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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Armenian foil producer Rusal-Armenal to increase production
The financial director of Armenian Rusal-Armenal Vahe Suvalyan, disclosed their plans of increasing the foil output of the company by 5.5% compared to last year, to around 29,000 by the end of this year. Suvalayan further revealed that there are plans of a similar increase in the next year as well. He also said that a company cannot make any major breakthroughs without substantial investments, during the discussion with the minister of economy regarding the mining sector problems. The minister, Karen Chshmarityan had questioned Suvalayan about problems faced by the company to which the latter replied citing power supply interruptions which lead to quality issues in the production. The minister has assured Suvalayan about new electric supply standards that are currently in the process of...
Canyon Resources looking for capital raising
Bauxite focussed Canyon Resources is preparing to outline details of a capital raising. The ASX has granted the company a trading halt, with its shares placed in pre-open. The company's key project is the Birsok Bauxite Project in Cameroon, with the inaugural drilling program returning high-grade, low impurity bauxite mineralisation. The halt will last until the earlier of an announcement being made to the market, or the opening of trade on Friday 21st November.
Constellium reports third quarter 2014 financial results
Constellium N.V. today reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2014. • Shipments up 4% versus prior year • Revenues up 8% to €927 million and Adjusted EBITDA up 13% to €72 million • Strong performance in P&ARP driven by 82% growth in Body-in-White shipments and in AS&I led by 23% growth in automotive structures • A&T impacted by aerospace capacity constraints and extended maintenance • Body-in-White projects progressing as scheduled • Recent Wise Metals acquisition expected to close in January 2015 • Q3 2014 EPS at €0.11; EPS excluding unrealized losses on derivatives at €0.31 Constellium reported that results for the third quarter of 2014 significantly improved over last year, led by strong performances in our Packaging and Automotive Rolled Products segment (P&ARP)...
Altech selects Johor Bahru for high purity alumina (HPA) plant site
Altech Chemicals Limited is pleased to announce that it has selected the Tanjung Langsat Industrial Park in Johor Bahru (JB), the capital city of Johor state, Malaysia, as the preferred location for its proposed high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant. The Company recently concluded an evaluation of the south-east Asia Pacific region, with a number of possible site locations for the construction of a HPA processing plant identified and considered, including Kwinana, Western Australia. The final selection of a preferred site in Malaysia was based on significant economic and developmental benefits of the construction and operation of a HPA plant in the Tanjung Langsat Industrial Park, Including the ready availability of required consumables such as hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid,...
Aluminum Association releases environmental product declarations for main aluminum product types
The Aluminum Association released today environmental product declarations (EPD) for various types of aluminum products. An EPD is a comprehensive, internationally harmonized report that describes the potential environmental impact of a particular product through its life cycle. EPDs are now being used to help earn LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design)® credit points for green building certification under LEED® V4. The Aluminum Association partnered with PE International to develop EPDs for five representative aluminum products through one of the largest industry life cycle assessment (LCA) studies ever completed. A total of 25 aluminum companies participated in the effort and supplied data for almost all of their operational facilities. The EPDs were certified by UL...
Aluminium foam used to make high speed train cab
To prove the potentiality of the strong, yet light weight aluminium, the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools & Forming Technology has designed a high speed train cab made of aluminium foam components for a demonstration. The material is developed using aluminium foam material in the form of a metal sandwich. The core of comprises of a low-density foam layer that is produced through heat treatment sandwiched by external layers of aluminium. Since all the layers are part of the same metal components, they will not separate. The foam is a self-supporting material and does not require the heavy metal frames unlike GRP at the same time providing the low weight of composite materials. The material has got some additional benefits in terms of fire protection, fatigue strength and weldability...
Superior Industries face losses due to shutdown of Rogers factory
Superior Industries International, the largest manufacturer of aluminium car and truck rims, has slipped into the red zone according to the Q3 results of 2014. The company reported a net loss of US$ 2.4 million due to expenses worth US$ 6.9 million dollars in the quarter caused largely by the shut down of Superior’s factory in Rogers, Arkansas. The company saw a decline in the net sales by 8% slipping to $176.4 million in the third quarter while the unit shipments fell by 11% as compared to the corresponding period last year, falling from 2.9 million units to 2.6 million units this year. Don Stebbins, who is the company’s president, CEO as well as board member since May 2014, says that the restructuring of the company is the cause of the apparent loss but it should instead be looked at as...
Scrap theft a major roadblock for the nonferrous scrap industry
After spending more than seven years in the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR)’s Nonferrous Metal Division as president, Robert Stein of Alter Trading says that the people who make the important decisions regarding recycling are usually ignorant about the environmental and economic benefits that are derived from scrap. In the BIR’s Nonferrous Metals Divisional Meeting held in Paris on October 28, Stein said, “Governments too easily are swayed by political concerns when establishing policies that are often poorly thought out or are influenced by groups that are more interested in their own agenda,” during his final address. The Division is due to publish a study that records the movements of copper and aluminium scraps across the world using the data complied by the World Bureau of...
Fresh buying seen in Aluminium, open interest up 8.29%
Aluminium settled up 0.36% at 126.3 as prices recovered later on better-than-expected New York Fed manufacturing data. Base metals prices consolidated overnight on mixed economic indicators. Japan's Q3 growth unexpectedly slid, and European Central Bank President Draghi stated they will push additional easy measures. Mixed economic indicators from the US kept investors cautious. US industrial production edged down 0.1% MoM in October again after picking up in September. Manufacturing production, however, rose 0.2% MoM for the same month even as the mining, public service and automobile manufacturing sectors encountered declines. European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi reiterated that the ECB should adopt other unconventional stimulus measures including government bond purchases...
DUBAL to receive fourth batch homogenising plant from Hertwich Engineering
Dubai Aluminium from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) has ordered a batch homogenising plant from Hertwich Engineering. This is the fourth plant of its kind that Hertwich is to supply to the company. The batch homogenising plant is designed for very short heating times. A reversing air concept and regulation by flaps accelerates the heating by an estimated 20% and achieves improved temperature uniformity. The plant is fully automated, with heating being controlled by measurement of the air and metal temperatures. The furnace has a capacity of 55 t for billet diameters between 152 and 406 millimetres. Start of production is scheduled for the third quarter of 2015.
Hulamin orders Ecomelt melting furnace from Hertwich
Hulamin, a company based in Pietermaritzburg (South Africa), has signed a contract with Hertwich Engineering for the delivery of an Ecomelt PS-250 melting furnace for aluminium. The furnace has an annual capacity of around 80.000 tons, allowing Hulamin to expand its capacity and enhance its competitiveness. The multi-chamber melting furnace with preheating shaft processes aluminium scrap with up to 10 percent organic impurities, such as painted sections for example. The plant uses the inherent energy from the impurities for scrap preheating and furnace heating. Thanks to proven technology Hertwich Ecomelt furnaces achieve low energy consumption and low metal loss. The specific energy consumption of this Ecomelt PS-250 furnace is around 600 kWh/t at a melting capacity of up to 250 t/day....
Japan aluminium stocks rise by 6% month-on-month
Trading house Marubeni Corp said on Tuesday, aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports were 332,200 tonnes at the end of October, up 6 percent from 313,400 tonnes a month earlier, Marubeni collects data from the ports of Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka. The stock level at Yokohoma was 149,900 as recorded in Oct ‘14, up from September’s 141,700 and last year’s 110,100 as recorded in October. Nagoya aluminium stocks have also seen a significant improvement when compared to last month’s reading rising to 166,300 from 156,700 in September. On October 2013, the stocks were at 135,500. Similarly, Osaka aluminium stocks too rose from 15,000 in September to 16,000 in October 14, unchanged from last year’s October stocks. Correspondingly, the total aluminium stocks rose from 261,600 in...
Noranda Aluminum holding now covered by BMO Capital Markets (NOR)
Research analysts at BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Noranda Aluminum Holding in a report released on Monday, TheFlyOnTheWall.com reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating on the stock. A number of other firms have also recently commented on NOR. Analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of Noranda Aluminum Holding from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. They now have a $4.70 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Citigroup Inc. reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Noranda Aluminum Holding in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. They now have a $5.20 price target on the stock, up previously from $4.60. Finally, analysts at Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Noranda...
Govt releases draft of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill
The Mines Ministry, in the Bill to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, has proposed competitive bidding mechanism for allocation of mines for all minerals . According to the draft of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2014, for bulk minerals such as iron ore, limestone, manganese, bauxite and others, there will be no requirement for a prospective licence and any gaps in the knowledge relating to such minerals will be filled by the State Government agencies. Such minerals, which will be notified at a later date, account for nearly 85 per cent of the country’s total mineral production. The Ministry has put the draft amendments in the public domain on Monday and sought comments by December 10, 2014. For non-notified minerals, a...
Scrap theft a major roadblock for the nonferrous scrap industry
After spending more than seven years in the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR)’s Nonferrous Metal Division as president, Robert Stein of Alter Trading says that the people who make the important decisions regarding recycling are usually ignorant about the environmental and economic benefits that are derived from scrap. In the BIR’s Nonferrous Metals Divisional Meeting held in Paris on October 28, Stein said, “Governments too easily are swayed by political concerns when establishing policies that are often poorly thought out or are influenced by groups that are more interested in their own agenda,” during his final address. The Division is due to publish a study that records the movements of copper and aluminium scraps across the world using the data complied by the World Bureau of...
UC Rusal announces personnel and structural changes
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, announces the appointment of Vladislav Soloviev, previously First Deputy CEO, as Chief Executive Officer of RUSAL. Oleg Deripaska, who previously held this position, has become the President of the Company. As CEO, Vladislav Soloviev’s focus will be on the Company’s long-term development, specifically the ongoing implementation of RUSAL’s facilities efficiency programme as well as the continued improvement to production processes. In addition, he will drive output growth of value-added products, overseeing the replacement of outdated facilities with modern environmentally friendly capacities and further penetration into new strategic markets. He will also help establish alliances with new partners to further expand the applications of...
Alcoa Inc gets more profit rate than estimated by analysts
The biggest producer of aluminum in US, Alcoa Inc. is reported to have earned an amount which has crossed the estimations and speculations of analysts by leaps. With a better performance than the expected for its aerospace and power units, the company has been able to make a good deal with supplies elements and components. In a statement provided yesterday at the time of trade market closing, the company which is based out at New York is reported to say that their profit without the expenses and its related outputs have resulted in a legal agreement of 7 cents against each share thus beating the average rate of 6 cents as it was estimated by the 15 analysts of Bloomberg. There was drop of sales by 1.9 percent which counts for $5.85 billion, making it surpass the nine estimations of $5.79...
Bauxite Resources reports a significant increase in resource estimate
Bauxite Resources boasts the highest cash to market cap ratio of any ASX bauxite company. And it has resources of almost 400 million tonnes of bauxite. The company holds over $24 million, and is capitalised at $27 million. In September, BAU notched a significant increase in resource estimate quality for the Felicitas bauxite deposit in the Darling Range, Western Australia. The upgrade resulted from the drilling of an additional 992 vacuum drill holes across the deposit, and reinterpretation of the resource wireframes. There was also an increase in the total tonnage of the resource that now totals 227.9 million tonnes at 39.7% total alumina, 31.3% available alumina at low temperature (148oC), and 2% reactive silica. A total of 88% of total resource or 199.8 million tonnes now resides in...
