SPecIAL - Alu-web.de

c o m p a n y n e w s w o r l d w i d e
of alumina for USD362, according to
market participants who took part
in the auction. The material will be
shipped in September. This contrasts
with the peak price USD458.6 per
tonne fob Vizag port paid by Noble
Resources in the last tender in August.
That result took the market by
surprise and was considered too high.
It was around USD70-100 above the
other two bids. Spot prices will come
under even more pressure in the coming
months due to slow demand. Prices
will fall as low as USD300 per tonne
before refineries implement cutbacks,
which should help prices to recover.
alpart to lay off 150 workers
Alumina Partners of Jamaica Ltd (Alpart)
will lay off about 150 employees,
or between 10 and 12% of its total staff.
Alpart is the country’s largest bauxite
and alumina producer with a capacity
of about 1.6m tpy of alumina. UC Rusal
owns a 65% stake and Norsk Hydro
ASA owns the rest. In July, a strike was
averted when the NWU, which represents
nearly 2,000 workers at Alpart,
agreed to a new three-year collective
bargaining agreement after Labor
Minister Pearnel Charles stepped in
to broker a deal between management
and the union. Under the new agreement,
workers will receive a 41% pay
raise over three years.
Hydro and the metals and mining company
Vale have agreed to construct
a new alumina refinery in northern
Brazil, strengthening Hydro’s future
alumina supply in line with its growth
strategy. Under the agreement Hydro
will hold a 20% share in the refinery,
expected to start production in 2011.
The agreement has now been approved
by the boards of directors of
both companies.
The new refinery will be located
close to Belém in the state of Para, approx.
5 km from Alunorte, the world’s
largest alumina refinery, owned 57%
by Vale and 34% by Hydro. The initial
production capacity of the refinery
will be 1.86m tpy of alumina. The
new refinery to be named Para Alumina
Plant (CAP) has potential for future
capacity expansions to reach up
to 7.4m tpy. Construction of the first
stage, estimated at USD2.2bn, will begin
in October 2008. Hydro will have
the right to participate with the same
20% share in all future expansions,
expected to follow after 2011.
Meanwhile, Paragominas III will
supply bauxite to the CAP refinery.
The estimated cost of expansion is
USD487m, increasing the capacity of
Vale’s Paragominas mine to 14.9m tpy
from the current 9.9m tpy. Mine III is
expected to start operations simultaneously
with the first stage of CAP.
antam to commission 300,000
tpy alumina plant in 2012
Indonesia’s PT Aneka Tambang (Antam)
plans to commission a 300,000
tpy chemical-grade alumina plant
in Tayan, West Kalimantan, in 2012.
Construction is expected to start in
the middle or end of 2009. Antam
owns 49% of the joint venture, called
PT Indonesia Chemical Alumina
(ICA), while Japan’s Showa Denko
owns 30%, Singapore’s Straits Trading
Amalgamated Resources owns
15% and Japan’s Marubeni owns 6%.
Antam is also in talks to increase its
stake in the project to 65%.
■
recycling and secondary smelting
Hydro
Hydro and Vale join forces in
new alumina project in Brazil
Barclays Ventures takes stake
in aluminium alloy producer JBm
Barclays Ventures has bought a major
stake in UK aluminium and waste
recycler Jesse Brough Metals Group
(JBM) for £10m (USD18m). Miles
and Ashley Brough have turned the
family secondary aluminium production
business into a £30m operation
employing 60 people, with links to
Australia, India, Iceland and Germany.
The deal comes after the company’s
best growth and profit results in
2007.
JBM had reached a critical mass as
a family business and therefore needs
to rise to the next level of corporate
development. This will involve additional
professional directors, new
shareholders from the existing JBM
team and Barclays Ventures, a new
funding partner who will facilitate the
growth in the core business, as well
as diversification into other areas of
industrial waste recycling. Barclays
Ventures will have a minority stake
in the business, and a share pool will
provide an incentive for key senior
employees. JBM also announced
that Michael Averill, former CEO of
Shanks Group, a listed waste specialist,
will join the JBM board and that
Yorkshire Bank will invest in senior
debt and working capital.
Against rising landfill taxes, JBM
will move towards increased recycling,
alternative fuels, and other
products, and can look forward to a
bright future.
➝
74 ALUMINIUM · 11/2008