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ALUMINIUM SMELTING INDUSTRY
practice as a condition of lifting a threat of
anti-trust fines in the European Union. Brussels
had feared that Rio Tinto was potentially
dominating the aluminium smelter equipment
market through its licensing system, damaging
competition within the EU.
Under the agreement, users of Rio Tinto
Alcan’s technology can not only choose from
recommended suppliers, but Rio Tinto must
also provide competing pot-tending assembly
suppliers with technical specifications, to ensure
their equipment can work in Aluminium
Pechiney smelters.
Brussels’ investigation began after Francebased
crane manufacturer Réel complained
about the practice, for which Rio Tinto offered
commitments in August 2012, which have now
been accepted by the Commission and made
legally binding. If the company breaches the
conditions, the Commission could impose a
fine of up to 10% of Rio Tinto’s total turnover.
GERMANY: Trimet Aluminium, Germany’s
largest producer of primary aluminium,
confirmed in March that the company was in
talks with Rio Tinto Alcan to acquire two aluminium
plants in France, namely the sites at
Castelsarrasin and Saint-Jean de Maurienne.
The Saint-Jean de Maurienne plant in eastern
France is an aluminium smelter of about
140,000 tpy. Talks are still underway.
ITALY: In June, Alcoa agreed to maintain
the shuttered Portovesme aluminium smelter
in Italy until the end of June 2014, rather than
just to the end of 2013, to allow more time
for a possible sale. However, the ministry does
not take for granted the failure of the deal
with Klesch, and reserves the right to contact
the group again to further investigate the
terms of negotiation. Simultaneously, it said
it would continue scouting for other potential
buyers at both the national and international
level. The Portovesme smelter had fully
ceased production in November 2012, after a
possible sale to Glencore fell through.
After more than three years of reduced
production, Alcoa finally decided to permanently
close its Fusina smelter in Venice. The
closure will reduce Alcoa’s global production
capacity of 4.2m tpy by 44,000 tonnes. This
tonnage is in addition to the 460,000 tonnes
of operating smelting capacity that Alcoa previously
announced was under review. The
Alcoa Fusina rolling mill operates separately
from the smelter and is not affected by this
decision.
NORWAY: In March Hydro said it was developing
new and energy-efficient aluminium
production technology as the foundation for
its long-term efforts. Hydro is therefore studying
the potential for testing next-generation
electrolysis technology at a pilot plant with
a capacity of about 70,000 tpy at Karmøy in
Norway. If the pilot project is realised, Karmøy
will host the most energy-efficient aluminium
production in the world, according to Hydro.
There are a number of elements that must
fall into place before Hydro can break ground.
The power grid in the region must be dimensioned
to meet the demands of the offshore
power industry and industrial development.
The company must also secure enough power
under competitive conditions and establish an
agreement with Enova on financing, in which
Enova can contribute considerable – and crucial
– support. Enova is owned by the Norwegian
Ministry of Petroleum and Energy and
has as its goal to promote environmentally
friendly alternatives in energy consumption
and energy production in Norway.
In June Hydro signed an agreement with
Rio Tinto Alcan to acquire its 50% ownership
share in the Vigeland Metal Refinery AS and
100% ownership share in the AS Vigelands
Brug hydropower station, located in southern
Norway. Hydro held a 50 % ownership
share in Vigeland Metal Refinery AS prior to
the transaction, and was the sole off-taker of
its production of high-purity aluminium. High
purity aluminium plays a vital part in semiconductors
and in several electronic applications
such as LCD screens for TVs, computers, cell
phones and tablets.
Located in Vennesla at the lower part of
the Otra River, the Vigeland Metal Refinery,
has a capacity of 8,500 tpy of high-purity aluminium.
The transaction will be notified to the Norwegian
Competition Authority, and Hydro
will also apply to Norwegian authorities for
an approval to acquire the hydropower assets
in AS Vigelands Brug.
RUSSIA: In February Rusal announced
that it started pilot testing of inert anode technology
in a 3 kA amperage cell at the Krasnoyarsk
aluminium smelter (KrAZ). For inert
anode technology Rusal has developed a completely
new pot design. Following successful
pilot tests, Rusal will start industrial tests in
inert anode pots in 2015 at KrAZ. From 2017
Rusal may start shifting smelting capacities
to inert anode technology, starting at KrAZ.
The burning speed of an inert anode is 300
to 400 times slower than that of a traditional
carbon anode, and wears away only 1-2 cm
per year, compared to 1-2 cm per day with
the carbon anode. The project joined the
Skolkovo foundation in June 2011. Planned
co-financing of the inert anode aluminium
production research from the foundation
amounts to RUR750m (USD25m) until 2015.
To date, RUR130m (USD4.3m) has already
been spent by Skolkovo.
In June the first phase of the Boguchansky
aluminium plant (BoAZ) was 75% complete.
As of 1 May the partners had already invested
about USD862m in the construction, which
needs another USD749m to complete the
first phase of BoAZ’s production capacity of
298,000 tpy. The first metal is expected in Q4
2013. Full capacity of the first phase will be
reached by the end of this year.
Also in June Rusal and IES Holding announced
an agreement on the sale of Rusal’s
Bogoslovsk aluminium smelter, which will enable
Rusal to form a single production facility
in Krasnoturinsk. The deal will be closed in
August 2013. Creation of a single industrial
complex will enable Rusal to reduce the cost
of production of alumina in the Bogoslovsk
aluminium plant. Rusal will keep the alumina
refinery which will be part of the Alumina
division.
In June Rusal signed an agreement with
the Leningrad region and the trade union
committee Volkhov Aluminium Plant (VAZ)
concerning plans to reorganise production in
the industrial area VAZ. The reorganisation
involves changing from producing primary
aluminium to producing high value added
products such as aluminium automotive components.
The parties signed an agreement in
order to save jobs, to create joint ventures with
potential investors producing end products
for mechanical engineering, and to establish
conditions for the long-term development of
industry in the region.
n
Suppliers Directory – for your benefit
On pages 76 to 89, leading equipment suppliers to the aluminium industry present their
product portfolios and ranges of services. Take advantage of this useful information.
36 ALUMINIUM · 7-8/2013