Bell Bay Aluminium (BBA), Australia's oldest aluminium smelter, is reviewing its workforce and offering redundancies for a small number of positions, just over a month after receiving an AUD 200 million (USD 137.52 million) government support package aimed at securing the facility's future until at least 2031. Up to 10 roles are understood to have been affected by the review, although the smelter is expected to retain its existing workforce of approximately 550 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. Some redeployment opportunities will also be available, while the positions identified are not understood to involve frontline services. The changes reportedly include some former participants in Bell Bay Aluminium's graduate programme. Rio Tinto, which operates the smelter near George Town in...
South32 expects the sale of its aluminium value chain assets to Alcoa to be completed in the six months ending June 2027. The proposed transaction covers its aluminium operations and related bauxite and alumina assets in South Africa, Australia and Brazil. The sale follows a binding conditional agreement signed by the two companies, under which Alcoa agreed to acquire the assets for up to USD 5.6 billion . The assets include South32's Hillside Aluminium smelter and the idled Bayside smelter in South Africa, its interests in the Boddington bauxite mine and Worsley alumina refinery in Australia, and the Mineração Rio do Norte bauxite mine and Alumar alumina refinery and aluminium smelter in Brazil. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our...
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Century Aluminum of Kentucky, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, announced the orderly curtailment of one potline at its Hawesville, Kentucky aluminium smelter, effective immediately. Following the curtailment, Hawesville's primary aluminium production will be about 60% of capacity. The plant was operating at approximately 80% capacity prior to the curtailment. Century Aluminum of Kentucky previously issued a notice of its intent to curtail its plant operations in their entirety beginning on October 24, 2015, unless the current pricing environment substantially changes, and such notice remains in effect. Chicago, Illinois based Century Aluminum owns primary aluminium capacity in the United States and Iceland.
Hindalco Industries Ltd, the Indian aluminium producer backed by billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, refinanced about INR14,700 crore ($2.2 billion) of debt. Shares extended gains. The Mumbai-based company got the average maturity of its local-currency project loans extended by 10 years, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. Under the revamp deal, the metal maker needs to pay 6% of its debt in the first five years, versus 35% originally, one of them said. Hindalco, whose debt more than doubled to INR 29,000 crore in the four years through March, is battling mounting costs amid a slump in aluminium prices. Interest costs surged fourfold in the two years through June while the light-weight metal has declined 21% on the London Metal Exchange in the...
The aluminium smelter unit of Vedanta Limited at Jharsuguda has been bestowed the coveted ‘Excellent Energy Efficient Unit’ award in the ‘16th National Award for Excellence in Energy Management’ conducted by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). This is the third successive year that Vedanta’s Jharsuguda unit received this prestigious award. The unit was adjudged as the “Excellent energy efficient unit” in General category (including metal & refinery), out of 127 shortlisted companies for final presentation. The parameters on which the award was bestowed were; the last three Energy Conservation initiatives, specific energy reduction trend, innovative projects that were carried out and Energy conservation approach & team work. The ‘Excellent Energy Efficient Unit’ award is instituted...
Québec Premier Philippe Couillard, accompanied by Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Exports Jacques Daoust and the Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier for the Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean region and Member for Dubuc Serge Simard, has announced the launch of the Québec Aluminium Development Strategy to foster the industry’s growth and global reach. The strategy’s objectives are to double aluminium processing in Québec by 2025, to support equipment manufacturers and specialized suppliers in export markets, and to consolidate Québec’s position as one of the world’s largest primary aluminium producers. “We owe Québec’s reputation for excellence in large part to the aluminium sector’s businesses and employees. No other state has developed a complete strategy to promote industry growth....
LME aluminium is expected to test a support at $1,589 per tonne, as indicated by its wave pattern and a Fibonacci retracement analysis. A five-wave cycle from the Aug. 24 low of $1,506 has completed, causing the current drop, which may extend into a range of $1,558-$1,574, formed by the 61.8 percent and the 50 percent Fibonacci retracements on the cycle. The immediate support is at $1,589, the 38.2 percent level, only a break below which could confirm the target range. Resistance is at $1,609, the 23.6 percent level, a break above which could lead to a limited gain to $1,621, the 14.6 percent level.
Aluminium fell 0.14 per cent to INR 106.60 per kg in futures trade today after traders reduced their exposure due to sluggish demand at the domestic spot market amid drop in China exports. At Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), aluminium for delivery in September eased 15 paise or 0.14 per cent to INR 106.60 per kg in a business turnover of 86 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in October contracts traded lower by just five paise, or 0.05 per cent, to INR 107.90 per kg in 5 lots. The weakness in aluminium futures trading is mostly due to fall in demand from consuming industries at the domestic market and disappointing China's trade data.
Government of India may take out state-owned aluminium major Nalco from the disinvestment calendar for the current fiscal over fears that a volatile capital market coupled with sluggish commodity prices may sharply erode the Centre’s earnings from the proposed 10 per cent stake sale in the company. Highly placed sources in the mines ministry said that the department of disinvestment has been told that the current conditions would not fetch a good valuation for the company and the issue should be deferred to next year. Government has included Nalco among a list of about 20 companies for disinvestment in current financial year to raise a targeted INR 41,000 crore.The decision to defer the issue has been taken in the wake of a sharp erosion in the value of shares on bourses. The company’s...
Surcharges for physical aluminum in Europe are due to remain weak after retreating in recent weeks, weighed down by overproduction, new rules that force more outflows from warehouses and difficult conditions for financing. A constant flow of metal out of warehouses registered by the London Metal Exchange is due to increase after new LME rules designed to slash backlogs twice as quickly as under previous reforms took effect at the start of August. "There's good metal availability both as the result of the continued overproduction, but also as a result of the expected greater outflow from warehouses as the LME decay factor has increased," a trader said. "Premiums have come back down again after the temporary strength we saw in Europe." The surcharges, or premiums, which consumers pay on top...
The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma'aden) announced the participation of 15 sponsors in the Arab International Aluminium Conference and Exhibition (ARABAL 2015), hosted by the company on November 15-17 in the Dhahran International Exhibition Center. Senior industry figures are scheduled to speak at this premier global aluminium event, the largest in the Gulf region. The conference will also include the participation of 35 exhibitors in the exhibition accompanying the conference which highlights the major developments in the global aluminium industry, with a review of the latest updates on regional aluminium sector investments. Ma'aden is currently doing intensive preparations to insure the success of this conference, which has broad interest to those involved in the aluminium industry,...
China’s aluminum exports fell to the lowest level since June last year after a drop in domestic production and a plunge in global prices. Shipments of the metal used in everything from cars to window frames shrank 5 percent to 340,000 tons in August from the previous month and were down 12 percent from a year earlier, according to customs data. Production in China, the world’s biggest supplier, fell 1.3 percent in July from a record in June in a sign the lowest prices in six years were forcing some smelters to curb output. Global prices have lost about 13 percent this year and premiums, the amount customers have to pay on top of exchange prices, dropped to a three-year low in the U.S. last week. Smelters in China have proposed cuts by closing outdated, loss-making capacity and delaying...
Centrum Broking said it expects aluminium prices to recover sharply to $2000 per tonne by first half of 2016 from $1700 per tonne price currently, citing expected supply cuts due to large unviable capacity at present prices and steady demand. The brokerage said 30-40 per cent of aluminium capacity was presently unviable and supply cuts would accelerate globally with China's smelter margins being at multi-year lows right now. "We believe that current depressed levels in aluminium are driven by a mix of speculation and unfavourable currency movements rather than demand-supply and ignore the support of current global cost curve which makes one-third of global capacity unviable and is triggering sharp supply cuts," said analyst Abhisar Jain at Centrum Broking. Indian aluminium producers like...
LME aluminum hovered narrowly around the 40-day moving average after opening at USD 1,616/mt on Monday. The light metal fell below the 5-day moving average to USD 1,595/mt later in the day before ending down USD 12/mt at USD 1,598/mt. Trading volumes were down 2,353 lots to 6,948 lots, and positions were up 9,034 to 846,000. SHFE 1511 aluminum found support at the 10-day moving average during Monday’s night session thanks to exit of shorts. However, the 5-day and 10-day moving averages are pointing downward, meaning that the contract might drift lower to RMB 11,800-11,890/mt on Tuesday. In China’s spot market, poor consumption will widen spot discounts to RMB 70-30/mt over SHFE 1509 aluminum contract.
Tracking firmness in base metals overseas coupled with strong demand at domestic spot markets, aluminium prices edged up 0.33% to INR 107.75 per kg in futures trade today as participants enlarged positions. Marketmen said apart from increased domestic demand, a firming global trend ahead Chinese new data to be released tomorrow, influenced aluminium futures here. At the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX), aluminium for delivery this month inched up 35 paise, or 0.33%, to INR 107.75 per kg in a business turnover of 35 lots. Likewise, the metal for delivery in October traded higher by 25 paise, or 0.23%, to INR 108.80 per kg in six lots.
The average cash cost at Chinese aluminum smelters slipped 0.45% month-on-month in August, SMM statistics showed. SMM attributes the decline largely to 1.15% fall in power costs. Some smelters put lower-cost captive power plants into service, dragging down overall power costs. Alumina cost slid 0.55% as alumina prices kept falling slightly. Prebaked anode cost increased 0.75%, and fluoride salt cost rose 1.06%.
With China, the world’s largest consumer of major commodities including aluminium, unveiling stimulus, prices of aluminium are slated to rise next year, says Hindalco Industries Ltd, India’s second biggest aluminium producing company. Satish Pai, Hindalco’s deputy managing director said in an interview last week that after a dismal first half of 2015 and most likely the next two quarters of the fiscal also, prices of aluminium will finally rebound next year as China gears up to boost its slowing economy. He said prices may climb to as much as $1,900 a tonne next year. The light metal has plummeted 23% in the past one year, depressed by a huge surplus in the global market and a below than average demand. Aluminium for delivery in three months was at $1,615 a tonne, up 0.4%, as of 3:08pm on...
The Register of Members & Share Transfer Books of National Aluminium Company Ltd will remain closed from September 22, 2015 to September 26, 2015 (both days inclusive) for the purpose of Payment of Final Dividend & 34th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Company to be held on September 26, 2015. Shares of NATIONAL ALUMINIUM CO.LTD. was last trading in BSE at INR 32.7 as compared to the previous close of INR 33.2. The total number of shares traded during the day was 329094 in over 1899 trades. The stock hit an intraday high of INR 33.2 and intraday low of 31.35. The net turnover during the day was INR 10562982.
Boyne Smelters Ltd general manager Joe Rea has reached the regional finals of the Manager of the Year category for the Australian Institute of Management Excellence Awards 2015. During the past three years, he and his workforce have delivered operational cost reductions nearing $100 million, requiring difficult decisions around workforce reductions, production curtailment and site investment against a now six-year low for aluminium prices. Mr Rea has also led BSL to achieve a period of 365 days without a recordable injury, the best result ever achieved at the operation since it opened in 1981. "The Australian manufacturing industry is currently shrinking at a greater rate than it ever has in our lifetime. It would be a sad day when we surrender the opportunity to add value to Australian...
Goa Carbon has reported production of 16,353.400 MT (million tonnes) of calcined petroleum coke for the month of August 2015. Of the total production achieved for the month, Bilaspur plant produced 1,653.400 MT, Goa plant produced 3,417.000 MT of calcined petroleum coke while Pradeep plant produced 11,283.000 MT. On the sales front, the company has sold a total of 15,749.450 MT of calcined petroleum coke products for the month of August 2015. Of the total sales achieved for the month, Bilaspur plant, Goa plant and Paradeep plant of the company sold 1,607.250 MT; 6,605.100 MT and 7,537.100 MT respectively. Goa Carbon is into the business of manufacturing and marketing calcined petroleum coke. Goa Carbon is firmly established as a leading Indian petcoke calciner. It is a regular supplier to...
