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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Granco Clark supplies Aerolite Extrusion Company with a new Double Puller
Aerolite Extrusion Company of Youngstown, Ohio has selected Granco Clark’s Flying Cut Double Puller for their existing aluminum extrusion system. The Granco Clark Double Puller is equipped with two puller heads and a saw on puller head 2 allowing it to provide cut on the die mark efficiencies which will reduce scrap and increase yields. The Double Puller will also provide unmatched performance and reliability on single hole or multi hole dies. Founded in 1947, Granco Clark began manufacturing billet furnaces and has evolved into a worldwide, cutting-edge single-source supplier and leading equipment manufacturer in the aluminum extrusion industry. With a proven track record of manufacturing the most dependable and durable equipment in the business, Granco Clark continually develops...
Alumina Limited upgraded to neutral by Goldman Sachs (AWC)
Alumina Limited was upgraded by analysts at Goldman Sachs to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday. A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on AWC. Analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alumina Limited in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. They now have a $2.25 price target on the stock. Shares of Alumina Limited traded down 0.28% during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting A$1.765. The stock had a trading volume of 14,174,241 shares. Alumina Limited has a one year low of A$0.935 and a one year high of A$1.775. The stock’s 50-day moving average is A$1.67 and its 200-day moving average is A$1.51. The company’s market cap is A$4.952 billion. Alumina Limited, is an Australia-based company.
Alba CEO is a keynote speaker at the Annual 7th HRD Congress
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba)’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Murray is a key speaker at the Annual 7th HRD Congress being held on November 10 and 11, 2014 at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain under the theme “Evolving HR function as a Business Partner”. Alba is also the Silver Sponsor of this event, which is being held under the patronage of H. E. Jameel bin Mohmmed Ali Humaidan, Minister of Labour, Kingdom of Bahrain. As the keynote speaker at the Annual 7th HRD Congress event, Alba’s CEO, Tim Murray presented a case study on Alba titled “HR as a Business Partner”, which highlighted topics such as: Alba investing in human assets; Alba is in the people business, Alba strides in safety initiatives and Safe employees and productive Alba. Speaking at the event, Tim Murray...
Aluminum gains in London as U.S. demand outlook improves
Aluminum climbed for the first time in three days as labor-market gains added to signs of a strengthening U.S. economy, bolstering demand prospects for the metal used in construction, autos and cans. The four-week moving average of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits dropped to the lowest in more than 14 years, a government report showed today. Yesterday, ADP Research Institute said companies in October added 230,000 jobs, the most since June. The data “showed that the labor markets are continuing to improve,” Tim Evans, the chief market strategist at Long Leaf Trading Group, Inc. in Chicago, said in a telephone interview. “We’ve seen an improvement in the industrial metals, and better jobs and a better economy is basically the nuts and bolts of it.” Aluminum for delivery in...
Aluminium dips on producer selling, others mixed before U.S. data
Aluminium dipped on Friday as producers and trade houses sold while the wider base metals complex was mixed ahead of key U.S. jobs data that could move the dollar. Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange fell 0.9 percent to a session low of $2,056.75 a tonne, but pared losses to stand at $2,065 by 1111 GMT, a decline of 0.5 percent. Two-way activity was keeping aluminium in a fairly tight range, said analyst Gayle Berry at Jefferies Bache in London. "You have seen decent trade selling when prices move higher, and then when prices pull back you see some CTA buying, which is keeping prices within a range." Commodity trade advisers (CTAs) manage speculative investment funds, often using computer-generated buying signals. Aluminium has been resilient during the recent commodities...
Novelis reports solid second quarter of fiscal year 2015 results
Novelis, the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, today reported net income attributable to its common shareholder of $38 million for the second quarter of fiscal year 2015 compared to $23 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2014. Excluding certain tax-effected items, net income was $42 million, up 14% compared to the second quarter of fiscal year 2014. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 was $230 million, a 1% increase compared to $228 million reported for the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by higher shipments and cost benefits from using recycled metal inputs. These favorable drivers were partially offset by continued pricing pressures in the Asian markets, a higher fixed cost base due to expansions ahead of revenue generation, and...
Aluminum Association updates on North American market
Estimated U.S. foundry shipments of aluminum castings totaled 1,198.2 million pounds during the second quarter 2014, an increase of 5.0 percent over the second quarter 2013 total of 1,141.4 million pounds. Compared to the previous quarter, shipments rose 1.0 percent over the first quarter 2014 total of 1,186.4 million pounds. Year-to-date shipments through the second quarter 2014 totaled 2,384.7 million pounds, up 6.6 percent over the 2013 year-to-date total of 2,236.2 million pounds. Aluminum imports of ingot, scrap and mill products into the U.S. and Canada (excluding cross-border trade) totaled 475 million pounds during September 2014, up 30.3 percent over the September 2013 total of 364 million pounds. Including scrap, which accounted for about 57 percent of reported aluminum exports,...
JASON Learning, ISRI Announce Automobile Recycling Awareness Contest
JASON Learning and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) are inviting young filmmakers, artists, automobile enthusiasts, and recycling advocates to participate in a contest that asks young people to build awareness around the different commodities that can be recycled from cars at the end of their lifespan. The automobile plays an important role in our everyday lives. Many different commodities are needed to make all the parts that go into a car, and almost all of them are recyclable. In the Automobile Recycling Awareness Contest, students in grades 5–12 are challenged to research one or more of the commodities that go into making a car and find out what happens to each commodity through the automobile recycling process and beyond. Students currently residing in the United...
Hydro: Preparations for a new recycling line for used beverage cans completed
“Not one gram of used aluminium should be lost” – that is the philosophy of Hydro, one of the leading manufacturer of rolled products made from this unique material of the future. At Aluminium 2014 in Düsseldorf, Hydro has announced that the plans for a new integrated recycling line for used beverage cans (Used Beverage Can Line) at its Rheinwerk Plant in Neuss are now complete. Preparations for the construction of this new UBC line, the most modern of its type in the world, will begin in November 2014. The key highlight of the € 45 million investment is the sensor technology developed by Hydro’s Research and Development Centre for the identification and separation of scrap according to type. Unrivalled to date, this invention ensures that exactly specified liquid aluminium from the...
MetroCoal bids for rest of Cape Alumina as stake exceeds 90%
ASX-listed MetroCoal has made strides in its takeover of fellow-listed Cape Alumina, after major shareholder China Xinfa Group Corporation accepted MetroCoal’s offer for its 12.1% shareholding. MetroCoal’s total shareholding in Cape Alumina now exceeded 90%, and the company said on Monday that it would proceed to launch a compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares. Under its current takeover target, MetroCoal is offering Cape Alumina shareholders one of its own shares for every 1.3 Cape Alumina shares held. MetroCoal said the takeover was in the best interest of all shareholders, as it allowed the company to focus its resources on the development of the Bauxite Hills project, and to realise the benefits and savings available to the merged entity. A prefeasibility study previously...
Granco Clark supplies Aerolite Extrusion Company with a new Double Puller
Aerolite Extrusion Company of Youngstown, Ohio has selected Granco Clark’s Flying Cut Double Puller for their existing aluminum extrusion system. The Granco Clark Double Puller is equipped with two puller heads and a saw on puller head 2 allowing it to provide cut on the die mark efficiencies which will reduce scrap and increase yields. The Double Puller will also provide unmatched performance and reliability on single hole or multi hole dies. Founded in 1947, Granco Clark began manufacturing billet furnaces and has evolved into a worldwide, cutting-edge single-source supplier and leading equipment manufacturer in the aluminum extrusion industry. With a proven track record of manufacturing the most dependable and durable equipment in the business, Granco Clark continually develops...
JW Aluminum issues 2014 third quarter results and to host investor conference call to review results
JW Aluminum Company ( “JW Aluminum”) announced today that it has posted its 2014 Quarterly Report for the Three Months Ended September 27, 2014 on JW Aluminum’s secure investor website at 3:00 PM Eastern Time on Friday, November 7, 2014. The quarterly report is being furnished pursuant to the Indenture governing JW Aluminum’s Senior Secured Notes due 2017 (the “Notes”). The quarterly report will be made available to holders and beneficial owners of the Notes, qualified prospective investors in the Notes, and certain security analysts and market makers. JW Aluminum will post all of its annual reports, quarterly reports and current reports that are required to be delivered pursuant to the Indenture governing the Notes on JW Aluminum’s secure investor website maintained by Intralinks. JW...
Alba continues to focus on worldwide customers through support services
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), one of the world’s leading aluminium producers, recently conducted a one-day technical workshop at Maxion Wheels, Turkey, thus reaffirming its commitment to provide superior support services to its customers across global markets. Alba Customer Technical Support (CTS) Department’s team, comprising Sr. Manager, Abdulla Habib and Product Specialist, Anand Santhanam, visited Maxion Wheels, Turkey to highlight the products and processes used by Alba for the Foundry Alloy product supplied to the client. The team focussed on best practices to maximise results from Alba products and superior casting performance at the customers’ own location. The workshop - attended by the core team from Maxion (Operations, Quality, Engineering and Purchasing) - was followed by...
Downward pressure looming in Chinese aluminum market
Aluminum market proves strong amid the bearish commodity market, with LME aluminum hitting $2,078 per tonne in early week. The rising momentum in LME aluminum market mainly comes from supply tightness, continuous declines in inventories, and rising backwardation, one local media reported today. The falling SHFE/LME aluminum price ratio, however, suggests the lack of rising stream in China’s aluminum market, it said, adding that growing supply, weak consumption and costs support resulted in such conditions. Inventory pressures from huge capacities, coupled with the end of peak-demand season, will put a downward pressure in domestic aluminum market, it added.
Western Marine exports aluminum ship to Tanzania
Western Marine Shipyard has shipped a newly constructed aluminum body catamaran type passenger ship for Tanzania on the 2nd of November 2014. The ship named “MV Dar Es Salaam” was boarded on another heavy carrier mother vessel at Chittagong port for transporting it to Tanzania, the company said in its press release. The ship has a capacity of carrying 300 passengers. It will be used by Tanzania Ministry of Transportation to carry passengers through the inland waterways. Western Marine received the work order for this new building project through a Danish company JGH Marine. The ship is 38m long & it will be able to travel at a speed of 20knots. Catamaran ships are very safe for voyages & even more stable than other type of ships as they are specially designed with twin hull. The shipyard...
UAE taking steps towards reducing waste in the landfills
The UAE is the second largest market for metals recycling in the region, surpassed only by Saudi Arabia, said Salman Shaban, group marketing manager at Lucky Group, which has two sorting and recycling facilities in Dubai. The company has been operating here since 1973 and has a facility in Doha, Qatar and offices in North America and China. Each year, it collects about 200,000 metric tonnes of steel from its North American offices and 50,000 metric tonnes of non-ferrous metals such as copper, aluminium and brass, mostly from the UAE. “There is still room for improvement but I salute Dubai for what it has become,” Mr Shaban said. “Earlier, everything was collected and going straight to landfill. “We receive everything one uses in their daily life,” said Mr Shaban as he pointed to various...
LME to further tighten warehouse rules, starts consultation
The London Metal Exchange (LME) on Friday launched consultations on proposed changes to rules governing physical delivery and its global network of storage warehouses. The LME, which recently won a major court battle about new rules to cut delivery backlogs at warehouses, plans even tougher rules to support a new contract on aluminium premiums, it said in a statement. Last month, the 137-year old exchange said it would implement reforms on Feb. 1 aimed at easing huge backlogs to withdraw metal from its global warehousing network. The LME, the world's oldest and biggest market for industrial metals which is now owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd, oversees warehouses where companies that buy metals on its futures market can take delivery of quality-assured supplies if needed. But...
Operating rate at Chinese A356 aluminum alloy producers rises to 67.18% in Nov. 2014
Output at Chinese A356 aluminum alloy producers in SMM’s survey sample totaled 114,200 mt in October, up slightly from September. The average operating rate also inched up MoM to 67.18%. Aluminum wheel rim exports have been stable since July, but domestic consumption fell, biting aluminum alloy demand. Although mainstream processing fees for A356 aluminum alloy (delivery to factory) remained stable at RMB 700/mt, some alloy makers were forced to cut processing fees below RMB 700/mt due to growing output and tepid demand. Aluminum wheel rim manufacturers are unlikely to stockpile aluminum alloy in sizable amount before the end of the year, due to bearishness toward aluminum prices, tight cash, and modest consumption. Competition in A356 aluminum alloy market will intensify further in 2015...
