COMMENT :
Recovery of aluminium demand & supply from new projects may lead to a global surplus
Aluminium smelters in China, the largest producer, restarted as much as 5 million
tons per annum of idled capacity in 2009 as profit margins improved with rising
prices. Aluminium is little changed this year, after rallying 45 per cent in 2009,
as demand from industrialized nations is slow to recover and supply from new
projects becomes available, leading to a global surplus. China, the biggest
consumer of the metal used in cars and houses, cut purchases after record imports
last year as local smelters resumed production.
SPECIAL COVERAGE
Aluminium & its outstanding advantages due to multipurpose applications
The steady growth in the demand of aluminium products worldwide
estimated at 5% per annum is convincing proof of it’s outstanding advantages
due to the multipurpose fields of applications. Rolled products are the most
important sector within the wide spectrum of downstream fabrication of
aluminium products.
NEWS CORNER
Rio Tinto divestments reach US$10 billion with completion of Alcan Packaging Food Americas sale
Rio Tinto’s divestment
programme has passed the US$10
billion mark with the completion
of the sale of its Alcan Packaging
Food Americas division to Bemis
Company, Inc for a total all cash
consideration of US$1.2 billion.
Hydro closes aluminium tubing plant in Michigan
Hydro has discontinued
production and closed the doors at
its aluminium tubing plant in
Michigan, winding up the closure
process that started last year and
ending 70 years of manufacturing
operations at the Adrian site.
Activities related to the closure, which Hydro announced
last March, included the transfer of products and
manufacturing equipment from the Adrian plant to Hydro’s
two other aluminium tubing sites in North America – in
Florida and in Mexico. The Adrian plant made its final
product deliveries last week.
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Wagstaff Technology for the Remelt Billet Operation
Wagstaff has encountered increasing needs for a low
cast weight billet casting solution for the secondary
aluminum market, and has recently developed a package
offering to meet this industry demand. Bridging the gap
between quality and economy, an externally guided casting
machine, controls, pit utilities and billet casting system
have been packaged especially for remelt operations
seeking a way to cast low tonnage, high quality billet.
This paper will describe evolution of extrusion billet
casting and introduce this new system capable of producing
billet quality equal to larger DC billet casting installations.
COMPANY PROFILE
Rusal announces full year production results for 2009
UC RUSAL (SEHK: 486), (EuroNext:
RUSAL/RUAL), the world’s largest aluminium and
alumina producer, announces its key production data for
2009.
Norsk Hydro publishes fourth quarter 2009 results
Hydro had an underlying loss before financial items
and tax of NOK 651 million in the fourth quarter of 2009,
compared with a loss of NOK 793 million in the previous
quarter, firming slightly on higher realized aluminium
prices. Hydro reached a major milestone in December
with the start-up of the first cell at Qatalum, and production
from all 704 cells at the world-leading aluminium plant
in Qatar is expected by fourth quarter 2010.
SAFETY & ENVIRONMENT
Aluminium-water explosions in casting pits - Prevention with safety coatings
The vertical direct chill (VDC) casting machine is used to produce over 50% of the world’s aluminium billet and ingot. With this equipment,
metal is poured from the casting machine table top into moulds having the shape and dimension of the ingot or billet to be cast. The moulds
can be of many configurations, but are usually rectangular, circular, T or square, to give the required product cross sectional shape. Since
the mould arrangement depends on the size of the ingot or billet to be produced, it is impractical to rearrange or replace the moulds as needed
on the table top for every size. Therefore, table tops are already prepared and held in stock. Over a period of a week a single casting station
may have operated with 10-15 different table tops. Maintenance of the table tops is difficult because of their frequent use. The casting table
is a heavy structure made of structural steel members and the load on the table may reach 60 tonnes.
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