AL Circle Analysis: Import rise meets demand growth on aluminium extrusion chessboard
Aluminium’s downstream trade network is getting more fragmented as import dependence, changing end-use demand and trade-policy interventions reshape regional markets. From North America and Europe to Asia-Pacific, the aluminium industry is navigating a market where access to supply, competitive...
US industrial policy needs to be systematic, not just ad hoc – Part 2
Our current approach can win economic skirmishes, but not the geopolitical conflict. – Part 2 Impact #5 of ad hoc industrial policy: Failing to use all required tools Industrial policy is often caricatured as just tariffs and subsidies. Mis-framed debates that evaluate the merits of tariffs in...
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Ormet to lay off 200 jobs at Burnside Plant
Ormet Corp. plans to lay off 200 people at its alumina plant in Ascension Parish because of reduced demand caused by rising power rates in Ohio. The Advocate reports Ormet issued 60-day federal layoff notices last Tuesday for the Burnside plant, which produces the primary raw material used in...
Orbite Aluminae to produce 99.999% pure alumina by the beginning of 2013
Orbite Aluminae, the company that supplies clean technology and alternative techniques for the alumina manufacturing industry, is set to become the first manufacturer in North America to produce extremely high quality alumina of 5N or 99.999% purity. Orbite is planning to commence production of the...
Orbite Aluminae Begins Trading in OTCQX International
Orbite Aluminae, a leading provider of clean technology and developer of breakthrough alternative solutions for the alumina production industry, today announced that the Company will begin trading on the OTCQX International. Effective Monday, September 10, 2012, Orbite will trade on the OTCQX®...
Noranda resumes Los Angeles alumina operations
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. has resumed alumina production at its Gramercy, La., refinery after temporarily halting operations due to Hurricane Isaac and anticipates a return to full production in the second half of September. Noranda reduced operating levels on Aug. 28 ahead of the storm, a...
Century Aluminum to pay a special electricity rate for up to 10 years
Century Aluminum's shuttered West Virginia plant would pay a special electricity rate for up to 10 years if it reopens, but ultimately must cover its entire energy costs from that time, the state's utility regulator ruled Thursday. Future aluminum prices play a major role in the plan outlined by...
US$ 2 million from Alcoa to accelerate recycling
Alcoa and its charitable branch, the Alcoa Foundation, is to invest a sum of US$ 2 million in the new US Action to Accelerate Recycling (AAR) initiative to improve the domestic recycling rate. If landfill diversion targets are achieved, this would result in the avoidance of 850 metric tons of...
Logan Aluminum to hold Can Recycling Challenge in 2012
Tom Walpole, President of Novelis North America, one of the owners of Logan Aluminum, has announced that Novelis will be holding its Can Recycling Challenge in 2012. Collection of aluminum drinking cans has been going on since October of last year, however, September is the month Logan Aluminum is...
USA: Novelis moves closer to 80% recycled content
Atlanta-based Novelis, a world-leader in rolled aluminium products, has today announced that it has moved a step closer to achieving its goal of using 80% recycled metals in its production processes. The company's second annual sustainability report shows an increase in the recycled content of its...
Hyundai to invest $130 mn in new plant in Mexico
South Korean automaker Hyundai Motors Company's Mexican unit said it planned to invest $130 million in a new plant that will manufacture aluminum auto parts in Tijuana, a border city in the northwestern state of Baja California. The plant is expected to create 300 direct jobs and make up to 900,000...
Reply briefs filed for Century Aluminum rate case
All eyes are now on the West Virginia Public Service Commission to make a decision in the electricity rate case for Century Aluminum. Thousands of pages of testimony, letters of protest and most recently reply briefs from the five parties to the case have been filed since May. The Ravenswood...
Ormet Blames AEP For Cutbacks
Ormet Chief Executive Officer Mike Tanchuk said the aluminum producer must curtail operations. American Electric Power will raise the company's electric bill by $20 million a year. In conjunction with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice Ormet filed last month, Tanchuk's...
Cleveland Tank Offers Aluminum Replacement Tanks for Freightliner FL Series
Cleveland Tank & Supply announced new, direct replacement DOT-certified aluminum Freightliner FL series tanks that can be shipped from stock within 48 hours. The company notes that the tanks offer significant weight savings and corrosion resistance over steel. The weight savings generate better...
Hydro to introduce solar-inspired edition of its extrusion-design manual
Hydro, a global supplier of aluminium and aluminium products based in Norway, will introduce a solar-inspired edition of its popular extrusion-design manual at Solar Power International 2012 on 10-13 September at the Orange County Convention Centre (booth 1063) in Orlando, Florida (US). “It is a...
Alcan Cable Launches U.S. Mobile Website
Alcan Cable, a business unit of Rio Tinto, introduced the mobile version of its U.S. website today. The mobile site features product descriptions, applications, technical data, videos and project profiles highlighting the company's aluminum utility cables and STABILOY brand of aluminum alloy...
U.S. Aluminum Castings installs new machinery
U.S. Aluminum Castings in Entiat, WA, reports it has installed a new permanent mold casting machine and three new vertical machining centers. The foundry stated the recent investments are examples of its plans to expand its “production base” and support its customers. It said the new machines would...
U.S. Aluminum-Can-Recycling Rate at 65% in 2011
The share of aluminum containers that were recycled in the U.S. in 2011 reached the highest point in 14 years, as can makers sought to reduce costs, a group of trade organizations said Monday. Recycled aluminum represented a 65.1% share of reported U.S. shipments of aluminum beverage cans last...
Epcon Industrial Systems, LP Joins Aluminum Association as an Associate Member
The Aluminum Association announces the addition of its newest member, Epcon Industrial Systems, LP. Epcon Industrial Systems, LP joins the Association as an Associate member; Associate members are a critical part of the North American aluminum industry providing direct services to firms producing...
High Aluminum premiums mean less output operating at a loss': R.J. O'Brien
Record aluminum premiums have two major implications for the aluminum market, said R.J. O'Brien & Associates in a commodities research note. "Since the premiums are paid to the smelters, the revenues arising provide some offset to the fall in LME (London Metal Exchange) prices. Thus less production...
