-
Rio Tinto Alcan’s proposed aluminum smelter in Paraguay could produce as much as 670,000 tonnes a year once it comes online, a company spokesman told AMM.
-
Novelis Inc. will return some $1.7 billion in capital to Indian parent company Hindalco Industries Ltd. after completing an announced debt refinancing, the company said Tuesday.
-
A previously dismissed lawsuit involving a price-fixing scandal in the ferrosilicon industry has regained momentum, with the two sides clashing since the plaintiffs filed an appeal in April.
-
U.S. spot market silicon prices have risen to between $1.55 and $1.65 per pound, up from $1.50 to $1.60 per pound at the start of September and well above the $1.23- to $1.25-per-pound range at the same time last year.
-
Aluminum deox prices rose this month and are expected to continue climbing into next year due to surprisingly strong demand from steel mills, Rochester Aluminum Smelting’s president Jerry Golden told AMM.
-
King Place Enterprises Ltd., a Chinese-owned investment firm, stands to increase its control of Canadian junior mining company Crowflight Minerals Inc. to between 60 and 80 percent as cash-strapped Crowflight tries to restart its mining operations at its Bucko Lake nickel mine near Manitoba, a source familiar with the matter said.
-
King Place Enterprises stands to increase its control of Canadian mining company Crowflight Minerals to between 60 and 80 percent, a source told AMM.
-
Rio Tinto Plc over the next three years will invest more than $2 billion in its existing copper operating assets, it said, forecasting a drop in 2010 global production.
-
Capstone Mining Corp.’s Cozamin Mine in Zacatecas, Mexico, will shut down for at least a week following a worker fatality at the copper, lead, zinc and silver facility.
-
Unionized leaders and company representatives at Chile’s Cia. Minera Dona Ines de Collahuasi SCM (Collahuasi) copper mine will return to the bargaining table this week as the strike approaches the 30-day mark.
-
Rio Tinto Plc has given a bullish view of long-term aluminum consumption, saying demand is poised to double in the next 15 years, according to comments from the company’s senior executives cited by Liberum Capital analysts.
-
The criminal fraud case involving Western Titanium Inc. and four of its executives has taken an unexpected turn as attorneys for one of the distributor’s top executives have questioned his fitness to continue as a defendant.
-
MMC Norilsk Nickel plans to sell most of its 51.3-percent stake in platinum and palladium producer Stillwater Mining Co. through a public share offering as part of its strategy to sell off its North American operations.
-
Corporacion Nacional del Cobre de Chile (Codelco) has reached a 40-month collective bargaining agreement with workers at its Radomiro Tomic copper mine in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. Workers will receive a 3.85-percent wage hike and 12.3 million pesos ($25,500) as a bonus for the end of negotiations that officially began Nov. 4, plus 3 million pesos ($6,161) as an optional loan. The news came as Santiago-based Codelco posted pre-tax profits of $4.13 billion in the first nine months of 2010, up 120 percent year on year and surpassing the $4.06-billion profit for all of 2009, driven by higher copper and molybdenum prices. Copper output fell slightly during the period amid lower volumes from its Andina division, to 1.2 million tonnes vs. a year-earlier 1.21 million tonnes. Including its 49-percent stake in El Abra, in which Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. holds 51 percent, Codelco’s output fell to 1.26 million tonnes from 1.27 million tonnes.
-
Downstream aluminum producer Novelis Inc. is looking to raise at least $4 billion to refinance its debt, as well as that of parent company Hindalco Industries Ltd., the company said. Novelis will raise the funds through one or more offerings of senior notes, as well as by entering into new senior credit facilities, the Atlanta-based company said. If the fund raising is successful, it could move forward with plans to repurchase as much as $1.3 billion in existing senior notes due in 2015. Novelis debt stands at about $2.5 billion, a company spokesman said.
-
U.S. and Canadian producers’ aluminum shipments fell a second month in a row in October, easing 1.9 percent from September to 1.613 billion pounds, but still rose 6.8 percent year on year, according to Aluminum Association data. Aluminum ingot shipments fell 5.2 percent to 550.6 million pounds, the Arlington, Va.-based group said. Shipments of extruded products were down 1.3 percent from September to 226 million pounds, while sheet and plate shipments fell 0.3 percent to 647.5 million pounds. However, those products all rose from the same month last year, with ingot, extruded products and sheet and plate shipments up 6.2 percent, 16.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Foil shipments of 91.3 million pounds rose 0.7 percent month on month and gained 6.6 percent year on year, while electrical conductor shipments of 61.8 million pounds were up 7.3 percent from September and rose 21.1 percent from October 2009. Producer inventories of 2.263 million pounds in October were up 2.5 percent from September and 14.3 percent higher year on year.
-
The company will offer 37 million shares in a public placement through its wholly-owned subsidiary Norimet Ltd.
-
Unionized leaders and company representatives at Chile’s Cia. Minera Dona Ines de Collahuasi SCM (Collahuasi) copper mine will return to the bargaining table this week as the strike approaches the 30-day mark.
-
Capstone Mining Corp.’s Cozamin Mine in Zacatecas, Mexico, will shut down for at least a week following a worker fatality at the copper, lead, zinc and silver facility.
-
The October pullback follows a 0.3-percent drop in shipments during the previous month, marking the onset of the fall’s seasonally slower buying season. However, shipments still rose 6.8 percent year on year, the Arlington, Va.-based association said.
-
Aluminum shipments by U.S. and Canadian producers fell for the second consecutive month in October, easing 1.9 percent from September to 1.613 billion pounds, according to data from the Aluminum Association.
The October pullback follows a 0.3-percent drop in shipments during the previous month, marking the onset of the fall’s seasonally slower buying season. However, shipments still rose 6.8 percent year on year, the Arlington, Va.-based association said.
Aluminum ingot shipments logged the largest month-on-month decline in October, with total deliveries falling 5.2 percent to 550.6 million pounds. Shipments of extruded products were down 1.3 percent from September to 226 million pounds, while sheet and plate shipments fell 0.3 percent to 647.5 million pounds. However, shipments of those products were up from the same month last year, with ingot, extruded products and sheet and plate registering gains of 6.2 percent, 16.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
But not all aluminum products logged a drop in demand last month. Foil shipments of 91.3 million pounds rose 0.7 percent month on month and gained 6.6 percent year on year, while electrical conductor shipments of 61.8 million pounds were up 7.3 percent from September and increased 21.1 percent from October 2009.
Meanwhile, producer inventories rose to 2.263 million pounds in October, up 2.5 percent from September and 14.3 percent higher year on year.
-
An agreement to convert titanium is the biggest step so far in Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc.’s efforts to fill “underutilized” capacity, the company said.
-
Domestic copper cathode spot buying remains sparse, with premiums unchanged ahead of new benchmark premiums for 2011—even as a two-week backwardation in copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) puts downward pressure on premiums overseas.
-
Domestic copper cathode spot buying remains sparse, with premiums unchanged ahead of new benchmark premiums for 2011—even as a two-week backwardation in copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) puts downward pressure on premiums overseas.