Century Aluminum’s proposed USD 4 billion primary aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma, is “moving forward on all fronts” as the company prepares for construction, despite local opposition and legal challenges, CEO Jesse Gary said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Developed jointly by Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the project is designed to produce 750,000 tonnes of primary aluminum annually, potentially doubling U.S. primary aluminum production. The facility is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and add USD 1.5 billion to Oklahoma’s gross domestic product, according to company estimates. The partners had targeted construction to begin by the end of 2026. However, local restrictions and permitting challenges have affected the...
LME aluminium stocks declined by more than half during the first nine months of 2026, falling by 267,875 tonnes from 509,250 tonnes on January 2 to 241,375 tonnes on September 30 (52.6 per cent). The decline continued throughout the period, with average warehouse inventories falling each month. Compared with the same period in 2025, monthly average stocks were lower across all nine months, with the gap widening in the third quarter. Q1 LME aluminium stocks fall 18.2 per cent LME aluminium inventories continued to decline during Q1 2026. Month-end stocks fell from 495,725 tonnes in January to 465,550 tonnes in February, before dropping further to 416,775 tonnes in March. Monthly average inventories stood at 498,670 tonnes in January, 481,801 tonnes in February and 440,710 tonnes in March....
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LME three-month aluminum surged USD 47.3/mt or 2.08% last Friday to USD 2,321/mt, a record high since September 21, 2011, backed by strong short covering with a rebound in euro and New York crude’s marching towards USD 110/bbl. Positions of the contract dropped 2,538 lots while transacted contracts climbed 4,849 lots. SMM expects LME three-month aluminum to struggle at USD 2,300/mt and move between USD 2,280-2,330/mt during today’s trading as a result of weak demand and short selling at higher prices. The most active SHFE three-month aluminum contract is expected to move between RMB 16,260-16,360/mt. Spot aluminum is expected to trade at discounts of RMB 140-200/mt over the SHFE current-month aluminum price as the latter climbs. Market supply will be sufficient but buying interest will...
Noranda Aluminum, Inc. in New Madrid will be expanding to the tune of $38 million. In the fall of 2010, Noranda announced it would resume the expansion process at the smelter in New Madrid County. The expansion will be upgrading existing equipment and the building. They will be making changes to the existing building and equipment to work more efficiently. The process will cost the company $38 million to complete. Once the expansion is done they will be able to crank out 615 million pounds of aluminum a year. They currently produce 580 million pounds of aluminum each year. The company hopes to start seeing an increase in 2013 and it should be completely done by 2014. This will not create new jobs, but will make the building more efficient. The expansion which was originally announced in...
Century Aluminum's chief executive says restarting the company's Ravenswood plant is a top priority for 2012, and he hopes to announce that restart before April. "We hope to get to the finish line on this reasonably soon," Century CEO Michael Bless told shareholders and industry analysts on a conference call Thursday evening. Century announced its 2011 fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday. While the company announced a $31 million loss for that quarter, Bless said recent improvements in the aluminum market outlook and renewed talks with local representatives have created favorable conditions for a Ravenswood restart. The company shuttered the plant in February 2009, laying off more than 650 workers in the process. The company was Jackson County's second-largest private sector employer, and...
ANGRY unions have accused BHP Billiton of ''distasteful'' conduct after the company flagged possible job cuts at a Tasmanian manganese smelter just weeks after announcing a half-year profit of almost $US10 billion. Operations at the Tasmanian Electro Metallurgical Company (Temco) facility near Launceston will be suspended in just over a fortnight, allowing BHP and joint-venture partner Anglo American to review the long-term future of the plant, which employs close to 400 full-time or contract workers. BHP blamed the strong Australian dollar and low product prices, saying recent cost-cutting had not been enough to make the facility competitive. The Temco review is the latest in a series of moves by BHP to reduce its exposure to struggling sectors such as nickel, aluminium and manganese....
Century Aluminum posted a fourth-quarter loss, hurt mainly by higher costs. Net loss was $31.1 million, or 35 cents per share, compared with a profit of $65.3 million, or 64 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose slightly to $318.2 million. Costs for sold goods rose 20 percent to $331.8 million. In November, the Monterey, California-based company's Chief Executive Logan Kruger resigned and filed a lawsuit against the aluminum producer, alleging breach of contract and wrongful termination. The company, which named Chief Financial Officer Michael Bless to replace him, said the claims were without merit. Century Aluminum's shares closed at $10.73 on Thursday on the Nasdaq.
Aluminium yesterday traded with the positive node and settled 1.4% up at 110.35 tracking LME three-month aluminum firstly dipped to a low of USD 2,243/mt but closed USD 27.5/mt or 1.22% higher at USD 2,243/mt on Wednesday, supported by climbing oil prices due to the Iran issue, strong US home sales data and a return of LME cancelled warrants to above 30% of total. Transaction volumes for LME in the US and European markets remained limited with prices moved lower with the falling euro, as Fitch cut credit ratings for Greece. It was reported on February 22nd that HSBC’s China initial PMI was 49.7, still below 50 mark, and PMI from Germany and France also lingered around 50, below market expectation. In addition, Fitch’s put Greek issuer default rating of its long-term domestic and foreign...
LME aluminium is expected to retrace into a range of $2,241-$2,259 per tonne, as it has completed a five-wave cycle. The five waves have made up a bigger wave (3), which will be partially reversed by a downward wave (4). A Fibonacci retracement on the rise from $2,165 to $2,288.50 indicates the metal will drop to the range formed by the 23.6 percent and the 38.2 percent retracements. Resistance is at $2,288.50, a break above which will confirm the progress of a wave (5) towards $2,310, the Jan. 31 high. No information in this analysis should be considered as being business, financial or legal advice. Each reader should consult his or her own professional or other advisers for business, financial or legal advice regarding the products mentioned in the analyses.
Premiums paid for aluminum in Europe are poised to rise further on prospects for limited supply of the lightweight metal, according to researcher CRU. The fees, added to the price of immediate-delivery aluminum on the London Metal Exchange, reached $180 to $190 a metric ton this month in Rotterdam, said Marco Georgiou, an analyst at CRU in London. That compared with $160 to $170 in January, he said, adding that advancing prices lifted the premiums. Withdrawing aluminum from the world’s second-biggest inventory in the Dutch city of Vlissingen may take as long as 15 months, researcher Harbor Intelligence said Feb. 21. Financing transactions will keep some stockpiled metal tied up, according to CRU. Alcoa Inc. plans to limit production of aluminum at Spanish and Italian smelters. “If demand...
Aluminium prices edged lower by 0.14% to Rs 110.20 per kg in the futures market, tracking a weak trend in global markets and subdued domestic demand. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, the February contract for aluminium shed 35 paise, or 0.14%, to Rs 110.20 per kg, with a business volume of 188 lots. In a similar fashion, the metal for March delivery moved down by 10 paise, or 0.09%, to Rs 111.40 per kg, in a turnover of 36 lots. Aluminium was trading 0.30% down at $2,274 per tonne at the London Metal Exchange (LME) in early trade today. Market analysts said weak trend in base metals at the LME along with subdued spot demand, weighed down aluminium prices at futures trade.
Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Development Company is hoping to see a financing package finalized by mid-year for a new $4.5 billion construction phase at Emirates Aluminum that will almost double the smelter's production capacity, a top executive said Wednesday. Matthew Hurn, the executive director of Mubadala's treasury unit, said on the sidelines of a conference in Dubai that financing plans for the extension were well underway, but that no final decision had been made on the structure of the deal. "There are various ways of financing," he said. "Is it the bank market, is it the capital markets? There are various bits inbetween them as well. We look to what's going to be the optimal financing strategy at that particular time, taking into account market conditions." "It would be...
India's state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) has offered a discount of 1,500 rupees ($30.45) per tonne on major categories of aluminium products, a company official said on Thursday. The latest move was prompted by changes in London Metal Exchange (LME) rates, said Ansuman Das, commercial director at NALCO. The company has not revised basic prices but has only offered a discount on ingots, sows, billets and wire rods effective until Feb 29. The discount is not applicable for rolled products, Das said. The company had raised prices by 2,000 rupees a tonne earlier this month. ($1=49.26 Indian Rupees)
Alcoa Inc and China Power Investment Corp (CPI) said on Tuesday they agreed to establish a joint venture company to produce high-end fabricated aluminium products for the Chinese market. Alcoa Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld and CPI President Lu Qizhou signed the agreement in Beijing to set up Alcoa CPI (China) Aluminium Investment Co. Ltd, which will be majority owned and managed by the U.S. aluminium producer and based in Shanghai. "This alliance will enhance Alcoa`s competitiveness and further position our businesses for continued profitable growth," said Kleinfeld. The joint venture company will serve as a leading manufacturer of high-end fabricated aluminium products for the aerospace, automotive, commercial transportation, consumer electronics and packaging...
China’s National Bureau of Statistics issued the Statistical Communiqué of the People's Republic of China on the 2008 National Economic and Social Development (Communiqué) on February 22. According to the Communiqué, China’s aluminum output was 17.68 million mt during 2011, up 12.1% YoY, while aluminum output in 2010 was 15.65 million mt, up 21.4% YoY, indicating the growth of domestic aluminum output slowed in 2011. SMM believes China’s policies to control nonferrous metal output contributed to slower growth of aluminum output. In addition, the growth of fixed-asset investment and total retail sales of consumer goods slowed, which also exerted negative impact on aluminum output. Data shows that China’s total retail sales of consumer goods were RMB 18.3919 trillion in 2011, up 17.1% YoY,...
Shandong Nanshan Aluminum (600219) posted a 30.80 percent year-on-year rise in 2011 net profit to 1.02 billion yuan on a 45.28 percent increase in sales revenue to 13.33 billion yuan, reports 163.com, citing a company filing. Earnings per share hit 0.53 yuan, up 26.19 percent. Based on total equity of 1.93 billion shares, the company plans to distribute cash dividends of 0.1 yuan (including tax) for every 10 shares held. The total amount of dividends to be paid out will hit 193.42 million yuan.
THE aluminium industry will ask the federal government for greater relief from its renewable energy laws, warning that over the next few years the laws will have a greater impact than the carbon tax on smelters confronting falling metal prices and a surging dollar. The Australian Aluminium Council, the peak body for the $5 billion industry, will lobby for more generous exemptions for smelters under the government's Renewable Energy Target when the scheme is reviewed this year. While the RET is not as politically charged as the carbon tax -- the scheme secured bipartisan support when it passed through parliament in 2009 -- AAC executive director Miles Prosser said it imposed a greater cost on smelters than the starting carbon price. "When we look at the cost of government policy and...
A local court Wednesday ordered registration of FIR against the CEO and Human Resource department head of the Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) on the charge of intimidating an employee. Rohit Lal Patel, the complainant, has claimed that he was offered voluntary retirement scheme against his wish last year and as he opposed it, the company management adopted coercive tactics. Patel had filed a private complaint against BALCO CEO Gunjan Gupta and HR head Amit Joshi. The court Wednesday directed that a case be registered against the two.
The London Metal Exchange Wednesday said it has suspended two of Germany-based Trimet Aluminium's primary aluminum brands, as well as an aluminum alloy and North American special aluminium alloy contract, or NASAAC, brand produced by Poland's Alumetal. No further deliveries of the primary aluminum brands, AE and HAW, will be accepted for LME warranting until advised, said the LME. The aluminum alloy and NASAAC brands, both known as KETY A, have also been suspended with immediate effect, and until further notice, the exchange said.
Global aluminum production, on an annualized basis, fell to a 10-month low in January, said Harbor Intelligence in a research note. According to Harbor, daily primary aluminum production declined by 0.9% from the prior month, or 388,548 annualized metric tons, to a run rate of 43 million tons. This was the lowest rate since March 2011. In year-on-year terms, the pace of growth in global output slowed to 6.9% from 9.5% in December and 10.4% in November. In January, the entire monthly decline came from outside China. In China, primary output grew by 1.1% month on month, or 88,387 annualized tons, to a 17.8 million-ton run rate, with the gain mainly from ongoing ramping up of capacity in western provinces, especially in Qinghai. Nevertheless, in the rest of the world, output suffered its...
