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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Aluminium smelters hit by power costs
Hindalco Industries Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla on Tuesday told shareholders at the company’s AGM that the power cost pressure is hitting aluminum smelters hard, though aluminium business in the country has recorded highest production. He also noted that China continues to be a major demand...
Norsk Hydro ties up with Rio Tinto for a new power deal
A Norwegian CO2 compensation scheme proposed on Tuesday could allow Norsk Hydro and Rio Tinto to negotiate a new long-term power contract for their Soeral aluminium plan in Norway, Hydro said. The government announce the scheme for the period to end-2020 and said it would apply to aluminium,...
Shifting China's aluminum production to West won't solve the industry's high costs and pollution issues: Alcoa CEO
China's move to shift aluminum production to energy-rich western areas of the country won't solve the industry's problems with high costs and pollution, Alcoa Inc. (AA) Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld told the state-run China Daily newspaper in an interview published Tuesday. The Chinese...
Rusal to halt plans for power plant at Queensland Alumina refinery
Russian aluminium producer Rusal is expected to halt its plans for a $400 million gas-fired power plant at its Queensland Alumina refinery, The Australian Financial Review reports. According to the newspaper, Rusal Australia chairman John Hannagan said the company is uncertain if it will able to...
Govt told to be more 'proactive' over smelter
The Government's being told be more proactive when it comes to the row between state owned Meridian Energy and the owners of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. Aluminium prices are at a 25-year low and smelter owners Rio Tinto have already announced 100 job layoffs. Around 900 people directly rely...
Century Aluminum reviewing new electricity rate plan for Ravenswood plant
Century Aluminum says it's reviewing a plan offered by West Virginia regulators as part of the quest to restart Century's Jackson County smelter. The state Public Service Commission ruled Thursday that Century's Ravenswood plant could pay a special rate for electricity for up to 10 years. That rate...
Rio's Bluff Smelter talks still on track
Both parties to negotiations over electricity prices for the Rio Tinto-owned aluminium smelter near Bluff say there is no truth to reports that state-owned electricity producer Meridian Energy has abandoned the talks. "We haven't walked away from anything," Meridian spokeswoman Claire Shaw says in...
Midas Strengthens its Foothold in China's Power Industry with New Contracts
Midas Holdings Limited announces that its subsidiary, Jilin Midas Aluminium Industries Co., Ltd has strengthened its foothold in China's power industry, having secured two new contracts worth a combined RMB123.4 million, for the supply of aluminium alloy tubings. Awarded by leading power industry...
Output of recycled nonferrous metals up
China's rising output of nonferrous metals through recycling has helped with energy savings and environmental protection, an industrial organization said Friday. The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association announced that output of the major categories of recycled nonferrous metals hit 5.4...
Southland's aluminium smelter has a possibility to remain open
A man who held repeated negotiations with the owners of Southland's aluminium smelter thinks an agreement to keep it open is likely. But Sir William Birch says any significant cut in the price it pays for its electricity will be short term. Sir William held multiple roles in government and...
EC probes power deal for Romanian aluminium producer Alro
The European Commission is investigating the electricity supply arrangements between Romanian hydropower producer Hidroelectrica and aluminium producer Alro Slatina and seeking comments from interested third parties, the EC said Wednesday. Alro, a unit of the Netherlands-based Vimetco group, is the...
Energy Ministry to decide on power subsidy for Bogoslovsk Aluminum Plant ( Part II)
The Russian Energy Ministry is now considering the possibility of effecting a reduction of the long-term electrical power tariff for Bogoslovsk Aluminum Plant (BAZ), Energy Minister Alexander Novak told the press in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday. The issue will be settled on an individual basis, Novak...
Bogoslovsk Aluminum Smelter needs modernization and electric subsidy for recovery - Rusal
Aluminum production at the Bogoslovsk Aluminum Smelter (BAZ) in the Sverdlovsk region cannot possibly be brought to the break-even point just by modernizing it, without lowering the tariff for electricity, Russian aluminum company UC Rusal, which owns the smelter, said in a statement. "BAZ's...
Government 'Confident' of Deal Between Meridian Energy and New Zealand Aluminum Smelters
The New Zealand government remains confident that New Zealand Aluminium Smelters and energy provider Meridian Energy Ltd. will reach an agreement on a power-supply agreement, but failure to do so wouldn't necessarily delay a partial privatization of Mighty River Power Ltd., Minister of Economic...
Hydro changes raw material sourcing for German rolling mills
Norwegian aluminium company Norsk Hydro ASA has decided to increase in-house primary metal sourcing, replacing less cost-efficient remelting of cold metal as a source for its Neuss-Grevenbroich rolling mills. "The change in raw material mix will realize positive system effects for Hydro's German...
Rusal to Modernize Troubled Urals Plant
Russian aluminum company Rusal has said it earmarked more than 200 million rubles ($6 milllion) to modernize an aluminum smelter in the Urals in the next two years, following demonstrations over the weekend about the future of the facility. The firm also said it had made "a principle decision" not...
Hydro to continue operation in Neuss aluminium plant
Norwegian group Norsk Hydro has ended plans to close its primary aluminium production plant in Neuss in Germany and plans to raise production at the plant, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The company's German unit Hydro Aluminium declined comment on the report but said a statement would be made...
Hungarian government to bid for Demján’s troubled Bakonyi power plant
The government will make a purchase offer for Bakonyi Power Plant, which supplies troubled alumina maker MAL, the government spokesman’s office said on Wednesday. The government decided to make the offer after discussing the situation of MAL and the question of bills it owes Bakonyi Power Plant,...
