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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After emerging as the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the world's GTL (gas-to-liquids) capital, Qatar is all set to tap another innovative energy source, gas-to-solids (GTS). As part of the strategy, Qatalum, the state-of-the-art aluminium smelter, is taking the lead in producing GTS in the form of aluminium, in line with Qatar’s long-term economic diversification strategy. Aluminium, is, thus, poised to emerge as Qatar’s newest energy-related industry. Qatalum recently made a mark at the coveted and just concluded 20th World Petroleum Congress (WPC) with its presence. The WPC, which ran from December 4 to 8 is considered one of the industry’s premier events, and attracted more than 5,000 participants from around the world. This energy is now being channelled in a...
The market optimism cooled overnight after the EU summit failed to provide a practical solution for the region’s debt crisis. The US dollar index climbed to 79.653 as a result of haven seeking, thereby weighing on commodities. The LME aluminum stock surged further by over 120,000 mt to a record high. Bearishness on both the macro and fundamental sides caused LME aluminum to close USD 47.5/mt or 2.29% lower at USD 2,023.5/mt. Mounting worries towards global economies may lead to stronger short selling. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum to slip further and fluctuate between USD 1,990-2,050/mt. The most active SHFE four-month aluminum contract is expected to gap lower near RMB 15,800/mt. Bargain hunting might show supported by high aluminum production costs. However, the contract may not be...
Aluminum production was the lowest since February. Aluminum production fell to its lowest level since February as expected new capacity failed to come online and power restrictions in some provinces kept capacity idled, analysts said. China produced 1.38 million tons of primary aluminum in November, a drop of 2.6% on month but a rise of 13.4% on year. "Around 300,000 tons of manufacturing capacity has been brought online so far this year in Xinjiang [Autonomous Region], a lot lower than our original estimate of one to two million tons, so that could be the main reason that we have seen consistent declines since June," said a Shanghai-based analyst at an international trading firm. Between January and November, primary aluminum production rose 9.9% on year to 16 million tons.
Erosion of anode stubs is an expense which may be eliminated by the use of carbon collars. Smelters which source their anodes from specialist producers have a good economic reason to extend anode life, minimising the quantity of butt to be returned or otherwise disposed. This is achieved by lowering the depleted anode as far into the pot as possible. A consequence of this can be ring erosion of the anode stubs. The placement of carbon collars around anode stubs is a proven method of preventing ring erosion. VHE of Iceland has considerable expertise in the manufacture of automatic collar forming systems. VHE‘s collar forming machine is fully automatic; it has a fast cycle time and may be easily installed in existing rodding plants. The machine uses card or aluminium, loaded as a coil and...
China’s CPI growth continued to drop but industrial output contracted as well, according to data released last Friday. Euro zone countries struck a uniformed fiscal agreement during the day’s EU summit, which helped ease investors’ worries. Such ease, however, was discounted due to a lack of details for the agreement. The LME aluminum stock surged 43,000 mt last Friday, damping longs’ confidence. While transactions almost dropped by half, the metal ended its straight 5-day drop closing at USD 2,071/mt with a 0.5% gain. SMM expects LME aluminum to fluctuate between USD 2,050-2,090/mt and the most active SHFE three-month aluminum contract between RMB 16,050-16,150/mt during today’s trading. Traders’ selling interest will be high as the delivery date is near. Spot aluminum is expected to...
Aluminium from the Middle East, where output capacity will double by 2015 powered by cheaper energy, will feed growing long-term demand as smelters elsewhere fall by the wayside, hit by high power costs and a weaker market. Smelter capacity in top user China will continue to rise, but as time wears on, it will be less able to satisfy its domestic needs. In the near term, capacity could be lost in other parts of the world, perhaps permanently in some cases, as high power costs and low prices erode profit for a large chunk of the energy-intensive industry. Electricity accounts on average for 40 per cent of the cost of producing the metal used in transport and packaging. "The Middle East will continue to be an important production hub for aluminium," an industry source said. "It has a...
The demand for primary aluminium is set to touch 75 million tonnes by 2020, primarily with India, China and Brazil emerging as the new growth centres for aluminium-based products. In 2010, the production of the metal globally had increased to 40 million tonnes. In addition to this, 10 mt of the metal came from recycling industrial scrap and another 10 mt was produced through recycling of the metal. “The 20 million tonnes of re-cycled metal will remain stagnant and, in fact, reduce over the years. There will be a strong demand for primary aluminium from China, India and Brazil, as the construction, electrification and manufacturing sectors are growing at a healthy pace,” according to Mr Chris Bayliss, Director of Global Projects, International Aluminium Institute (IAI). While China...
Nalco awaits allotment of land and water from the Orissa government. State-owned National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) is still awaiting allotment of land and water by the Orissa government for its proposed 0.5-million tonne aluminium smelter plant involving an estimated investment of Rs 16,000 crore. “Unless we get the allotment of land and water, we cannot apply for a coal block for captive power generation. We need these basic things in place to start work on the project though we had already got the feasibility study done for the same,” BL Bagra, chairman and managing director of Nalco, said. Apart from the smelter plant, the company has proposed to add 1-million tonne capacity in alumina production with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore. It has cash balance of Rs 5,000 crore with...
The most active SHFE aluminum contract prices struggled on Wednesday, depressing market in South China. Downstream buyers were of low buying interest over strong bearish sentiments, while cargo holders were reluctant to move goods at lower prices and held at RMB 16,160/mt, leaving stalemate between buyers and sellers at RMB 16,160-16,180/mt. Deals were quite limited.
India focused miner Vedanta Resources has said it is keen to acquire coal mines overseas, including inking long term off take agreements. The company intends to bid for coal mines in India, to get things off the ground. "We are looking at coal assets subject to government policy. India has ample coal reserves. We will look at the coal blocks that are put up for auction first," said S K Roongta, managing director of Vedanta Aluminium, an associate company of the globally diversified metals and mining group, Vedanta Resources. Adding that coal could be mined in India "as low as $10 per tonne through surface mining, and $35 per tonne through underground mining", Roongta said: "These are still the cheapest rates. If we import coal, companies have to pay for the ocean freight, port handling...
Traded prices of spot aluminum in Shanghai were between RMB 16,150-16,180/mt on Thursday, with premiums of RMB 20-50/mt over the SHFE current-month aluminum price. Low-iron aluminum was traded between RMB 16,180-16,220/mt in Shanghai. Traded prices of spot aluminum in Wuxi were between RMB 16,150-16,160/mt. The SHFE current-month aluminum price edged up after opening lower on Thursday, which failed to push up spot prices, however. The downstream buying interest stayed low despite lower quotations, posing stronger resistance towards spot gains. Transactions were moderate.
Organisers said the three-day INCAL 2011 was a huge success with participants, especially those from top aluminium markets, such as the US, China and Japan, expressing satisfaction over the outcome of the deliberations on promoting aluminium. The Aluminium Association of India and its US counterpart, The Aluminium Association, Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for technology and knowledge sharing. The MoU signed on the last day of the sixth International Conference on Aluminium (INCAL 2011) here is expected to facilitate the growth of the aluminium sector in India. K.S.S. Murthy, Honorary General Secretary, AAI and Charles D. Johnson, Jr. Vice-president (environment, health & safety), The Aluminium Association (TAA) signed the MoU. The following piece of statistics will...
The Russian aluminium major RUSAL will buy the Bogoslovsk power station to keep the Bogoslovsk aluminium plant working, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at a meeting over the plant's critical situation on Thursday. "A solution to the problem should be found, two documents should be negotiated - an agreement between the region and the RUSAL Company, the Complex Energy Systems, the Federal Power Network Company of the Unified Energy Systems, the Interregional Power Distribution Company and the Energy Ministry. I pin high hopes that this will not be just signatures, but efficient agreements, which will improve the situation and will allow the plant to develop," Putin underlined. "Meanwhile, we agreed that the Complex Energy Systems (Viktor Vekselberg owns the company) and the RUSAL...
BHP Billiton Ltd chief executive Marius Kloppers has said the miner may consider selling its under-performing aluminium units as their role in the company weakens against robust growth in the iron ore, copper, coking coal, potash and petroleum sectors, according to a report by The Australian. The roughly $US200 billion ($A194 billion) worth of potential growth in the stronger sectors may force the company to raise the bar it uses to judge whether the size of sectors, such as aluminium, justifies their existence within BHP's portfolio. “I think in 10 years' time, the portfolio, in terms of the number of assets and in terms of number of products, will be smaller than it is today,” Mr Kloppers said, according to The Australian. Separately, Mr Kloppers spoke out strongly against the Labor...
A rate cut and a negative outlook for the European economy from the European Central Bank had sent LME aluminum to a lowest USD 2,045/mt overnight. The metal narrowed losses with a technical correction and finally closed at USD 2,060/mt, down USD 20/mt or 0.95% from the previous trading day. Total aluminum positions climbed further by 3,389 lots to 1,005,225 lots while transactions slipped slightly by 143 lots to 10,085 lots. Investors are still circumspect after the ECB rate cut and negative economic outlook. Transactions for LME aluminum therefore will not improve much. As such, SMM expects LME aluminum to fluctuate between USD 2,045-2,085/mt during today’s trading. The most active SHFE three-month aluminum contract is expected to move lower between RMB 16,080-16,230/mt. Spot aluminum...
The EPA is proposing amendments to the national emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants for Primary Aluminum Reduction Plants to address the results of the residual risk and technology review that the EPA is required to conduct by the Clean Air Act. If finalized, these proposed amendments would address previously unregulated emissions (i.e., carbonyl sulfide (COS) emissions from new and existing potlines and polycyclic organic matter (POM) emissions from new and existing prebake potlines and existing pitch storage tanks); remove the vertical stud Soderberg one (VSS1) potline subcategory; reduce the MACT limits for POM emissions from horizontal stud Soderberg (HSS) and VSS2 potlines; eliminate the startup, shutdown and malfunction exemption in accordance with recent actions by the...
South Korea issued tenders for 4,000 tonnes of high-grade primary aluminium ingot, the Public Procurement Service said. It said separately that it was seeking aluminium via tenders to close at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) on December 14. South Korea last month purchased 3,000 tonnes of western aluminium ingot at $114-$115 per tonne premiums over London Metal Exchange prices on a cost, insurance and freight basis.
Indonesian thermal coal miner Toba Bara Sejahtera plans to buy shares in aluminum firm PT Inalum worth $700 million, Toba Sejahtera founding chairman Luhut Panjaitan said on Tuesday. The coal miner aims to acquire 58.88 percent of the shares from Nippon Asahan Aluminium, a consortium of 12 Japanese firms. Indonesia's government owns the remaining shares. Toba Sejahtera is also planning an initial public offering by May 2012 to raise around $400 million to tap investor demand in the world's biggest thermal coal exporting nation. The company has appointed Morgan Stanley, Citigroup , CLSA Asia-Pacific Market and local brokerage Mandiri Sekuritas as underwriters, said Panjaitan. Panjaitan also said the company saw coal output reaching 11 million tonnes next year, up from around 6-7 million...
