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COMPANY NEWS WOR LDWIDE
Aluminium smelting industry
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Alcoa starts modernising Massena plant
Alcoa has officially broken ground on work
to upgrade its operations in Massena, New
York, including the planned construction of a
new potline at its Massena East facility. The
project is supported by a USD10m loan from
the North Country Economic Development
Loan Fund, and a power agreement with the
New York Power Authority (NYPA).
New York has committed to supply 478
MW of low-cost electricity to Alcoa’s Massena
complex, a step that led the company to move
forward with its modernisation plans and allowed
it to retain 1,000 jobs at the facility.
NYPA, the largest state power organisation in
the USA, and Alcoa have agreed to a hydropower
contract until 2045, with an option for
Alcoa to extend the agreement until 2055.
Under the terms of the contract, agreed to
in 2009, Alcoa committed to making capital
investments of at least USD600m, of which
USD42m is represented by the potline expansion.
Alcoa to further cut smelting capacity
Alcoa will close or curtail 164,000 tonnes of
aluminium smelting capacity in the US and
Brazil as part of its review announced in May.
One potline representing 40,000 tonnes at
the Massena East plant in New York will be
permanently closed. In addition, the company
has started to temporarily curtail 124,000
tonnes at its smelters in Brazil. The measures
will be complete by the end of September.
Bob Wilt, president of Alcoa’s Global Primary
Products, commented: “Aluminium
prices, including premiums, have fallen to
four-year lows and we continue to operate in
an uncertain, volatile market.” To date, Alcoa
has announced closures or curtailments
representing 269,000 tonnes of the 460,000
tonnes placed under review in May. This includes
the permanent closure of 105,000
tonnes of capacity announced earlier at Alcoa’s
Baie-Comeau smelter in Canada. In addition,
the company is to close its Fusina smelter in
Italy representing 44,000 tonnes that was not
part of the May review.
Once the Massena and Brazil closures and
curtailments are complete, Alcoa will have
646,800 tonnes or 16% of smelting capacity
idle. Alcoa’s review of its primary metals
operations is consistent with the company’s
2015 goal of lowering its position on the world
aluminium production cost curve by ten percentage
points and the alumina cost curve by
seven percentage points.
Alcoa to close Fusina aluminium smelter
Alcoa is to permanently close its Fusina primary
aluminium smelter in Venice, Italy, removing
a further 44,000 tpy from its 4.2m tpy
global smelting system. The plant has been
curtailed since June 2010. The Fusina rolling
mill operates separately from the smelter and
is not affected by the closure. Total restructuring-related
charges are expected to be between
USD30-35m after-tax of which about
50% is non-cash. In November 2012, Alcoa
curtailed its Portovesme smelter in Italy too.
NZAS signs new electricity
agreement for Tiwai Point smelter
The future of New Zealand’s Tiwai Point aluminium
smelter has been secured through
the signing of a long-term electricity agreement.
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters
Ltd (NZAS), the company that operates the
smelter, signed the deal with Meridian Energy
Ltd after 12 months of negotiations. The previous
contract, which came into effect from
1 January 2013, had included price increases
which threatened the future of the smelter
in the face of falling aluminium prices and
the strong New Zealand dollar. The revised
contract sets new reduced pricing from 1
July 2013, though details were not disclosed.
Separately, the NZ Government has provided
a USD30m payment to NZAS on finalisation
of contractual negotiations to secure the medium
term future of the smelter, one of New
Zealand’s largest industrial facilities.
Rio Tinto Alcan curtails
aluminium production in Quebec
Rio Tinto Alcan will immediately curtail
50,000 tonnes of production at its Shawinigan
smelter in Quebec and will progressively curtail
the remaining 50,000 tonnes of capacity
by the end of November 2013. The company
refers to dated smelter technology and continued
weakness in aluminium prices. Located
in Quebec, Canada, the Shawinigan smelter
was commissioned in 1942 and employs 425
people. Rio Tinto Alcan will provide any employees
impacted as a result of the curtailment
of production with re-training and job-search
assistance through the company’s employee
assistance programme and through collaboration
with regional and provincial partners.
Ormet curtails half its operations
At the end of July, the Public Utilities Commission
of Ohio denied the timing of Ormet’s
request for relief from the current power rate
with Ohio Power and affirmed the matter
has been set for formal hearing at the end of
August. Ormet was forced to file for bankruptcy
in February due to low metal prices
and exceedingly high power costs. The Ohio
Power industrial rate which establishes the
base rate for Ormet to procure power has
increased from USD39.66/MWh when the
Unique Arrangement was established in 2009
to USD62.83/MWh in June 2013, which is an
increase of some 58%. The Unique Arrangement
was created as an incentive to maintain
and create jobs, which Ormet has successfully
78 ALUMINIUM · 9/2013