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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Worries towards the euro zone debt crisis led to a struggle of the euro at 1.3 US dollar and in contrast helped the US dollar index consolidate above 80. As Christmas nears, more investors chose to close their positions on risk concerns. Due to weak consumption, the LME aluminum stock surged further by 50,300 mt overnight, pushing the total LME aluminum stock to 4.87 million mt, a record high. The many positions opened by shorts caused a 1.55% loss for LME aluminum, which ended the trading day at USD 1,973/mt. Depressing fundamentals are expected hit hard on the aluminum market, with shorts taking up the larger part. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum to fluctuate between USD 1,950-2,000/mt and SHFE aluminum for three-month delivery between RMB 15,600-15,725/mt. The SHFE current-month...
Jackson County that, after a nearly three-year shutdown, Century Aluminum is beginning to work toward restarting its Ravenswood smelting plant. More than 650 people lost their jobs when the company shut down the almost 50-year-old aluminum smelter at the height of the global recession in February 2009. Only a handful of people now work doing basic maintenance at the shuttered plant. While company officials have said they continue to work on the issues that could lead to a potential restart of the plant, many of those affected by the shutdown have felt those statements were nothing more than lip service. However, following recent changes in company leadership and gradual improvements in the global economy, that attitude is beginning to change. Some who have dealt with the handful of...
India’s largest public sector aluminium producer National Aluminium Company is in the process of acquiring around 25 per cent stake in MEC Coal by March 2012 for an undisclosed sum. A member of the company’s board of directors told Financial Chronicle Nalco has already shortlisted MEC Coal for supplying 8 million tonnes of coal per annum (mtpa) of which 4.5 million tonnes will be used in Indonesia while the remaining would be used in India. “To secure the steady supply of coal it is important that we buy stake in the company so that the contract is not cancelled mid-way. We are looking at acquiring around 24-25 per cent of stake in MEC Coal and are conducting due diligence for deciding the valuation. The entire procedure will be completed by March,” said the official. Sanjay Jain, an...
India's state-run National Aluminium Co or NALCO has offered a discount of 2,000 rupees ($37.9) per tonne across all products in the domestic market. It raised prices by 2,500 rupees a tonne early this month. The move was prompted by changes in London Metal Exchange (LME) rates, Ansuman Das, commercial director at NALCO, told Reuters on Saturday. The company has not revised the basic prices but has only offered a discount effective Friday until Dec. 31, he said.
Iran produced 22.4 thousand tons of aluminum ingots in the first eight months of the current calendar year (ended on November 21), showing 12.7 percent rise compared with the same period last year. Some 154,000 tons of alumina powder has also been produced in the same period of time, the IRNA news agency reported. Iran aluminum and alumina exports exceeded $267 million in the first 7 months of the current Iranian year. The figure indicates a 32% increase over the corresponding figure last year. The country's exports of aluminum ingot and alumina powder reached $201 million during the same period last year. Iran is ranked among the 15 major mineral rich countries of the world and exports its industrial and mineral products to 159 countries including Iraq, China, the United Arab Emirates,...
Representatives of “Aluminj “d.d. Mostar company signed with Austrian company Hertwich Engineering Contract for the implementation of the project to modernize the remaining part of the production process in its "Foundry". According to the statement issued by the Public Relations Office of "Aluminij" d.d. Mostar, the contract is worth six million euros, and is intended for the purchase and installation of casting furnaces with capacity of 50 tons and a new line of small casting alloy ingots, weighing 6-8 kg, for which there is an exceptional need at the metal market. Improving of production in the foundry in Mostar, which the world's leading experts include among the six most modern in the world, is a part of the Work Plan of "Aluminj" for the current year, in which emphasis is placed on...
One of today's notable stocks on the rise is Noranda Aluminum (NYSE:NOR), up 2.9% to $8.47. The S&P is currently trading fractionally higher to 1,212 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is trading fractionally higher to 11,825. Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp is an integrated producer of aluminum products, as well as rolled aluminum coils. The Company produces aluminum products in the form of billets, rods and sows, used mainly for building construction, architectural and transportation applications. Noranda also produces foil and light gauge sheet products from its rolling mills. Over the past year, Noranda Aluminum has traded in a range of $6.67 to $17.82 and is now at $8.47, 27% above that low. Over the last five market days, the 200-day moving average (MA) has gone down 0.9% while the...
Smelter Plant of Navaratna PSU National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has bagged the prestigious National Energy Conservation Award for 2011. NALCO?s smelter received the award for its contribution in energy conservation, primarily in reduction of DC energy and HFO consumption in Potlines and Baking Oven, company sources said here today. The company has also taken up some green initiatives to harness unconventional energy sources. In this line, NALCO is setting up a 50 MW Wind Power Plant in Andhra Pradesh with an investment of Rs.274 crore and is developing Kakarpar ? 3 & 4 nuclear power project in Gujarat jointly with Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) at an estimated project cost of Rs 11,450 crore.
A steel company tied to Alcoa Inc. said Friday it's giving up on the aluminum giant's North Carolina former smelter plant as a site for a pair of factories promising hundreds of jobs, and will look to other states for politicians eager to make a deal. Clean Tech Silicon & Bar has another location in mind that it will announce within weeks, said David Stickler, an investment banker specializing in steel companies who is part of Clean Tech's board of directors. "We have one recently elected government official that would love nothing more than to make a large economic development announcement shortly after the swearing in ceremony in January," Stickler said. Clean Tech incorporated in August to partner with Alcoa and others to build two factories at the aluminum giant's shuttered Stanley...
United Co. Rusal (486), the world’s largest aluminum producer, said the euro currency crisis may cause a “cyclical panic” in commodity markets, prompting a decline in metal demand from smaller manufacturers. A concern for the industry is “how quickly the euro goes down and what’s the transition mechanism in China,” Rusal Chief Executive Officer Oleg Deripaska said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Smaller customers may be affected more than larger companies and may reduce orders next year, he said. Commodity prices have dropped on mounting concern that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis will cripple the global economy and curb metals demand. Signs of increased funding stress in the region have helped drive the dollar to the highest since January against the euro, which has fallen by about...
The US dollar index dropped below 80 last Friday after the latest CPI date showed US inflation pressure stabilized in November. Investors’ risk appetite stayed depressed, however, amid concerns of possible downgrades for European countries. LME aluminum only gained USD 17/mt or 0.86% at USD 2,004/mt last Friday as the cautious market sentiment prevailed. As the Christmas Day nears, cautious European and US investors are expected to exit the aluminum market, thereby alleviating shorting pressures. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum to test support at the 5-day moving average and fluctuate between USD 1,995-2,035/mt. The most active SHFE three-month aluminum contract is expected to move between RMB 15,750-15,875/mt as capital pressure remains strong and longs lack confidence. The SHFE...
CSR has revealed it will use Rio Tinto's planned sale of its $US5 billion ($5.01bn) aluminium asset portfolio to review its 25 per cent interest in the Tomago aluminium smelter in NSW, which could result in the building materials group quitting the stake. In his first public comments on the issue since Rio announced plans in October to tip its aluminium assets into a new business unit call Pacific Aluminium, CSR chief executive Rob Sindel said the group could sell the Tomago take to help fund a major acquisition of a new building materials business.
China's primary aluminum imports are likely to rise until March with investors and merchants ramping up purchases after an arbitrage window between the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai opened for the first time since 2009, traders said on Wednesday. Benchmark three-month LME aluminum dropped more than 18 percent from end-2010 to $2,017.5 per tonne around noon on Wednesday. Shanghai third-month aluminum contract fell by less than 6 percent during the same time, supported by lower domestic production. "Some arbitrage trades started coming this week," Jing Chuan, chief researcher at Hua Tai Great Wall Futures in Shanghai said. "A lot of people are watching and waiting for a wider price gap to do large volumes because this is a rare opportunity since 2009." In 2009, an attractive arbitrage...
One of the hottest trades of the 2008 crisis is making a comeback, as banks and traders take advantage of a sharp fall in the aluminium price to lock up the metal in so-called “financing deals”. Several banks have made large purchases of the metal for the deals in recent weeks, and hedge funds are also beginning to look at the trade for the first time, bankers and traders said. The trades rely on a fall in the price of aluminium for near term delivery below the price of longer-dated futures, a situation called “contango”. If the difference is large enough, a trader can lock in profits after the cost of financing and storage simply by buying metal on the spot market and selling futures. “Those with available credit can start to fix some very nice returns given the contango,” a senior...
A power cut this week at Rio Tinto Alcan's Lynemouth aluminium smelter in northeastern England has knocked out one of the plant's production lines and partially curtailed the other, a company spokesman said on Thursday. Loss of power in the energy-intensive aluminium smelting process becomes critical beyond 5 to 6 hours as metal solidifies in the pots. "Because we went as long as we did without power, we're now left with one of our two operating lines completely out of production," said John McCabe, corporate affairs director, Alcan Aluminium UK Limited. Power initially was lost at the Lynemouth power station, which supplies electricity to the smelter, late on Tuesday evening. It was restored, but only temporarily until around 0800 GMT on Wednesday. McCabe said the focus on Wednesday had...
SHFE aluminum prices rebounded for the second day on Friday, boosting buyers in South China to purchase at lower prices. Cargo holders were not willing to move goods due to insufficient spot aluminum inventories in South China, pushing prices up slightly. Mainstream transactions were done at RMB 15,910-15,940/mt. Transactions was active due to limited supply in the market.
The US dollar index dropped to the 80 mark overnight with falling debt yields of Spain and much better than expected new jobless claims in the US which dropped to a new low since May 31st, 2008. Due to contracted transactions, LME aluminum gained only USD 20/mt or 1.02% when closing at USD 1,987/mt. As support from economic data is temporary but worries towards the European debt crisis are lasting, more investors are expected to exit the aluminum market as the year end nears. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum to fluctuate between USD 1,965-2,000/mt. The most active SHFE 1203 aluminum contract is expected move between RMB 15,600-15,750/mt as profit-taking of shorts will help the contract climb a little bit. Spot premiums over the SHFE current-month aluminum contract are expected to narrow...
Traded prices of spot aluminum in Shanghai were between RMB 15,830-15,860/mt on Thursday, with premiums of RMB 40-60/mt over the SHFE current-month aluminum price. Low-iron aluminum was traded between RMB 15,840-15,880/mt in Shanghai. Traded prices of spot aluminum in Wuxi were between RMB 15,820-15,860/mt. SHFE aluminum prices opened significantly lower and led to a slump of as much as RMB 200/mt in spot prices. With only one day ahead of delivery date of the SHFE current-month aluminum price, premiums expansion boosted buying enthusiasm in futures market, leading declines in the SHFE current-month aluminum price to narrow. Meanwhile, in spot market, buying interest was depressed, and prices moved down. Thus, prices in spot and futures market went oppositely, leaving deals hardly made in...
