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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Bosnia's Aluminij Mostar smelter closes operation on Wednesday midnight over huge debt
Bosnia’s only operating aluminium smelter and one of the country’s biggest exporters Aluminij Mostar finally closed down its operations on Wednesday midnight after it was disconnected from the power grid. The smelter was under a huge debt of 380 million Bosnian marka (US$218 million) because of...
Bosnia’s aluminium smelter Aluminij Mostar attracts EGA after Glencore
Bosnia’s regional energy and mining minister said on July 4 that Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) was reportedly showing interest in Bosnia’s debt-laden aluminium smelter Aluminij Mostar. Aluminij has been in trouble over years now as debt accumulated because of high alumina and electricity prices....
Bosnia’s Federation Government in talks with Glencore on ailing aluminium smelter Aluminij
On Wednesday, June 26, officials from Bosnia’s Federation Government conducted a meeting with British-Swiss company Glencore, where they discussed on finding ways to rescue ailing aluminium smelter Aluminij and also the establishment of a new company, said the government in a statement. The talks...
Glencore intends to acquire Bosnia’s aluminium smelter Aluminij
British–Swiss multinational commodity trading and mining company Glencore has reportedly shown interest in acquiring Bosnia’s aluminium smelter Aluminij Mostar. The news came after Glencore’s general manager said this on Monday, June 17. Bosnia’s Aluminij has been in trouble for years and...
High cost electricity threatens future viability of Portland aluminium smelter
A major shareholder of the Portland aluminium smelter has reportedly revealed that the high cost of electricity is threatening the future viability of the plant. According to Alumina Limited managing director Mike Ferraro’s report to The Australian Financial Review , “Prices (for electricity) have...
En+ Group, Rusal's parent company reports 39% drop in Q1 net profit due to US sanctions and lower aluminium price
En+ Group, the parent company of Rusal, which covers the energy and aluminium assets previously belonging to business tycoon Oleg Deripaska reported its first-quarter results on Friday, May 31. The group’s first-quarter net profit fell by 39% to US$409 million due to the U.S. sanctions on the group...
Trimet Aluminium starts trial operation of its ‘virtual battery’ at Essen aluminium plant
Trimet Aluminium has started trial operation of its ‘virtual battery’, which would control the energy supply for aluminium production at its Essen plant. This is expected to create a power storage facility that will make it easier to integrate the discontinuously generated electricity from...
Zimbabwe government considers replacing copper transformers with aluminium
The Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) would require about 3000 transformers to replace stolen or outdated ones. Energy and Power Development deputy minister Magna Mudyiwa has said that they are facing fund issues to buy the same. Responding to a query in National...
Aluminum Association releases a policy roadmap for a sustainable and competitive U.S. Aluminum Industry
On May 7, the Aluminum Association released a new policy roadmap called “The Aluminum Agenda” for a sustainable and competitive U.S. Aluminum Industry. The agenda includes principles and policy goals for a U.S. aluminium industry in the 21st century. The document prepared in consultation with the...
Geely Technology to build new energy battery research institute in China
Chinese automaker Geely Technology Group will reportedly build a new energy battery research institute at Xiuzhou Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone. The agreement was signed on April 29 with local government of Xiuzhou District, Jiaxing, Zhejiang. About RMB 3 billion of investment is involved in...
ATG's 2019 Aluminum Design Workshop demonstrates safety and environmental benefits of automotive aluminium
The Aluminum Transportation Group (ATG) concluded its spring 2019 Aluminum Design Workshop on May 2. The workshop demonstrated how automotive aluminium designs a safe and strong vehicle and how lightweighting with aluminium is the safest choice. In the case of a crash, aluminium has the ability to...
Guinea to increase country's energy production to facilitate bauxite refining in the country
Guinea government is focusing on increasing its energy production capacity by about four fold over next six years in order to help bauxite mining companies refine their bauxite locally, an announcement from the energy minister recently stated. Guinea is Africa’s biggest producer of bauxite and the...
NRG plans to restart its natural gas plant on the old Sherwin Alumina property
NRG Energy Inc. is reportedly planning to resume operations at its mothballed natural gas plant on the old Sherwin Alumina property in Gregory from June 2019. David Knox, a spokesman for NRG Energy Inc. said the natural gas plant was built in 2002 to provide energy to its partner Sherwin Alumina....
China’s NEVs production estimated to reach 6.96 million units by 2025
According to Shanghai Metals Market, now that that the Chinese government is cutting subsidies, China’s credit system that rewards longer-range models will continue to boost the development of new energy vehicles (NEVs). By 2025, NEV production in China is expected to come in at 6.96 million units,...
Alba welcomes delegation from General Electric
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), soon to be the world’s largest aluminium smelter, welcomed the Chief Executive Officer of GE Gas Power Scott L. Strazik on Sunday, April 7 2019. GE and GAMA Consortium is the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor for Alba’s Power Station 5 (PS...
Hydro's Building Systems unit achieves better progress in operation recovery from cyber-attack over last week
Hydro has updated on the progress of its recovery processes in last week after the cyber-attack that created disruptions in its operations on March 19. The Press Release says that the cyber-attack has affected some administrative processes, including systems for reporting, billing and invoicing. As...
Hydro provides update on power failure at Karmøy aluminium plant
Hydro announced that its aluminium plant in Karmøy, Norway will take time to resume stable aluminium production. One of Karmøy’s two aluminium production lines suffered a power failure early on Monday, April 1. The facility has an annual capacity of 195,000 tonnes of primary aluminium. “The...
Hydro aluminium plant in Karmøy hit by power failure
Hydro announced on Monday, April 1, that its aluminium plant in Karmøy, Norway halted metal production following a power outage. The plant re-established supply of electricity but at a lower amperage. The primary aluminium plant has a production capacity of 270,000 tonnes, of which 75,000 tonnes...
