
Impact Minerals plans staged 4,000-tpa HPA production in US
A NewPro study supports a staged 2,000-to-4,000-tonne-per-year high-purity alumina plant on the US Gulf Coast, with a post-tax NPV of about USD373 million and a 42.3 per cent IRR. Impact Minerals is advancing plans for a modular high-purity alumina (HPA) plant in the US after an independent scoping...
Ireland withholds Aughinish Alumina meeting notes amid Russia export review
Ireland’s Department of Enterprise has withheld the release records of discussions between its secretary general and Aughinish Alumina management, citing “highly confidential information” shared by the company. The decision comes as scrutiny intensifies over the Limerick refinery’s alumina exports...
Grow with
AL Circle

An abundant global alumina market likely to put pressure on aluminium prices in 2019
Norsk Hydro’s Alunorte refinery in Brazil with a production capacity of 6.3 million tonne has been given approval to restart production by the Brazilian authorities. Though it was expected by the market, the move came earlier than time taking the industry by surprise. A Brazilian federal court has...

China’s alumina import to rise in coming months on tight local supply due to Xinfa refinery shutdown
China’s alumina import is estimated to rise in the coming months as the shutdown of Xinfa alumina refinery in early May could affect the local supply. Market sources said on Tuesday, May 28, that the amount of import may range between 60,000 tonnes to 160,000 tonnes. An Australian refinery source...

Production at JISCO Alpart plant paused due to residents protest
According to a report, Jamaica’s largest alumina refinery JISCO Alpart lost several hours of production time as residents from surrounding communities blocked the entrance early yesterday to protest against environmental pollution and related issues. The protest continued until the JISCO Alpart...

Alumina Limited warns shareholders of a less lucrative year ahead on lower alumina prices and growth spending
Alumina Limited warned its shareholders that the company is getting into a period of increased spending on growth which might affect shareholder returns in the coming years. The warning came after Alunorte had resumed production with the lifting of the embargo. The company management told its...

Rusal gets license to develop Goryachegorsk Nepheline mine to feed its Achinsk alumina refinery
RUSAL has obtained a license to develop the Goryachegorsk nepheline mine in the Krasnoyarsk region, Russia. The mine will provide the main raw material for the Achinsk alumina refinery. According to the feasibility analysis, the mine has sufficient reserves to be in operation for next 60 years. The...

Albras aluminium smelter begins to ramp up its output as FC lifts production embargo on Alunorte
The removal of production embargo by the Federal Court on Alunorte alumina refinery has reportedly led Albras aluminium smelter to begun ramping up its output from Tuesday, May 21. Albras, partly owned by Norsk Hydro, had curtailed its aluminium production by 50 per cent due to lowered raw material...

Alunorte alumina and Senai Institute team up for studies on reuse of bauxite residue
Hydro announced that the company will invest R$5 million (USD 1.2 million/NOK 10.7 million) up to 2022 to study the reuse of bauxite residues, which takes place at Alunorte alumina refinery. The partnership between Alunorte and Senai Institute of Innovation in Mineral technologies (ISI-TM) could...

Brazil federal court lifts remaining production embargo on Hydro’s Alunorte alumina refinery
A Brazilian federal court has lifted remaining production embargo on Hydro Alunorte alumina refinery under the criminal lawsuit on Monday, May 20, allowing Alunorte to resume full production. Alunorte refinery currently operates at 50% capacity. The embargo on the new, state-of-art bauxite residue...

PT Inalum building an alumina refinery in Mempawah, West Kalimantan
PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium, better known as Inalum, is reportedly building an alumina refinery in Mempawah, West Kalimantan, the completion of which will save the company’s raw materials costs reaching US$200 million, said Executive Advisor Oggy A. Kosasih on Saturday, May 18. In addition, the...

Metro Mining’s bauxite supply unaffected by Chinese refinery closure
Metro Mining Limited has responded to Chinese media reports about the temporary closure of Alumina refinery capacity following environmental audits by Chinese authorities. According to reports, Xinfa Group’s Shanxi Jiaokou Refinery is one plant impacted by the closure. Xinfa source 100 per cent of...

Brazil federal court lifts one of two production embargoes on Hydro Alunorte alumina refinery
A Brazilian federal court has lifted one of two production embargoes on Hydro Alunorte alumina refinery under the civil lawsuit on Wednesday, May 15, though full production will not restart until the production embargo under the criminal case is lifted. “Alunorte is still subject to a production...

EGA first in Middle East to receive Aluminium Stewardship Initiative Certification
Emirates Global Aluminium has become the first company in the Middle East to receive certification under the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI). EGA’s Al Taweelah site has been certified against ASI’s Performance Standard for responsible production, sourcing and stewardship of aluminium. Al...

Alcoa seeks to increase nameplate capacity of Pinjarra alumina refinery
The US-based world’s eighth largest aluminium producer Alcoa is reportedly planning to increase the nameplate capacity of its biggest alumina refinery at Pinjarra by almost 20 per cent. Per the report, the company has written an application to the Environmental Protection Authority seeking for an...

Hydro and Sowitec plan floating solar power project in Brazil
Norway-based aluminium producer Hydro and Germany-based renewable power developer Sowitec have planned to form a joint venture for the development of a large-scale floating solar power project on Lake Tucurui in the state of Pará, Brazil. If realized, the solar plant will produce electricity for...

Capacity cut in Alunorte alumina refinery brought down US export of caustic soda in the first two months of 2019
According to a report from Platts, the ongoing 50% capacity cut at Hydro’s Alunorte alumina refinery in Brazil has affected US caustic soda exports in the first two months of 2019. According to the latest data from the US International Trade Commission US shipments of caustic soda was down 45% YoY...

Ukraine’s 2019 bauxite import to record steady growth both in terms of volume and cost
Bauxite import by Ukraine has been recording a steady growth year over year since 2016. According to our third-party data, Ukraine had imported an estimated amount of 3.2 million tonnes in the said year, which in 2017 had risen to 4.8 million tonnes. Therefore, in 2017, Ukraine’s bauxite import had...

Guinea to increase country's energy production to facilitate bauxite refining in the country
Guinea government is focusing on increasing its energy production capacity by about four fold over next six years in order to help bauxite mining companies refine their bauxite locally, an announcement from the energy minister recently stated. Guinea is Africa’s biggest producer of bauxite and the...

SMB-Winning consortium's railway line in Guinea to start transporting bauxite from June 2019
The international SMB-Winning consortium which is building a railway service for Guinea bauxite industry investing US$3 billion made the announcement on Friday that Guinea’s new railway line will be ready to transport bauxite by June 2021. The project also aims to exploit new bauxite deposits in...

