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Aluminium smelting industry
© Dubal
Aluminium S.A. signs USD200m
contract with Glencore
Aluminium S.A., part of the Mytilineos group,
has signed a USD200m contract with Swissbased
multinational Glencore for the sale of
75,000 tonnes of aluminium billets and slabs.
These quantities will be exported to the European
and US markets from January 2013 to
June 2014.
This contract confirms the group’s strong
export orientation and stresses the important
role of the aluminium industry in Greece,
where it contributes more than 80% of the
added value of Greek finished products that
are exported abroad.
RTA evaluates offers for French smelter
Metal Bulletin reports that Rio Tinto Alcan
is evaluating several offers for its Saint-Jeande-Maurienne
aluminium smelter in the
French Alps as part of a process to find a buyer
for the plant. The smelter could close once
its energy contract expires in 2013 if a buyer
is not found. Production curtailments began
at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne after the 2008
downturn.
Ma’aden Alcoa joint venture
celebrates first hot metal
On 12 December Ma’aden and Alcoa commissioned
the first of 720 pot cells at their
joint venture smelter at Ras al Khair in Saudi
Arabia. At the smelter ceremony, Ma’aden
president and CEO Khalid Al Mudaifer highlighted
the achievement of first hot metal
in only 25 months from the pouring of first
concrete: “Today we see the first aluminium
produced in Saudi Arabia and the launch of a
new industry,” he said.
Abdullah Busfar, chairman of the Ma’aden
Alcoa joint venture, commented: “It is just
29 months since the joint venture issued Bechtel
with a notice to proceed with construction.”
He congratulated Bechtel and its team
of 46 different sub-contracting companies
that employed the labour and expertise of
about 14,000 people from 25 different nationalities
to reach this milestone. “They have
worked almost 60 million hours with worldclass
safety performance. More than 700 Saudi
Arabian citizens have completed their initial
intensive training and are ready to take their
place as skilled operators within this smelter,”
he said.
Disinvestment of Nalco delayed
The Indian government has delayed the sale
of its 12.5% stake in National Aluminium
Co. (Nalco), saying that the company’s latest
quarterly financial performance did not reflect
its true financial position. The divestment will
now happen in the first quarter 2013. Further
talks about the Nalco disinvestment will take
place early in January.
The Indian government is offloading stakes
in metals companies Hindustan, such as Copper
Ltd, in Metals and Minerals Trading Corp.
of India Ltd and in Nalco in an effort to pump
revenue into its slowing economy.
Alba upgrade to improve productivity
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has upgraded its
Potline 5 from AP30 to AP36 technology.
The upgrade was made possible with the successful
installation of the first 1,600 mm long
anode in Potline 5. Alba’s production process
will receive further boost with additional
modifications from the reduction side on anode
reference gauges, PTA shovel size, simulations
on start-up pots, etc.
Alba produced 890,217 tonnes of primary
aluminium in 2012 – a production record on
the previous year (881,310 tonnes). The
record in metal production was achieved without
incurring any significant additional capital
expenditures, says CEO Tim Murray.
Bauxite and
alumina activities
CBG and Mubadala sign bauxite deal
Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG),
one of the world’s largest bauxite explorers,
has signed a long-term supply agreement with
Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Company.
CBG is 49% owned by the government
of Guinea and 51% by Halco Mining, a consortium
composed of Alcoa, Rio Tinto Alcan
and Dadco. The new agreement is expected
to boost Guinea’s GDP by about USD500m a
year and provide a significant increase in fiscal
revenues. Mubadala owns 50% of Emal, with
the remaining 50% owned by Dubal. Mubadala
revealed in Q2 2012 that it was performing
a feasibility study regarding the construction
of an alumina refinery.
Global Alumina acquires
BHP interest in Guinea project
Global Alumina, a corporation participating
in a joint venture to develop an alumina refinery,
mine and associated infrastructure in
the bauxite-rich region of the Republic of
Guinea, has announced that the joint venture
partners Dubal and MCD Industry Holding
(Mubadala) have waived their pre-emptive
rights to purchase their pro rata share of BHP
Billiton interests in the project. Therefore,
Global Alumina will acquire all of BHP’s one
third interest in the project, increasing its stake
in the project from 33.3 to 66.7%. The joint
venture wants to develop a 10m-tpy bauxite
mine, with a refinery that would have a capacity
of more than 3.3m tpy.
92 ALUMINIUM · 1-2/2013