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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Lightweight metals leader Alcoa has reported solid second quarter 2015 results on July 9, 2015 as the Company’s transformation showed strong progress. Profitability from Alcoa’s growing aerospace and automotive businesses increased year-over-year as mid and downstream investments delivered positive impact. In the upstream, the Primary Metals business was resilient in the face of market headwinds and the Alumina business delivered its strongest first half results in eight years. The Company’s portfolio reshaping is driving results. Alcoa reported second quarter 2015 net income of $140 million, or $0.10 per share, including $143 million in restructuring-related charges, primarily to optimize the Company’s upstream portfolio. Year-over-year, second quarter 2015 results compare to net income...
The world’s biggest aluminum makers will be under even more pressure to make deeper production cuts and stave off a price slump that saw the metal trade near its lowest level in six years on Wednesday. China, which accounts for half of the world’s aluminum output, is on pace to export record amounts of metal products this year, helping to deepen a worldwide glut. Producers outside China, including Alcoa Inc. and United Co. Rusal, had already cut back capacity through last year. Still, 1 million metric tons more, enough to supply Japan for six months, will probably be curtailed within a year, according to Macquarie Group Ltd. China’s economy is poised to grow at its slowest pace in a quarter of century. As the country shifts toward a consumer-driven economy, more of its processed aluminum...
Alcoa shares have declined by a third since February. And things could have been worse, had it not made the changes it did. The aluminium maker's strategy, pursued over the past several years, has two planks. First, it wanted to make its core "downstream" aluminium production business more efficient. Second, it has expanded its manufacturing of end products for aerospace, automobiles and other industries. The shift has won plaudits. Yet the company still cannot fully shake off the effects of an aluminium price that is down 15 per cent in eight months. he production side of Alcoa mines bauxite to refine into alumina and smelts alumina into aluminium. The company has curtailed capacity and moved down the cost curve. And with the help of $US5 billion worth of recent acquisitions, its rolled...
Hindalco Industries Ltd., the Indian aluminum producer backed by billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, is seeking to refinance about Rs15,000 crore ($2.4 billion) of debt, people familiar with the matter said. The Mumbai-based company is discussing with banks about extending the maturity of the local-currency project loans to about 10 years, the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks are confidential. It may also be able to negotiate a marginally lower interest cost, the people said. Hindalco, whose total debt more than doubled in the four years ended March, is contending with mounting costs at a time when aluminum prices are falling. It is seeking to refinance under central bank guidelines announced in August, which make it easier for industrial firms to extend the tenor of...
Rio Tinto is preparing its first shipments of metal from its world-class Kitimat aluminium smelter in Canada following an extensive modernisation of the facility. The modernisation of the aluminium smelter will increase production capacity by 48 per cent and result in Kitimat becoming one of the lowest cost smelters in the world. Rio Tinto is now focused on safely ramping up towards its annual production rate of 420,000 tonnes. The modernised smelter, which was delivered in line with the revised schedule and budget, is powered exclusively by Rio Tinto’s wholly owned hydro power facility and uses the company’s proprietary AP40 smelting technology which will effectively halve the smelter’s overall emissions. Aluminium chief executive Alf Barrios said “The modernisation of Kitimat will...
Demonstrating a deep commitment to sustainability and business continuity, Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) - an operating subsidiary of Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) - is one of the first industrial enterprises in the UAE to develop and implement a full Crisis & Business Continuity Management Systems; and in January 2015 became the first manufacturing company in the Middle East to achieve certification to the ISO 22301:2012 Business Continuity Management Systems standard (by LRQA). These milestones reflect EGA's commitment to implementing management strategies and processes that will identify and manage possible risk, emergency, crisis and business disruption events associated with all its business activities; and is in keeping both with the company's pioneering spirit and its quest for...
Deutsche Bank’s downside risk case for aluminum has come to pass. Sharply falling premiums have not been offset by a rising LME price, which has also fallen. The all in aluminum price has fallen by 21% year to date, exacerbated by less than inspiring Chinese macro data and the uncertainty of a Grexit weighing on sentiment. Industry deflation via lower coal prices and technology gains mean that the only 11% of global smelters and 10% of Chinese smelters are loss-making. Given the propensity for China to continue exporting, a managed supply cut by some of the producers ex- China may only result in encouraging further exports as regional premiums rise once more. As highlighted in the case of European stainless steel, it is only through anti-dumping measures that Chinese exports are likely to...
On the back of a strong operational performance, Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba) increased its production figures in the second quarter of 2015 by 3.1% Year- on-Year (YoY) to reach 238,904 metric tonnes (mt) (versus 231,713 mt in Q2 2014), while its sales figures touched 232,193 mt for the same period in 2015, an increase of 2,383 mt versus 229,810 mt in Q2 2014. In addition, Alba was able to increase its Value-Added (VA) sales for the same period to 66% versus an average of 65% in Q2 2014. Commenting on Alba’s sales and production figures for Q2 2015, Alba’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray said: “Despite challenging market conditions and the dramatic drop in worldwide physical premiums, Alba continues to exceed its performance targets.” Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba) will release its...
The average cash cost at Chinese aluminum smelters fell another 2.55% month-on-month in June , driven by lower alumina and power costs, SMM survey showed. Some smelters have received preferential power tariffs due to China’s power reform, cutting the average power cost by 4.55%. Alumina cost fell 1.59%. Prebaked anode cost held largely stable, while fluoride salt cost rose 4.97% from a month ago.
The outlook for aluminium is looking severely pressured for the next few years as excess capacity in China shows no sign of easing, resulting in a more downbeat outlook for Australian-listed miners Rio Tinto, South32 and Alumina. Last week, Macquarie took the knife to its aluminium price forecasts to the end of the decade, while Macquarie and UBS cut their forecasts for alumina, the main ingredient in aluminium. “Unlike most commodities, aluminium supply continues to grow at a rapid pace,” Macquarie said in a note to clients. “With Chinese exports now likely to play a sustained and growing role in the global market in future years, the whole market has been radically altered.” Macquarie slashed its 2016 to 2020 forecasts by 10 to 20 per cent and is not expecting prices (now at near...
LME aluminum will rebound to $ 1,710-1,750 per tonne next week, Shanghai Metals Market foresees. KDJ and MACD indicators have sent positive signals. Greek debt crisis has eased. A poll before the referendum showed that there is a good chance for Greece to stay in the euro zone. These will offer rising impetus to LME aluminum. Spot discounts in China’s spot aluminum market should narrow to 50-100 yuan per tonne over SHFE front-month contract. This is because nearing delivery date of SHFE 1507 aluminum contract will allow sellers to hold back goods at lows.
Aluminium ingots and sow ingots are being sent in a huge quantity as break bulk cargo to the United States. The ingots so far were being sent to various destinations through containers by all the aluminium manufacturers. Hindalco Industries Ltd, the metal’s flagship company of Aditya Birla Group, the world’s largest aluminium rolling company, became the first aluminium manufacturer to export from Visakhapatnam Port 15,034 tons of ingots as break bulk cargo or general cargo by engaging Orissa Stevedores Ltd (OSL). The loading of the cargo into bulk carrier CS Crystal berthed at WQ-6 of Multiport Pvt. Ltd. terminal was completed on Sunday. The ship is scheduled to leave for the discharge port at New Orleans in the US on Monday. The cargo was brought here from Hindalco plants at Mahan,...
Press Metal Bhd’s (Press Metal) capacity expansion of its Samalaju plant in Bintulu has been viewed positively by analysts as the expansion will likely translate into superior earnings growth in the financial year 2016 (FY16). Following a visit to the plant, Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd’s research team (Kenanga Research) was positive on the progress of the expansion and it believed that Phase 2 of the Samalaju plant would be fully operational by end of the third quarter of 2015 (3Q15), while Phase 3 is expected commence operations by end-4Q15. While its Phase 2 Samalaju smelting plant was shut down temporarily earlier this year due to a fire incident, the research team noted that about 15 per cent of the smelting pots are already up and running. “Although the remaining pots are still under...
Chinese aluminium smelters will be forced to reduce production levels because they cannot continue to operate with such low global market prices, according to the world's largest aluminium producer. Chinese smelters "expected the price to recover but it's already [been] more than six months. The price is very low and these producers are suffering from losses, so they have to start shutting down," said Oleg Mukhamedshin, deputy chief executive of United Rusal Co., in an interview this week. Chinese producers of aluminium have been criticised for pumping out vast quantities of the metal even though prices have plunged 6 per cent since the beginning of the year, and have been hovering near six-year lows in recent weeks. Critics such as Rusal say a range of government subsidies keep...
Japan's aluminium premiums for July-September shipments were mostly set at a six-year low of $100 as swelling Chinese exports piled more pressure on an already swamped market, five sources directly involved in the talks said. The nearly $300 quarterly drop in premiums, the sharpest such decline ever, is in line with a global slump triggered by higher aluminium supply after the London Metal Exchange (LME) forced warehousing companies to shorten delivery times. "Japan has been particularly hit by the global collapse in premiums as China's export of aluminium products to elsewhere in Asia pushed ingots to Japan," a trader said. Japan is Asia's top importer of the metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the LME cash price set the benchmark for the...
The Slatina-based plant was built 50 years ago and, all this time, has produced over 9.5 M tons of aluminium. The highest production was recorded in 2008 - 265,000 tons of primary aluminium. The crisis caused a notable decrease of production, but, in the last 2-3 years, the company has managed to stabilise its production at a rate of almost 200,000 tons. According to Gheorghe Dobra, CEO of the company, Alro will continue the modernisation of operations, with a budget of USD 59 M for 2015. The effort is aimed at growing the cost-effectiveness of the unit and its recycling capacities, while also expanding the range of products. In the last ten years, as a result of investment worth over USD 500 M, of which 100 M in environment protection features, the company ahs upgraded its equipment...
South32 Limited has appointed Dr Xolani Mkhwanazi to seve as the Company’s new Non-Executive Director with effect from 02 July 2015. Dr Mkhwanazi has been serving as Chairman of BHP Billiton Limited’s South Africa operations since October 2008. He serves also, as the President and Chief Operations Officer of BHP Billiton’s aluminium smelters Hillside, Bayside and Mozal. South32 is a JSE, LSE and ASX listed metals and mining company with bauxite, alumina, aluminium, thermal and metallurgical coal, manganese, nickel, silver, lead and zinc operations in South Africa.
AIM listed firms Imperial Innovations and Mercia Technologies have together provided £4m to aluminium business Impression Technologies. The duo invested £2.5m and £1.5m respectively in the firm which makes aluminium components for the transport sector. The investment brings Imperial Innovation’s stake to 59.9% of issued share capital, while in a statement Mercia said it would control 26% of the company when its stake through third party funds is included. The funding would be used to acquire a press, continue development and keep up with customer demand, Impression Technologies said in a statement. Imperial Innovations chief executive Russ Cummings said Impression Technologies was doing demonstration pressings for a number of high profile car manufacturers, and a key challenge was access...
