 355 per tonne, and this already excludes the 8% export tariff under most favored nation status. Australia is China’s largest alumina supplier. China imported 2.36 million tonnes of Australian alumina January-September, 60% of its total imports. Australia is also a major supplier of bauxite to China. China imported 11.44 million tonnes of bauxite from Australia January-September, up 5% year-on-year to make up 41% of China’s total imports.
Century Aluminum receives consensus rating of “Buy” from brokerages
Shares of Century Aluminum have earned an average rating of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Stock Ratings News reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $24.40. Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Analysts at BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Century Aluminum in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Separately, analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of Century Aluminum from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. They now...
Emirates Global Aluminium receives top team from Aluminium Bahrain BSC
Abdulla Kalban (Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer) and the executive team of the UAE's industrial giant Emirates Global Aluminium PJSC ("EGA") hosted H E Sheikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa (Chairman) and Tim Murray (Chief Executive Officer) of Aluminium Bahrain BSC ("Alba") at EGA operating subsidiary Emirates Aluminium ("EMAL") in Al Taweelah, Abu Dhabi on 20 November. The focus of the visit was EGA's high amperage, best in class DX+ Technology, which is installed in the 444 reduction cells housed in EMAL Phase II (Potline 3) and was specified by Alba for its Line 6 Bankable Feasibility study in December 2012. Before taking their guests on a tour of EMAL's Potlines 1 & 2, where EGA's DX Technology is installed in 756 reduction cells, executives and senior managers of...
Sapa publishes technical manual for HVAC&R aluminium heat exchangers
Sapa’s HVAC&R Applications Manual is the first in the industry with documented test results and technical argumentation supporting aluminium as the preferred metal to meet the future demands and legislation of the HVAC&R market. The objective of the new 88-page manual is to educate the manufacturers of HVAC&R heat exchangers in the correct use of aluminium solutions and the metal’s basic material properties. Sapa offers support in the design process and is the leading producer of aluminium round tubes, manifolds and multi-port extrusions, or MPEs, for all-aluminium heat exchangers used in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration market. The HVAC&R Applications Manual describes some of the most important aspects related to using aluminium in HVAC&R heat exchanger...
BHP unveils plans to reduce costs
BHP Billiton on Monday outlined plans to cut costs further as the world's biggest miner battles falling commodity prices, pointing to its planned demerger as helping to drive productivity gains. The Anglo-Australian resources group is aiming to simplify and strengthen its business, and said it was looking to save $4-billion a year in running costs - $500-million more than previously flagged - by the end of the 2017 financial year. Chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said the proposed spin-off of some poorer performing assets, including aluminium, manganese, silver and selected coal and nickel operations, would allow BHP to better organise operations. “By significantly simplifying the portfolio the proposed demerger will allow us to redesign BHP Billiton and create an organisation that...
China aluminium recovery not imminent despite consolidation
The Chinese aluminium industry is not expected to recover in the near term - even though the number of aluminium producers has fallen - because industry fundamentals are likely to remain weak for the foreseeable future. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently released lists of Chinese aluminium producers that comply with industry regulations, which showed the industry has consolidated rapidly. There were 31 producers with total annual capacity of 29.85 million tonnes (Mt), or 80 per cent of national capacity, as at the end of October 2014, compared with 91 producers in 2013 and 120 producers 10 years ago. The 10 biggest producers now account for 77 per cent of the 29.85Mt of consolidated capacity, while the 20 biggest account for 95 per cent. It is believed that...
