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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Vedanta’s aluminium business to reap benefits from its investment in Athena power plant
On Thursday, July 7, Vedanta Limited officially announced that it would acquire a 100 per cent stake in debt-ridden Athena Chhattisgarh Power Limited for INR 564.67 crore. The mode of payment is most likely to be cash, and the transaction is expected to complete in FY2022-23. The news came after...
Gas crisis: German aluminium industry prepares for the worst, draws up contingency plans
The aluminium industry is a highly energy-intensive sector and the German aluminium industry is getting ready for the extreme situation in the aspect of the uncertainty in the gas supply. On 1 st July 2022, the President of Aluminium Deutschland e. V. (Aluminium Association of Germany), Hinrich...
“The Russian invasion of Ukraine immediately led to uncertainty in the market, with corresponding price hike on energy and increasing raw material prices”, Halvor Molland, SVP of Communication & Public Affairs at Norsk Hydro ASA
Halvor Molland is Senior Vice President of Communication & Public Affairs at Norsk Hydro ASA, a global energy and aluminium company headquartered in Norway. An experienced journalist, he holds a Master of Science with experience in offshore oil and gas development projects. Molland has extensive...
3-year power deal with Santee Cooper shields Century’s Mount Holly smelter from rising energy costs
Century Aluminum’s three-year power contract with Santee Cooper signed in 2021 is believed to have been shielding the company’s Mount Holly smelter near Goose Creek from rising energy costs. It is helping Chicago-based Century Aluminum combat the second biggest expense after payroll - the...
Alumina weekly recap: Hydro charged for polluting Brazilian river over bauxite residue spillage from Alunorte alumina refinery; Soaring energy prices force Romania's sole alumina producer to cease operations
An association and nine victims together representing around 11,000 indigenous families from the north-eastern Brazilian river port of Barcarena sued Hydro, its seven subsidiaries and shareholders out of which six are based in the Netherlands over alleged spillage from the Alunorte plant for at...
Primary aluminium weekly recap: Century Aluminum shutdown to put Hawesville at revenue loss; United States to impose 35% tariff on aluminium imports from Russia
The global primary aluminium industry experienced some significant developments this week. Like, to begin with, it can be seen that the geopolitical crisis has put the metal industry under various obstacles, and its impact is still ongoing. The shutting down of Century Aluminum in Hawesville due to...
Top Newsmakers for June 2022: Century Aluminium to idle its Hawesville smelter temporarily due to high energy costs; Guinea govt. extends the submission date for alumina refinery proposals
The global aluminium industry experienced several electrifying events in June 2022. Century Aluminium’s Hawesville smelter, the largest aluminium producer in North America producing military-grade aluminium, employing over 600 staff has decided to idle its smelter due to soaring energy prices. The...
The sole Romanian calcined alumina producer to halt operations from August 1 due to electricity & natural gas price surge
The electricity and natural gas price surge has led the sole Romanian alumina producer to temporarily suspend operations. According to a report on Thursday, June 30, Alum Tulcea, an alumina refinery controlled indirectly by Vimetco through the aluminium producer Alro Slatina will halt production...
“EnPot can have a positive impact on aluminium smelters’ carbon footprint; particularly those that have access to variable renewable electricity but struggle to take advantage of it because of its variability,” Karyna Young, CEO of EnPot
Karyna Young is associated with EnPot since inception in 2016 and now serving the company as Chief Executive Officer from early 2021. EnPot is an innovative new technology that fundamentally changes the way smelters use energy to produce aluminium. Karyna started her career as a commercial lawyer...
“We have been shocked and appalled by the events in Ukraine and we have publicly expressed our desire for an early end to the conflict”, Roman Borisov, Sales Director for EMEA at Rusal
Roman Borisov is the Sales Director for Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) of Rusal with more than 15 years of commercial leadership experience in the aluminium industry. In his role, Roman is responsible for Value Added Product and Low Carbon Aluminium sales across the region, supporting key...
Leading banks partner with RMI to combat aluminium decarbonisation
On June 21, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) announced that three of the world's largest lenders to the aluminium industry, Citi, ING, and Societe Generale, will collaborate with the centre for climate-aligned finance of RMI to support the decarbonisation of the industry. The new Aluminum...
Chile’s aluminium scrap export during 2019-21 unveils mercurial movement; a further marginal drop is predicted for 2022
Aluminium is a highly durable metal that can be recycled again and again without losing its inherent value. Compared to making the same amount of aluminium from scratch, recycling aluminium saves 95% of the energy. Metal recycling isn't always as straightforward as it should be. Among the metals...
Century Aluminium to idle its Hawesville smelter temporarily due to high energy costs; staff to be laid-off momentarily
The largest producer of primary aluminium producer in the United States of America, Century Aluminum has made public that it will idle its aluminium smelter in Hawesville, Kentucky, temporarily due to the propelling high energy prices which are causing a direct impact on the business. On 27 th June...
Primary aluminium weekly recap: Ghana eyes to become an integrated aluminium producer; Balco bids green, introduces biomass briquettes to generate power
The price of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) dropped dramatically as a result of sluggish economic development, which further reduced the market's demand for the metal. Also, China's interest rate rise had been aided by the second wave of Covid-19 lockdowns. As a result of this, On...
Aluminium Smelter at BMW Group's Landshut facility uses electric heating stations
Electric-powered heating stations for the aluminium melt have recently been used for the first time in a test operation in the BMW Group’s Landshut facility, the plant’s main production area. As a result, the plant's energy efficiency and resource consumption are both growing. Previously, gas was...
Loop Energy collaborates with Aluminium Revolutionary Chassis Company to enter the Australian bus market
Loop Energy, a designer and manufacturer of hydrogen fuel cell solutions, has reported that it will supply fuel cell modules to Aluminium Revolutionary Chassis Company (ARCC), the developer and manufacturer of Australia's first lightweight bolted aluminium city bus chassis, in the promising...
QEM commissions vanadium pilot project and HPA extraction unit for battery sector supply
QEM Ltd successfully has commissioned a pilot plant to evaluate the production of oil shale and vanadium pentoxide with resources from its flagship in north-western Queensland, the Julia Creek Project. QEM is an Australian producer of vanadium pentoxide and energy. The company is supposed to...
Tiwai aluminium smelter’s clean-up and shut down cost doubles to $687 million
The money set aside by the owners of Tiwai Point aluminium smelter for the shutting and cleaning up of the smelter has nearly doubled to $687 million. The main reason for this price jump was to get rid of more than 200,000 tonnes of spent cell lining waste that contains cyanide and toxic fluoride...
