Coal-heavy Australian aluminium vs renewables-led New Zealand: How Oceania is balancing decarbonisation
Oceania’s primary aluminium industry is facing a fragmented energy transition. While Australia, the leading aluminium producer of the continent, has abundant renewable resources and a well-established aluminium value chain, its smelters remain significantly more dependent on fossil-fuel-based...
Can the US afford to cut Canada off? 75% aluminium and $100b energy tell the story
The US aluminium industry’s dependence on Canada extends far beyond primary aluminium imports. While Canada supplies around 75 per cent of US imported primary aluminium, covering roughly 60 per cent of the country’s annual aluminium usage, it is also a major supplier of crude oil, natural gas and...
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Aluminum smelting industry in Europe at risk: Citicorp
Last year the close down of Aluminium Delfzijl (Aldel), the only smelter in Netherlands is not considered to be the last. That is what Citicorp’s David Wilson says. With an overall capacity of 110,000 metric tons annually, the smelter announced its closure after the owners was not able to negotiate...
Nalco's search for foreign smelter site starts again
Amid a continuous rise in energy costs, persistent low aluminium prices are leading producers in the US and Europe to mothball high-cost smelters. Some are also reducing the amperage used in smelter pots to restrict metal production. Despite India sitting on electricity-generating coal resources of...
High energy costs seems to damage Aluminium industry says David Mowat MP
High energy costs in energy-intensive sectors are detrimental to manufacturing industries like aluminium says David Mowat MP in an exclusive video interview. Speaking exclusively to the Information Daily, David Mowat MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the UK Aluminium Industry, said...
Aluminium industry investment held back in UK
Investment in Britain’s aluminium sector is being held back by the high cost of energy in the country, industry representatives have told a Government Minister. Members of the Aluminium Federation (ALFED) warned Minister for Business and Energy Michael Fallon at a meeting in Whitehall on Monday...
Pan American Energy will continue gas supply to Puerto Madryn smelter: Aluar
Aluar, the biggest aluminum producer of Argentina, said on Thursday that Pan American Energy, the oil company has agreed to continue supplying its Puerto Madryn smelter with natural gas. The two companies is said to negotiate a disagreement over prices. Aluar said, the agreement seems good for 90...
FG approves re-conduction Of Onitsha-New Haven transmission line
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) in Nigeria has approved a contract for the supply of 746km of Aluminium Conductor Composite Core Reinforced (ACCR) for the re-conduction of the Onitsha-New Haven 330 KV transmission line. The project will employ about 3,000 workers during the installation of the...
Aluminum industry in Europe under threat from low prices and high costs
Aluminum smelters in Germany and Spain are under the threat of closing down due to low prices of London Metal Exchange, excessive regulation and high power costs, an industry analyst said. Europe's strict labour and high energy costs and environmental laws have made it unprofitable to produce the...
The Aluminium Federation urges British govt to trim energy taxes
Aluminium makers insisted that the Government trims “punitive” energy taxes at a meeting yesterday with Michael Fallon, Business and Energy Minister. The concern of Aluminium Federation (ALFED) is UK firms are increasingly uncompetitive when compared to Chinese, European and Indian businesses. They...
Major sustainability gains for North American Aluminum industry
Energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions associated with primary aluminum production in the United States and Canada have declined significantly in recent years according to a new, peer-reviewed life-cycle assessment (LCA) report released by the Aluminum Association. The study covers all life...
China's extra power fees for aluminium smelters not likely to boost prices
China's additional power tariffs aimed at energy-hungry aluminium smelters are not likely to boost prices for the metal as enough new capacity is coming on line to replace any plants forced to close due to the increase in costs. Top aluminium producer and consumer China imposed extra power tariffs...
Former Ormet workers protest over plant’s closing
Dozens of former Ormet Corp. employees picketed in front of American Electric Power headquarters yesterday, hoping to call attention to what they see as inaction by the utility and state regulators that led the southeastern Ohio aluminum smelter to shut down. “All we want to do is go back to work,”...
U.S.Can recycling rate hits 67 percent
The U.S. continued its decade-long upward trend of aluminum can recycling in 2012 with a rate of 67 percent, according to data released by the Aluminum Association, Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). This is the highest recycling rate since the...
2013 marked several milestones for BALCO
The Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (BALCO) has achieved several key milestones during 2013 and received awards for productivity, quality, human resource management and other areas at different forums, the company said in a Press release on Saturday. Its plant received National Award for Excellence in...
High summer power costs put jobs at risk as Boyne aluminium smelter forced to cool off
Soaring summer Queensland electricity prices are severely impacting on the Gladstone based Boyne Smelter with output to fall and 1100 jobs at risk. Talks with the State Government and electricity suppliers have failed to find a solution to the dilemma and the company admits it is at a loss to...
MARC raises press metal's RCSLS rating to BBB/Negative
MARC has removed the MARCWatch Negative placement on the rating of Press Metal Berhad's (Press Metal) Redeemable Convertible Secured Loan Stock (RCSLS) and concurrently affirmed RCSLS' rating at BBB with a negative outlook. The rating was placed on MARCWatch Negative on July 3, 2013 to enable the...
Vedanta seeks CM approval to run smelter facility
Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) has sought the state government's approval to run its smelter unit at Jharsuguda and use 600 MW power from Sterlite Energy. The company's chairman, Anil Agarwal, has written to chief minister Naveen Patnaik in this regard recently, official sources said. "We have set up...
Smelter's competitiveness hurt as production is reduced
A large amount of aluminium business would be taken away by competitors from Queensland due to Boyne Smelter Ltd's three-month production cutback. The smelter will be producing 14,000 tonnes less than usual from January to the end of March. The decision to reduce aluminium production has stemmed...
Beijing Plays ‘Electricity Price-Maker’ to squash aluminum production
The rise of aluminum production in China has been, in a word, relentless. National output has risen by 3.36 million tons per year equivalent since the first quarter of 2013, according to Reuters, while that in the rest of the world has shrunk by 1.06 million tons over the same period. Note,...
