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the amount could grow to more than €50m if
Slovalco decides to boost production and use
more energy. The cabinet is also due to approve
a proposal to grant Slovalco a €5m discount
on its yearly payments to the National
Nuclear Fund.
Slovalco has become the fourth company
that the Slovakian government is supporting
in order to avoid large job losses after steel
mill US Steel Kosice, electronics maker Samsung
and pulp and paper manufacturer Mondi
SCP. The aluminium smelter has a production
capacity of around 165,000 tpy.
Aluminium semis
will be used to produce the 7.7m tpy needed
for the alumina plant. In addition, Pará state
will provide investment opportunities through
partnerships with private businesses in an effort
to improve local industrial development.
In May 2013, Norwegian aluminium producer
Norsk Hydro, whose global operations
include the world’s largest alumina refinery
Alunorte in Pará, was one of the first companies
to enter into a partnership with the state
and signed an agreement. Following Hydro,
Alcoa signed the protocol in September. Pará
is the only Brazilian state in control of all stages
of the aluminium production chain.
VM currently has four aluminium production
plants. Bauxite produced in three of these
plants is shipped to its Alumínio plant, which
can produce 475,000 tpy of aluminium. ■
iran to invest over 8bn
euros in aluminium sector
Iran plans to invest around 8.5bn euros
(USD11.4bn) in its aluminium industry in
order to nearly quadruple production by
2025. According to a senior manager of Imidro
(Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development
and Renovation Organisation) at
a Metal Bulletin conference in Geneva, aluminium
demand in Iran grows 10% a year.
The country produced 338,000 tonnes of aluminium
in 2012, and is aiming for 770,000
tonnes in 2016 and 1.5m tonnes by 2025.
There are eight projects involved in the investment
programme, with bidding underway
for the Persian Gulf Alumina plant, and financing
being arranged for two others (Salco,
Kalco).
■
Bauxite and
alumina activities
Votorantim Metais signs loi
with Pará’s mining industry
Brazilian metals producer Votorantim Metais
(VM) has signed a letter of intent with Brazil’s
Pará state industry, commerce and mining
department (Seicom) as part of the state’s
effort to attract at least ten new companies to
its mining and metals industry by 2014. According
to the letter, VM wants to provide the
state’s municipality of Rondon do Pará with
adequate infrastructure to receive the company’s
Alumina Rondon project as well as to
help develop Pará state.
Alumina Rondon will be VM’s major
project and one of the largest in Pará state, as
its bauxite mine will be completely integrated
with the alumina refinery. The company will
start operations at the bauxite mine, which
rexam to open a new can line in chile
Beverage can maker Rexam plans to open a
second production line at its plant in Santiago,
Chile. The plant will then have the capacity
to produce 1.9bn cans a year, which is an
increase of 72% compared with the current
production volume. The new line will produce
350 ml, 473 ml and 250 ml sizes and is a step
further for Rexam to increase its offer of specialty
cans in South America, as the plant in
Chile also supplies the markets of Peru and
Bolivia. This region has been reporting consistent,
continuous economic growth and still has
great potential for the coming years.
Only recently, in May, Rexam opened a
new can plant in Brazil, with a production
capacity of 800m cans a year.
Alcoa to sell French and
spanish rolling mills
Alcoa plans to sell its sole rolling mill in France
as well as two rolling mills in Spain, the head
of the French plant recently told a local newspaper.
In case that selling the plants fails Alcoa
will continue operations as the sites are profitable.
Alcoa says it is convinced the sites have
potential, but given funding constraints the
company is looking for another owner.
The three plants are interlinked and form a
single system. The factories in Amorebieta
and Alicante in Spain makes rolled products
for Castelsarrasin to turn into polished aluminium.
The Amorebieta site near Bilbao
employs 401 people while 294 work at the
Alicante facility. The Castelsarrasin plant has
41 employees.
Alcoa may also sell its Canadian rod mill
at Bécancour, Québec, as well as its Fjardaál
rod mill in Reyðarfjörður, Iceland, Metal Bulletin
reported. The Bécancour rod mill, near
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the St Lawrence River, opened in 1992 and
cost USD49m to build. The facility makes pure
aluminium or aluminium alloy rod for the
electric cable sector, for magnetic wire manufacturers
and for steel mills. The Bécancour
rod plant sources its molten metal from Alcoa’s
majority-owned Aluminerie de Bécancour.
It boasts a fully automated rolling mill
and continuous casting facility, and is capable
of making 12.5 tph of rod.
■
➝
© Hydro
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