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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Earlier this year the talk among industry executives and investors was whether miners would be able to keep up with booming demand for industrial metals. Fast forward just six months, and question on many lips is how many of them will be forced to close down production because they are losing money. The shift in sentiment has been dramatic. The mood among European traders and consumers of metals is particularly glum: some are seeing a drop of more than 30 per cent in metal demand from the region. The change in mood has reopened a debate last heard in the midst of the 2008-2009 financial crisis: at what point will producers respond to falling prices by cutting production? The critical equation, many investors believe, involves the cost of production of the metal. If prices fall to a level...
All is not looking good for RUSAL, a Russian firm that acquired the multi million naira Aluminium Smelter Company (ALSCON) in Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State. The company appears to be in a fix over mounting challenges and unresolved issues relating to its acquisition of Nigeria ’s only smelter plant. A check by Businessday in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, showed that the company was considering various options, while awaiting the report of the Senate investigation into the privatisation exercise in which RUSAL was alleged to have paid an amount considered below the market value of the plant, to acquire ALSCON. Furthermore, the company’s predicament seems to be compounded by its inability to assume full production, due to shortage of gas supply, in addition to the non commencement of the...
The World primary Aluminium production increased by 5.6% in Jan-Nov 2011 period. The percentage of increase in the primary Aluminium production is set to decline in coming days considering the falling prices of the Aluminium in futures in international markets that is making the life of producers bit more difficult. Total reported primary Aluminium production was at 23.46 million tons in Jan-Nov 2011 as compared to 22.16 million tons in Jan-Nov 2010. A marginal rise of 1.4% was noted in the Asian region. The total primary Aluminium production in Asia stood at 2.37 million tons during the first 11 months of the year compared to 2.28 million tons during same period last year. The rise of Aluminium in East and central Europe was also marginal, with a rise of 61000 tons. Aluminium production...
When Alcoa (AA -3.18%) reported earnings in October, CEO Klaus Kleinfeld told investors, "Alcoa is a confident company in a nervous world. We are well prepared for whatever lies ahead, with more cash on hand, lower debt and continued focus on profitable growth." It would be natural to write off those comments as mere platitudes for Wall Street's grumpy traders. But taking a closer look at Alcoa across the past several weeks has made me agree with Klaus -- and consider AA stock as a bargain buy to hang on to across 2012. Shares of Alcoa were trading as high as $18 this spring before sovereign debt fears, stagnant job numbers and other issues sent the stock back into a tailspin. The stock tumbled to under $9 as recently as mid-December. Yes, big problems persist in the global economy, and...
Century Aluminum Company CENX -5.56% announced today that its subsidiary, Nordural Helguvik hf, has received the results of its arbitration with one of the power suppliers to its Helguvik greenfield smelter. The arbitration panel ruled that the parties' power contract remains in force in accordance with its terms and that HS Orka hf remains obligated to provide the full amount of contracted power to Nordural, subject to the satisfaction of certain remaining conditions. "We are happy with the results of the arbitration," commented Michael Bless, Acting President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are hopeful now that Nordural and HS can work together to move expeditiously toward the restart of the Helguvik project, which is of key importance to Century, Nordural and Iceland." Century...
One of today's stocks on the move is Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX), down 4.3% to $8.27. The Dow is down 0.4% to 11,816 and the S&P is currently down 0.6% to 1,212. Century Aluminum Company produces primary aluminum, in both molten and ingot form, through facilities located in the United States. The Company owns and operates a reduction facility in Ravenswood, West Virginia, and owns a partial interest in a reduction facility in Mt. Holly, South Carolina. Century is also the operating partner of a reduction facility in Hawesville, Kentucky. Century Aluminum has overhead space with shares priced $8.27, or 29.9% below the average consensus analyst price target of $11.80. The stock should run into initial resistance at its 50-day moving average (MA) of $9.94 and subsequent resistance at its...
LME aluminium will fall to $1,505 per tonne, as it is riding on a powerful wave "C". The wave "C" is the second downward leg of an "A-B-C" corrective wave cycle that started at the 2008 high of $3,380, and it could be mirroring the sharp wave "A" drop from $3,380 to the 2009 low of $1,279. A Fibonacci projection analysis of the wave "C" target points to $1,505, the 61.8 percent level, based on the length of the wave "A" and the peak of the wave "B" at $2,803. The metal needs to clear a support at $1,828, the wave "b" trough, before rushing towards $1,505. The fall from $2,803 has not been linear enough to characterize the wave "C", signaling the following move could speed up, and the support at $1,828 may not trigger any decent rebound.
Supported by strong economic data from Germany and the US as well as better than expected Spanish bond auction results, the Euro rebounded and the US dollar index slipped below 80 overnight. Despite of successive surges in stocks, LME aluminum returned to above USD 2,000/mt after climbing 1.48% to USD 2,002.3/mt backed by above development. While LME aluminum recovered losses on the previous trading day overnight with supportive economic data, strong pressure exists at the 10-day moving average. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum for three-month delivery to fluctuate between USD 1,970-2,020/mt as it struggles at the USD 2,000/mt mark during today’s trading. SHFE aluminum for three-month delivery is expected to move between RMB 15,700-15,830/nt and spot aluminum is expected to trade at...
Mr Dinsha Patel minister of state for mines (independent charge) informed the Rajya Sabha that the primary producers endeavor to reduce their operating cost through a slew of measures like reducing power consumption by adopting energy conservation methods, modernization of equipments, increase in current efficiency, reducing fallen anodes in smelter, improving productivity of workers, etc. As energy cost is substantial in aluminium smelting, all the primary producers of aluminium have been brought under the ambit of a new initiative launched by the Government of India for energy conservation and assigned a target to reduce specific energy consumption from its base line value within a defined period i.e 2010-11 to 2013-14, to be monitored by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency(Ministry of...
LME aluminum inventories have been skyrocketing in recent days, leading some to speculate that falling demand is creating a massive surplus. They may be right; even Andy Home, Reuters columnist and usually a good interpreter of the workings of the LME and related physical trading, wrote an article this week seeking to explore the possible causes. Firstly, what has been happening? Almost 300,000 metric tons of aluminum have been delivered into the London Metal Exchange warehousing system in the past four days. Registered tonnage is now at an all-time high of 4,826,275 metric tons, with more expected. Detroit, always a key player in the LME aluminum financing game, was the main recipient of new material, receiving 100,000 tons of metal on Monday. It now holds 1,264,775 tons of aluminum, the...
Aluminium futures prices rose marginally by 0.38% to Rs 104.75 per kg today, as speculators enlarged their positions in tandem with a firming trend overseas. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, December aluminium edged up by 40 paise, or 0.38%, to Rs 104.75 per kg, with a business volume of 392 lots. Similarly, aluminium for January contract traded higher by 35 paise, or 0.33% to Rs 106 per kg, with a trade volume of 27 lots. Analysts said gains in metal at the London Metal Exchange (LME) as a euro zone pact to raise IMF resources boosted market confidence, helpingd aluminium prices to rise at the futures trade here. Meanwhile, at the LME aluminium gained 0.9% to $1,979 a tonne.
Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO), the largest producer of the metal in Central Asia, plans to boost output to 332,500 tonnes of primary aluminium in 2012 from this year's expected 275,000 tonnes, a source close to the company's management said on Tuesday. Last year TALCO's output fell by 2.9 percent year-on-year to 348,850 tonnes.
Dutch primary aluminium producer ZALCO is looking for a buyer to restart its plant, which was shut on Friday due to lack of funds after the company filed for bankruptcy last week, an official receiver said. The plant employed 500 people. "The company filed for bankruptcy last Tuesday, and on Friday we decided to shut down the plant due to lack of funds; we couldn't pay the energy bills," Ernst Butterman, one of the two official receivers, told Reuters in a phone interview on Monday. "We decided to have a controlled shutdown of the plant while looking for a buyer." Last Wednesday the receivers held a meeting with the plant's electricity suppliers to try and keep the power supply going, but by Friday its funds were used up and the plant had to shut down, Butterman added. The receivers are...
A delegation from Norway Hydro Aluminium visited Huadong Aluminium recently. The two sides introduced basic information of each company and exchanged opinion on technical indicators of cathode electrolytic cell. The delegation visited Huadong Aluminium’s electrolytic aluminium plant and highly appreciated its energy-saving technique. The delegation expressed that this visit had left a deep impression on their mind. It hoped that Hydro Aluminium and Huadong Aluminium could further improve mutual communication and cooperation.
Even as Vedanta storm raged in the Assembly on Saturday, It is revealed that the company has not only to pay over Rs 14 crore as water dues to the State Government but also drawn huge quantity of groundwater without any agreement for the last four years. The Water Resources (WR) Department documents available with this paper reveal that Vedanta Aluminium Ltd, Jharsuguda, drew 1.782 lakh gallon water from bore-well without agreement since August 2008. The WR Department imposed six times penalty and asked Vedanta to seal all the bore-wells in September last year. As on August this year, on this count alone, Vedanta is yet to pay Rs 92.85 lakh to the Odisha Government. Besides, The Jharsuguda aluminium unit owes over Rs 10.43 crore since September 1, 2007 till August this year. The Vedanta...
Executives from the smelters and major downstream aluminium organisations in the Gulf met in Dubai to discuss a study especially produced by the GAC on the aluminium industry. The study investigated the market, short- and long-term prospects, application and influence of the economic situation around the world such as the Chinese market, European economic situation and the influence of other emerging countries. A study commissioned by the GAC was carried out by Harbor Intelligence, a consulting firm that deals in aluminium industry analysis, outlook and forecasts. A full day of discussion was aimed at the industry building future plans based on factual relevant information.
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba)’s resolve to tap into the demands of the emerging markets of Asia was given an impetus with the opening of the company’s new regional office in Hong Kong. David Zheng - recently appointed as the new Sales Manager for the Asia Pacific market - will oversee the growth and development of this key marketing territory and, along with his team, will support initiatives that help in expanding the footprint of Alba’s product portfolio in Asia. Mr. Zheng will be based at Alba’s office in Hong Kong, and will be reporting directly to Chief Marketing Officer, Jean Baptiste Lucas. Commenting on the opening of Alba’s new Regional Sales Office in Hong Kong and the appointment of David Zheng as the new Sales Manager for Asia Pacific, Alba’s Chief Executive, Laurent Schmitt...
Emkay Global Financial Services is bullish on Hindalco Industries and has recommended accumulate rating on the stock with a target of Rs 154 in its December 16, 2011 research report. “Hindalco Industries, Novelis to remain the key growth driver with an EBITDA of more than US$1 bn, largely immune to LME. Successful debt refinancing to address concerns on cons. balance sheet. First quartile unit cost of production of domestic aluminium business to ensure profitability even at tough times. Threefold rise in aluminium capacities to aid volume growth. Higher share of value added products in aluminium segment (~50%) and strong by-product contribution in copper business would help mitigating commodity risk to a large extent. Stability in Novelis with capex driven growth and attractive valuations...
