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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Chalco, China's top aluminium producer, has slashed output at its two smelters as high electricity costs and falling prices have severly hit their bottomlines. Chalco (Liancheng) shut down 80 * 200kA electrolytic cells and 12 * 600KA electrolytic cells in H1 2015, and has closed almost all of its 200KA electrolytic cells till now, said an executive from the company. Chalco (Lanzhou) is also struggling due to power cost hike and declining aluminium prices. After having run in losses it shut down 25 * 200KA electrolytic cells last year. What is plaguing Chalco's operations the most is the lack of captive power plants in its aluminum smelters. This has put them in a bad strategic position over rival companies operating smelters with captive power plants.
Russia’s aluminum exports soared during the first months of this year, driven mainly by sharp depreciation of rouble against the US dollar. The country exported 2.03 million tonnes of aluminum January-July, up 21% from a year ago, as per data from the Russian Federal Customs Service.
US non-farm payrolls missed forecasts, but jobless rate hit over 7-year low. LME aluminum fell back after opening higher at USD 1,630/mt last Friday. The light metal ended down USD 15/mt or 0.92% at USD 1,610/mt. Trading volumes were down 5,374 lots to 9,301 lots, and positions were up 3,003 to 837,000. SHFE 1511 aluminum should meet strong resistance at moving averages and move between RMB 11,820-11,900/mt on Tuessday. In China’s spot market, growing arrivals after the 3-day holiday will add to supply pressure and leave spot discounts at RMB 60-20/mt over SHFE 1509 aluminum contract.
National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), the Navratna PSU, Under Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India and country’s leading manufacturer-exporter of alumina and aluminium, has bagged the prestigious EEPC (Engineering Export Promotion Council)’s Star Performer Award, for its outstanding export performance during the year 2013-14. On behalf of the company, Shri A.K. Murthy, GM (Port Facilities), received the award from Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Government of India, at All India Export Award Function, held in New Delhi on September 3. It may be mentioned here that NALCO enjoys Premier Trading House status, and it is the first Indian aluminium company to be registered with London Metal Exchange, for its high quality products.
LME aluminium may rise to $1,686 per tonne, as it has broken resistance at $1,617. Resistance was provided by the 23.6 percent Fibonacci retracement on the fall from the May 6 high of $1,977 to the Aug. 24 low of $1,506. The next resistance will be at $1,686, the 38.2 percent level. The metal had been falling within a channel before Aug. 24, the upper channel line of a duplicated channel indicates a target at $1,686 as well. A sudden drop below $1,617, now a support, could signal the break above this level was false, the 14.6 percent level at $1,575 could be approached.
The CME Group has taken another step towards challenging the London Metal Exchange's dominance of base metals trading outside China with a new European aluminum premium contract due to launch later this month. The new 25-tonne contract will trade on the global CME Globex platform from Sept 21. The exchange's other aluminum (U.S) Midwest premium contract was launched in April 2012. The new contract will start trading before the LME's four regional aluminum premium contracts are launched on Nov. 23. "The CME is trying to muscle in, get first mover advantage," said Robin Bhar, head of metals research at Societe Generale. Premiums are paid over listed cash contracts to cover the cost of freight and insurance, for immediate delivery of metal. They have tumbled this year from record highs due...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba), one of the world’s leading aluminium smelters, announced that it has been recently granted the environmental permission for its Line 6 Expansion Project from the Supreme Council for Environment, Kingdom of Bahrain. The environmental permission, vital to Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project, was granted based on a detailed environmental and social impact assessments carried-out by a competent consultant and overseen by the Line 6 expansion team. To date, one of the top ten aluminium producers’ in the world, Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project will make it the largest single site smelter in the world upon its completion. Expected to begin production in early 2019, this Project will boost the Company’s per-annum production by 514,000 metric tonnes upon full ramp-up,...
The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden), which owns the largest and most efficient vertically integrated aluminum complex in the world, will host the International Arab Aluminium Conference (ARABAL) in Dhahran on Nov. 15. This high-profile conference will discuss the current and the future challenges for the aluminum industry. "The three-day event will provide opportunities to discuss industrial integration of aluminum in the Gulf region," said Khaled bin Saleh Al-Mudaifer, Maaden CEO. He said Maaden will also present the experience of an integrated supply chain through a tour of its aluminum complex in Ras Al-Khair, demonstrating the application of the manufacturing vision from the mine to the end product." He added: “The conference will also be an opportunity to review opportunities...
In a move that could be seen as a paradox to Vedanta's move to shut down its Lanjigarh alumina refinery in the backdrop fall in global aluminium prices and lack of bauxite linkage, the company has initiated the process of stepping up aluminium production at its Jharsuguda smelter in Odisha. The company, over the next six months, plans to ramp up aluminium production at Jharsuguda facility from 0.5 million tonne to 0.8 million tonne per annum. "We had decided to shut down the alumina refinery as present operational costs sans bauxite linkage are unviable. But in case of aluminium, there was a positive cash flow till last month. Though the metal prices have dipped further, we can still produce aluminium at Jharsuguda at a cost which is about same as the selling price", said Abhijit Pati,...
Aluminium India 2015, the largest and the most important trade fair for the aluminium industry and its application fields in India, started today on September 7 at Bombay Exhibition Centre in Mumbai. The international exhibition and conference, organized by Reed SI Exhibitions Pvt Ltd, will be held here till September 9. Over 120 exhibitors comprising the biggest names in the aluminium industry from India and across the world are participating in the exhibition. Hindalco Industries and Aluminium Association of India are the associtae partners. The event, aimed at bringing the entire aluminium industry under one roof, is expected to experience a huge turnout to the tune of 7000 and above. The trade fair covers the demand of the Indian aluminum industry and open international companies...
China is planning a reshuffle of state-owned industrial assets, according to the Financial Times. The next logical step will be to shutter unviable units of their consolidated operations. If that happens, China will be doing the metals industry a big favour in the long run. The newspaper report says State Power Investment Corp. may transfer its loss-making aluminium smelters to Aluminium Corp. of China (Chinalco), adding 2.7 million tonnes (mt) to its existing smelting capacity of 3.7 mt. That is just moving things around and not tackling the real problem of oversupply and propping up of inefficient units. It will only see Chinalco become the largest aluminium producer, ahead of Alcoa Inc. and Rusal Plc. The real restructuring will be when Chinalco puts its loss-making smelters on notice....
Aluminum prices in China’s spot market will take a hit after the three-day holiday, Shanghai Metals Market foresees. More ingots will arrive at China’s major regional markets after the holiday. Meanwhile, traders that have signed term contracts will increase shipment at the beginning of the month. This will widen spot discounts to 100-50 yuan per tonne over SHFE 1509 contract. SHFE 1511 aluminum contract should range 11,700-11,900 yuan per tonne, versus $ 1,570-1,630 per tonne for LME aluminum.
Lightweight metals leader Alcoa is expanding its R&D center in Pennsylvania to accelerate the development of advanced 3D-printing materials and processes. Alcoa will produce materials designed specifically for a range of additive technologies to meet increasing demand for complex, high-performance 3D-printed parts for aerospace and other high-growth markets such as automotive, medical and building and construction. The $60 million expansion is under construction at the Alcoa Technical Center, the world’s largest light metals research center near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “Alcoa is investing in the next generation of 3D printing for aerospace and beyond,” said Alcoa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld. “Combining our expertise in metal alloys, manufacturing, design and...
One of Tasmania's largest manufacturing employers says it has adapted to tough economic conditions to celebrate 60 years of operation. Bell Bay Aluminium smelter is the oldest in the Southern Hemisphere and was built in 1955, when importing aluminium became difficult. It was bought by Rio Tinto Aluminium in 1960 and now directly and indirectly employs about 1,500 people. Managing director Ray Mostogl said the company had to adjust to changing economic conditions to remain viable. "We've certainly learned how to take more risks with our operation in terms of the raw materials that we buy and the products that we try," he said. "We've chased different markets to sell metal, we send metal now to China," he added. But the global market has changed significantly. In 2011 the aluminium price...
Some big aluminium producers have offered Japanese buyers a premium of $110 per tonne for October-December primary metal shipments, up 10 percent from the previous quarter, four sources involved in quarterly pricing talks said on Tuesday. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of the metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region. For the July-September quarter, Japanese buyers mostly agreed to pay a $100 per tonne PREM-ALUM-JP premium, a six-year low. The nearly $300 quarterly drop, the sharpest such decline ever, was driven by swelling Chinese exports that have piled pressure on an already swamped market. The latest quarterly pricing negotiations began last week between Japanese...
More than the aluminium prices that have declined to six-year lows, it is the sharp fall in “premiums” that is hurting the big trading houses like Glencore and Noble Group. Commodities trader and miner Glencore recently cited the “tough metals trading conditions, particularly aluminium and nickel affected by the collapse in physical premiums” as the main causal factor behind the declining earnings of its marketing division. Noble Group’s metals division has been hit badly too. The Asian commodities trader’s profits before interest and tax in its metals and mining segment fell 98 per cent in the first half of the year. Company officials said the division “had a very difficult quarter as premiums for metals in key distribution locations weakened sharply, impacting the overall business and...
Following Beijing's initiatives that saw successful transfer of assets between a cash strapped power generation group, the State Power Investment Group (SPIC) and a loss-making alumina and aluminum smelting group Aluminum Corp of China Ltd., the latter is set to become the world’s biggest aluminum company by production, leap-frogging from third place over the US’s Alcoa, Inc.and Russia’s UC RUSAL Plc. According to a recently published report, Chinalco will add 2.7 million metric tons of annual smelting capacity to its present 3.8 million metric tons when it inherits SPIC’s smelters, easily pushing it ahead of Rusal and Alcoa. For state-sponsored and directed SPIC, the move makes good sense. The aluminum smelters were reported to be mostly loss-making and the group only owned them...
India’s National Aluminium Co. Ltd (Nalco) executives plan to visit Iran this month for initial talks to build a $2 billion smelter in the Middle Eastern country, the first pick on its three-nation short list. The company will discuss forming a joint venture with the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, or IMIDRO, T.K. Chand, chairman and managing director of National Aluminium, or Nalco, said in an interview at his office in Bhubaneswar. “Our consultant has shortlisted Iran, Oman and Indonesia for the smelter,” Chand said. “We have started discussions in order of preference starting with Iran. We will take a view on all countries and shortlist one taking into account the availability of gas and energy for making cost competitive power.” Strong...
