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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Alcoa plans enlargement for East Iceland smelter
Alcoa Iceland is looking into the possibility of enlarging the Alcoa Fjaroaal aluminium smelter in Reyoarfjorour, east Iceland, inviting representatives of pension funds to see whether they might help fund the project, Iceland Review reported. Alcoa is preparing to increase electricity capacity in...
Brazil to cut electricity taxes to boost industrialization
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff plans to cut and simplify taxes for electricity producers and distributors, two senior officials told Reuters, as part of a strategy to reduce Brazil's high business costs and stimulate its struggling economy. Electricity prices are a big component of the...
Low-priced gas not a factor to ease pressure on smelter
Low natural gas prices are unlikely to relieve the pressure on the aluminum smelting sector, which is facing major structural changes as relatively low prices and rising operating costs are forcing the most uneconomic producers to shut down, thus eliminating a large amount of spare market capacity,...
TALCO, produces 11.6 percent less metal in January-April 2012
Tajikistan's state-owned aluminium smelter, the largest in former Soviet Central Asia, hopes a resumption of gas supplies from Uzbekistan will allow it to meet its 2012 output target despite a near-12 percent decline in the first four months. Tajikistan Aluminium Company, or TALCO, produced 97,863...
Alcoa Holds Refinery Expansion on Economic Ground
Alcoa Inc. (AA)’s plan to expand an alumina refinery in Western Australia remains on hold because of unfavorable economic conditions, the largest U.S. aluminum producer said after gaining approval to increase capacity. Alcoa received a five-year extension of an approval for the expansion of the...
Alcoa Says $3 Billion Brazil Investment Gave No Return
Alcoa Inc. (AA) , the largest U.S. aluminum producer, said returns on $3 billion of investments in Brazil “have not yet come” because of “unbelievably high” energy costs. “We’ve invested $3 billion there and frankly the returns have not yet come,” Alcoa Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld said...
Alcoa promotes extended producer responsibility (EPR), or product stewardship
By holding manufacturers responsible for products at the end of their lifecycle, extended producer responsibility (EPR), or product stewardship, has long helped European countries with their waste diversion efforts. The concept has also caught on in Canada, Latin America and Asia, but until...
South Africa to invest R800bn on Nuclear Energy sector
Whilst it is early days in the costing of our government’s infrastructure investment programme, ballpark figures suggest R800bn will be spent over the next 20 years. The numbers are still to be tallied, but it appears that the proposed nuclear power stations will be the biggest beneficiaries of...
Vedanta's Rs 1,000-cr power plant in Odisha stuck in legal hassle
The fate of the Rs 1,000-crore investment made by Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) in setting up a power plant in Odisha is hanging in balance. A high-level inter-ministerial committee that recommends coal allocation for power units has refused to take up the vexed issue of linkage for VAL’s plant in...
The Aluminum Association Applauds Signing of Maryland Recycling Bill
Yesterday, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley signed into law a measure that will increase access to recycling in multifamily dwellings. Under Maryland law, an apartment building or condominium containing more than ten dwellings is required to have recycling available to residents. "Recycling is the...
Willow Springs sixth-graders promote aluminum cans recycling
The students of Willow Springs Elementary celebrated Earth Day by giving the school a gift that will be around for a long time — they planted a tree. A plaque in the cement near the tree will commemorate the event for future generations by crediting the sixth-grade graduating class of 2012 for...
Aluminium firms looking for investment in Gulf plants
International aluminium players are casting a keen eye on the Gulf as cheap natural gas provides the same investment rationale that attracted major petrochemical names to the region. Governments have been promoting industrial development as a means to expand their economies and drive job creation,...
Utility deal's approval key to reopening Century aluminum plant
Reopening the Century Aluminum plant in Ravenswood will depend on whether the West Virginia Public Service Commission approves a deal with electricity suppliers to give the plant lower rates, company president and chief executive officer Michael A. Bless said Tuesday. That process is expected to...
'Vimetco finalizes the short list of EPC contractors for building its own power plant in Tulcea, Romania
Vimetco NV, the global producer of primary and processed aluminium products, announces the shortlist of contractors for the construction of its own power plant in Tulcea. The project is developed by Vimetco Power Romania, a company belonging to Vimetco Group and consists of building a 250 MW...
Chhattisgarh: Brazen Balco flouting rules in power plant construction
Vedanta controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco) in Chhattisgarh apparently didn't bother to seek "mandatory" permission from the Korba Municipal Corporation (KMC) for its projects in the area. Documents obtained from the KMC under the right to information (RTI) have revealed that despite...
RUSAL to decide on cuts after Russia sets tariffs
UC RUSAL , the world's largest producer of aluminium, will decide on the scale of planned capacity cuts once Russia details tariff increases delayed by the country's elections, Chief Executive Oleg Deripaska said on Friday. Aluminium producers have been badly hit by soaring power and other costs,...
Aluminium to replace copper in wire
Economisation along with efficient distribution and transmission system of electricity and minimum line losses is a priority of the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company and for this purpose aluminium wire would be used to replace costly copper wire, said Fesco Chief Executive Officer Tariq Mehmood...
Recyclers to pay extra for aluminum cans for Earth Day
The best way to make money recycling aluminum cans is to rinse them, flatten them and save them in your garage until Earth Day, when certain area metal recyclers pay extra for them to honor the designated day for protecting the environment. Earth Day, started 42 years ago, is celebrated by people...
