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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Deutsche Babcock and Consortium Partner Bilfinger Babcock CZ bag order from DUBAL
Deutsche Babcock and consortium partner Bilfinger Babcock CZ have secured an order from Dubai Aluminium for the replacement of five new heat recovery steam generators at its Jebel Ali power plant. The turnkey contract covers design, manufacture, supply, installation, testing and commissioning works...
Alcoa reviews facilities to secure competitive power contract
For the second time in two years, Alcoa is examining its smelting capacity and may reduce output from its nearly two dozen facilities, which include a Berkeley County smelter, Alcoa Mt. Holly. The review comes as Alcoa Mt. Holly and Santee Cooper face a June 30 deadline for negotiations over...
DUBAL plant certified with ISO 50001 Standard for energy management
Dubai Aluminium achieved another recognition through the certification of the DUBAL Power and Desalination Plant to the ISO 50001 Energy Management System ("EnMS") - being the first plant in the Middle East to achieve the standard. Developed in 2011, ISO 50001 provides guidelines for energy...
Queensland Alumina scraps gas power plant plans
Queensland Alumina Limited, that operates the world's largest alumina refinery has confirmed it has shelved a proposed gas-fired power station in central Queensland. The company had planned a co-generation gas power plant at its Gladstone refinery to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, which would...
EU reviews policies to revive aluminium industry
The European Commission expects to complete a review by October of ways to help Europe's struggling aluminium industry, looking at policies such as on import duties and long-term power contracts. About 2 million tonnes of aluminium production have been shut down in Europe since the 2008 financial...
Pacific Aluminium releases plans for gas pipeline project in Australia
Pacific Aluminium has released the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for its proposed 603 km Katherine to Gove Gas Pipeline (KGGP), to be located in the Northern Territory, Australia. Pacific Aluminium, a business unit of Rio Tinto, owns and operates a bauxite mine and alumina refinery at...
Alcoa to cut energy consumption by half at new forged wheel plant
Alcoa announced that its $21 million Alcoa Wheel and Transportation Products casthouse expansion at its Barberton, Ohio plant is expected to cut in half the total amount of energy used to recycle aluminum for forged wheels, reducing greenhouse gases and increasing the overall efficiency and...
Logan Aluminum rewarded for energy effficiency efforts
Logan Aluminum in Russellville is saving electricity and money on its power bills at its production facility, through energy efficiency efforts in partnership with the Tennessee Valley Authority. The energy saving effort also earned the company a cash incentive of about $182,400 from TVA, which was...
Change to the scope of the production upgrade project of Rio Tinto Alcan in Iceland
Rio Tinto Alcan in Iceland has informed Landsvirkjun of a change to the scope of the ISAL Production Upgrade project for the company‘s aluminium plant in Straumsvik, Iceland. The initial plan anticipated that the annual production capacity of the aluminium plant would increase by 20% from 190...
BOSAI rents gensets to ease electricity woes
BOSAI Minerals, the Chinese bauxite company operating in Linden, has rented three generator sets to resume production and provide electricity to the town, the company said in a brief update. A company spokeswoman said that the town- Mackenzie and Wismar- was likely to experience some power outages...
Century Aluminum and Big Rivers Electric agree on power supply for smelter
Century Aluminum and Big Rivers Electric Corp. have reached a tentative agreement on the framework for providing market priced power to the 249Kty Hawesville smelter. Under the arrangement, the electric cooperatives would purchase power on the open market and pass it through to Century at the...
Aleris says Big Rivers rate increase would impact aluminum rolling mill
Aleris International, a US rolled products manufacturer, is warning that planned power rate increases by Big Rivers Electric will make it more difficult for Aleris' aluminum rolling mill in Hancock County, Kentucky, to compete in a challenging economy. Big Rivers, a Henderson, Kentucky-based...
Gove refinery pipeline accessing unviable for small communities
Pacific Aluminium, owners of the loss-making Gove refinery, have released details of the proposed 600 km Katherine to Gove pipeline, and has said that access to the pipeline would not be viable for local communities. The pipeline, which was announced in February as part of a plan to save the...
Tiwai Point smelter 'losing millions' every month
The Tiwai Point aluminium smelter is "losing millions of dollars every month" and can ill-afford to give shift workers a 50% increase in leave without increasing hours worked, the company says. The smelter owner, New Zealand Aluminium Smelters, says it will appeal an Employment Relations Authority...
Aluminum smelters in Guangxi to resume production
Guangxi Laibin Yinhai Aluminum (250,000 mt/yr in aluminum capacity) and Guangxi Baise Yinhai Aluminum (200,000 mt/yr in aluminum capacity), both of which are subsidiaries of Guangxi Investment Group, will likely resume production soon due to electricity price subsidies. The two companies’ total...
Nalco shuts down 200 pots due to coal shortage
Acute shortage of coal forced the National Aluminium Company to close down more than 200 pots in its smelter plant on Monday bringing down the production of aluminium by 250 tonne per day. Prior to this, Nalco was running 823 pots of the 960 pots in the smelter plant and the present shut down is...
Diesel deal for Nhulunbuy joint venture
A small Aboriginal organisation in eastern Arnhem Land has helped secure a $160 million contract to supply diesel fuel to the Gove aluminium refinery. The tender to transport and distribute 21 million litres of diesel to Nhulunbuy, which was offered by Pacific Aluminium, was won by a joint venture...
Hydro enters gross bidding agreement with Nord Pool Spot
With an annual power consumption in Norway of around 12-13 TWh from four fully-owned and one part-owned smelter, Hydro is a high-volume player in the Nordic market and active within all instruments on offer at Nord Pool Spot. "Our move to gross bidding will represent a significant increase in...
