The Aluminum Association launched “America Needs Aluminum,” a new public awareness and advocacy campaign highlighting aluminum’s essential role in the US economy and calling for policies that help America make, recycle and build more with this critical material. The campaign centers on a straightforward message: America needs aluminum - let’s make more of it here. It builds on the association’s broader “all-of-the-above” strategy for aluminum supply, which calls for expanding both recycled and primary aluminum production, strengthening domestic manufacturing, improving energy availability and aggressively confronting unfair trade. “Aluminum is essential to nearly every part of modern American life - from our cars, homes and packaging to the power grid, fighter jets and advanced...
At ALUMINIUM 2026, taking place in Düsseldorf, October 6-8, ABB will showcase technologies designed to help aluminium producers improve process control, product quality and production efficiency. Visitors will be able to step inside a cold rolling mill through an immersive virtual reality experience to explore integrated automation, electrification, digital and measurement technologies in action. The showcase comes as aluminium producers face the dual challenge of meeting growing demand while reducing the environmental impact of production. The increasing shift towards secondary aluminium is creating new opportunities to decarbonize the industry, while maintaining precise process control remains critical. ABB will highlight AL-EMS electromagnetic stirring technology and its metallurgical...
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Key highlights • The first quarter of 2015 was a challenging period for the aluminium industry. In particular, there was a 8.5% decrease in the average London Metals Exchange ("LME") aluminium price of USD1,801 for the first quarter of 2015 as compared to USD1,968 in the preceding quarter, as well as downward trend on product premiums across all key markets reducing the average realized premium of RUSAL by 1.2% as compared to the preceding quarter, which put pressure on the Company's margins. • Revenue in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 16.7% to USD 2,477 million as compared to USD2,123 million for the first quarter of 2014 due to the increase in LME aluminium price, growth in volumes sold and higher average realized premiums between the comparable periods. • Aluminium segment cost...
The chief executive of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), owner of one of the world’s largest aluminium smelters, said on Tuesday he was optimistic the company would receive the needed approvals for its $2.5 billion Line 6 expansion project this year. “I am optimistic that we will get approvals in 2015,” CEO Tim Murray told an industry conference in Dubai. “We are pushing as a management very hard for this move forward,” he said. The plan will make Alba the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world by boosting per-annum production by 400,000 metric tonnes at a time when demand for the metal is growing.
May 12 Rio Tinto Alcan, the mining giant's aluminium business, expects a global deficit in the aluminum market in 2015 despite good figures in the first quarter, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday. Speaking at the CRU Aluminium industry conference in Dubai CEO Alf Barios said he expected a pick up in demand in China. He also said he expected demand to grow by four percent per year and sees price volatility continuing in the short term while inventory levels by 2020 should fall to nine weeks from the current 12 weeks.
The giant JV aluminium smelter between Alcoa and Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma’aden) which reported a few technical glitches in the beginning is ready to produce above its initial capacity target this year, said representatives from Ma’aden. Although the project has officially started operations last year, it was not able to perform up to its capabilities due to technical difficulties producing an initial annual production of 740,000 tons per year. This year that number is expected to rise slightly higher to 760,000 tons. In a conference in Dubai, senior vice president Thomas Walpole said that70 to 80 percent of the smelter’s current production is being exported. The $10.8 billion project is segmented into three parts: bauxite mine, refinery, smelter and a rolling mill. Walpole says the...
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation announced today the commencement of a secondary public offering of 22,840,000 shares of the Company's common stock by certain funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC (the Selling Stockholders). The Company itself is not selling any shares and will not receive any proceeds from the proposed offering. Prior to this offering, the Selling Stockholders owned or controlled approximately 33.1% of the Company's outstanding shares of common stock. Following the completion of this offering, the Selling Stockholders will no longer own any shares of the Company's common stock and we expect Matthew R. Michelini, Matthew H. Nord, Eric L. Press, and Robert J. Kalsow-Ramos, who are affiliates of the Selling Stockholders, to resign from our board of...
Century Aluminum of Kentucky General Partnership, a subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, today delayed the effective time of its potential lockout of USW Local 9423 at its Hawesville, Kentucky smelter in order to allow the union to hold an additional vote on a modified version of the Company's last, best and final (LBF) offer. The vote is expected to take place on May 11. If USW Local 9423 does not approve the LBF on May 11, the lockout is now scheduled to commence at 8 a.m. CDT on May 12, 2015. While the Company is hopeful that the union membership will approve the LBF, the smelter is fully prepared for the lockout and is expected to continue to operate safely and at full production. The Company has created a dedicated website to keep employees, families, community members and others...
Japan’s spot aluminum import premiums held at $240-250/mt plus London Metal Exchange cash, CIF Japan, Monday, in thin trade as market participants closely monitored the LME price moves. Twelve Japanese buyers and three overseas sellers contacted Monday reported no deal, offer or bid, and Platts assessment stayed at $240-250/mt plus LME cash CIF Japan, unchanged since April 16. The market was still lacking in spot demand, as three Japanese consumers said their consumption for the next few months was unlikely to exceed their forecast. Three overseas sellers said there was no inquiry from Japan at all. One South Korean trader said his focus was to sell in Southeast Asia where there were more buyers, although for small lots ranging from 25 mt to several hundred tons. One Japanese consumer...
Rio Tinto is shedding between 110 and 170 jobs in Montreal as the mining company prepares to move early next year into its new Canadian headquarters, with the Alcan name missing from the building. The company said Monday that the staff reductions are part of the London-based company's efforts announced last February to streamline global operations to reduce costs. "We are in a cyclical industry and we have to adapt with the market," spokesperson Claudine Gagnon said. The reduction of corporate jobs that support various metal groups will begin in a few weeks and be completed by year end. About 800 employees currently work for the aluminum and other metal group divisions in Montreal. The aluminum division's global headquarters will remain in the city, but the name Alcan will gradually...
Lightweight metals leader Alcoa today announced that Alcoa of Australia will permanently close the Anglesea coal mine and power station on August 31, 2015. The Anglesea power station previously supplied approximately 40 percent of the power needs for the Point Henry smelter in Geelong, Victoria. Alcoa said in February 2014 that it would conduct a sales process for the site, which has been operating as an independent supplier to the National Electricity Market since the smelter closed in August 2014. The sales process did not result in a sale. “Our key concern now is for our 85 employees who have done a great job in continuing to run the operation during this period of uncertainty,” said President Alcoa Refining and Managing Director, Alcoa of Australia, Alan Cransberg. “Alcoa has been a...
The Board of Approvals (BoA) under the Union commerce & industry ministry would consider the proposal for extending the validity of product specific Special Economic Zone (SEZ) by Vedanta Ltd at Jharsuguda. The validity of the notified SEZ is lapsing on May 22 this year. The BoA is scheduled to meet on May 19. The development commissioner, Falta SEZ recommended extension of Vedanta's SEZ till May 22, 2016. Formal approval for the SEZ was granted on May 23, 2007. Since then, the developer has been given five extensions. Vedanta claimed to have completed 95 per cent work on the SEZ and hopes to complete the unfinished work by May 22 next year. Vedanta's product specific SEZ includes an aluminium smelter complex where the proponent has already invested Rs 12,000 crore. The project was set up...
For the last five years, every beer guzzler in America paid a tiny surcharge to some of the nation’s largest banks. According to manufacturers, practices at warehouses owned by Goldman Sachs and other financial institutions inflated the price of aluminum used in beer cans and thousands of other goods, costing consumers as much as $3 billion a year, as one MillerCoors executive estimated. Now, drinkers can belch a sigh of relief. Aluminum markups are falling as quickly as they once rose. By the end of 2014, Goldman and JPMorgan Chase & Co. had exited the warehouse business, as the London Metal Exchange (LME), which sets benchmark aluminum prices, pursued reforms. With new rules in effect since February and banks out of the business, aluminum surcharges have plummeted. The Midwest premium...
Aluminium prices fell 0.41 per cent to INR 120.40 per kg in futures trading today, taking weak cues from global markets. Further, subdued demand in the domestic spot markets also weighed on the metal prices. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in June shed 50 paise, or 0.41 per cent, to INR 120.40 per kg in business turnover of 41 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in current month contracts traded lower by 55 paise, or 0.38 per cent, to INR 119.05 per kg in 1,410 lots. Market analysts said the weakness in aluminium at futures trade was mostly in tune with a downtrend in select base metals at the London Metal Exchange (LME), shrugging off China's bid to boost growth with a third interest rate cut in six months in the world's largest consumer of the metal.
China's efforts to re-energise its economy through interest rate cuts are probably not enough to give much of a boost to commodity import demand, but oddly enough may act to boost some commodity exports. The People's Bank of China cut interest rates for the third time in six months on May 10 in the wake of weaker-than-expected trade and inflation numbers. It's no secret that both Chinese steel and aluminium producers have been struggling to stay in the black in recent years, given overcapacity and slower economic growth. Additionally they are confronting pollution issues and government policies that are encouraging a move toward a more consumer-driven economy and less reliance on export-orientated heavy manufacturing. Nonetheless, for now these industries remain vital employers of large...
The corporate commitment to innovation at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has once again received independent recognition - this time through the award of top honours in two categories of the 2015 Ideas.Arabia Idea of the Year competition. The latest wins bring the total number of Ideas.Arabia Idea of the Year awards won by EGA to a total of 24, with operating subsidiaries Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL, also known as EGA Jebel Ali) and Emirates Aluminium (EMAL, also known as EGA Al Taweelah) having secured awards in previous years. This year's honours comprised: • Best Sustainable Ideas Scheme, which was awarded to the EGA Suggestion Scheme. This category was introduced for the first time this year by the organisers, Dubai Quality Group (DQG), to award schemes that have successfully been running...
United Steel Work Local 9423 leaders announced they want to continue contract negotiations with Century Aluminum. Union President Mike Gaynor released a statement Wednesday afternoon that says the union urges Century Aluminum management to take back its unfair and unnecessary threat to lockout union members. Union leaders say they are committed to resolving the remaining issues at the bargaining table so members can focus on their jobs instead of preparing for a labor dispute. Century Aluminum recently announced a lockout for May 11.
Bell Bay Aluminium had urged the government of Tasmania in February that increasing the electricity rates will hit the company hard and may result in large scale jobs cuts. In return, the government has struck a secretive deal with the firm that could secure the 1,500 jobs that were in risk. The details of the deal were not revealed by either Tasmania’s Energy Minister Matthew Groom or GM of Bell Bay Ray Mostogl citing commercial sensitivities. What is known is that Bell Bay has assured they will be increasing their power consumption by 10 percent and investing $30 million to upgrade the plant. Mr. Mostogl says that the deal was not indicative of creation of new jobs but rather securing of the existing ones. The new investment of $30 million made by the parent company Rio Tinto Alcan is...
Government's plan to divest 10 per cent of its stake in navratna firm National Aluminum Company (NALCO) was today opposed in the Rajya Sabha by the BJD which said profit-making firms should not be sold. Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Dilip Kumar Tirkey (BJD) said Nalco was a profit-making PSU and warned of labour unrest if the government went ahead with the divestment plan. He said BJD and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik were opposed to disinvestment and urged the government to withdraw such plans. He said the government should choose loss making PSUs for stake sale. Presently, Government of India holds 80.93 per cent equity in Nalco. Sanjiv Kumar (JMM) raised the issue of Fertilizer Corp of India's (FCI) Sindri plant in Jharkhand lying shut since 2002. He said during the Lok...
Q1 2015 Alba Highlights: • Continued improvement in safety performance • Alba metal sales at 228,307 metric tonnes versus 226,472 mt in Q1 2014 • Production up by 2.4% to reach 237,774 mt versus 232,298 mt for the same period in 2014 driven by strong operational performance • Increase in physical premiums • Value-Added Sales averaged 64% of total shipments Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) announced the release of its first quarter of 2015 results on Thursday, May 7, 2015. Commenting on Q1 2015 Results, The Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors, Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa: “Alba had a tremendous 1st quarter and I would like to thank all the employees of Alba for their contributions to this success. We intend to use this strong momentum as we look forward to the Line 6 expansion...
