The Government of India assigned Aluminium Pechiney of France to prepare the feasibility report for use of the bauxite to set up an Aluminium complex and they identified Panchpatmali located 30 km east of Koraput in Orissa as the ideal location for it. NALCO, now the largest integrated alumina-aluminium complex in Asia, has a technical collaboration with the renowned Aluminium Pechiney of France.
NALCO, now the largest integrated alumina-aluminium complex in Asia, has a technical collaboration with the renowned Aluminium Pechiney of France.
The aluminium major has completed its first and second phase expansion with investments of Rs 3,600 crore and Rs 4,092 crore respectively. Now, the company is working on its third expansion involving an investment of Rs 6,000 crore.
The expansions increased capacity of bauxite mines from the original 24 lakh million tons to 48 lakh million tons and then to 63 lakh million tons. Similarly, refinery capacity surged from 8 lakh million tons to 15.75 lakh million tons and then to 21 lakh million tons. The smelting capacity went up from 2.3 lakh million tons to 3.45 lakh million tons and then to 4.6 lakh million tons.

The Orissa government approved an investment of Rs 16,312 crore, including those proposed by Hindalco Industries and Rashmi Cement, in aluminium, cement and power sectors through the State-Level Single Window Clearance Committee (SLSWCC).
The projects which got the government's approval are: Hindalco Industries Ltd, Rashmi Cement Ltd, Dhanarjay Industries Ltd, Koshal Ferro Ltd and Bhubaneswar Power Ltd.
Hindalco Industries Limited would set up an aluminium re-rolling mill in Orissa at an investment of Rs 850 crore, Rashmi Cement Limited would set up a ferro manganese plant by investing Rs 300 crore, Director of industries Hemant Sharma said.

China's two largest nickel miners Jinchuan Group and Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co are in the process to acquire overseas mines following bright prospects for the nickel market in the second half of 2009.
Jinchuan Group, China's largest nickel producer, will buy a 51 percent stake in Zambia's sole nickel mine, Munali, from Africa-focused miner Albidon Ltd. According to a report, Zambia's mines minister Maxwell Mwale said that Jinchuan would re-start operation in September. But he did not reveal the cost of the deal.
The Munali had plans to produce 10,000 tons of nickel annually. Meanwhile, the country's second largest nickel miner Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co had bought a 14.7 percent stake in Canada-based Victory Nickel from Nuinsco Resources Ltd for 18.4 million yuan.
With this acquisition, Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co, now, owns 18.98 percent of Victory's total stock. The Toronto-listed company is engaged in the expansion and development of nickel resources. "Although the price of nickel continues to rise, it is still low compared to the highest level last year. So, we think it is good time to start on overseas acquisitions," said Wang Xinglong, secretary to the chairman of Jilin Jien Nickel.
The nickel miners' moves were in line with the Chinese government's non-ferrous metal industry stimulus plan. The government said earlier it would encourage restructuring major non-ferrous metal makers such as Jinchuan to develop into major metal groups through acquisitions. China's nonferrous metal industry has been making losses since the second half of 2008 due to the effects of the global financial crisis. But the industry has been showing signs of a pick up since March this year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The combined profit numbers of 10 nonferrous metals producers were 11.8 billion yuan from March to May this year.

Zinc, mostly used in batteries, traded lower in the starting of the month of August but rose sharply through the middle. According to a report, the cut in zinc output and high levels of Chinese refined zinc imports led to the increase in prices.
In August, The London Metal Exchange stocks (LME) were more or less flat. Demand for zinc, used for production of galvanised steel, was surged thanks to the infrastructure focused stimulus packages and soaring Chinese passenger car sales, which are up by 26 percent YoY to 4.53 million units in H1 of 2009.
It is expected that zinc concentrate market surplus will grow from 2008 levels to about 320,000 tons in 2009, which accounts for the higher treatment charges that Chinese smelters are asking for imported material. Meanwhile, during the second half of July, zinc was traded well above Rs 20 per kg mark at MCX. According to the report, zinc may be traded Rs 86 per kg to Rs 87 per kg mark, which is the next crucial barrier.
Structurally too market gets clearly bullish above Rs 87 per kilogram levels. On the downside zinc has been taking good support at 20 week moving average that currently lies at Rs 73.40 per kilogram. This should be level to watch out for bulls for August. Market has been consolidating in an upward sloping trend channel with a lot of price overlap amidst high and low ranges as against a consistent upsurge seen in other base metals like Copper and Lead. Purely by this logic alone, Zinc should correct the most if base metals take a down turn. Hence bulls are advised caution at higher levels.

UAE's aluminium major Dubai Aluminium Company posted a 5 percent increase in sales in Q2 as demand remained strong in Asian and Middle East.
However, the company sales volumes for Q2 were 275,055 tons compared to 261,972 tons in the same period a year. Dubai Aluminium said in May that it expected sales to fall 20 percent in Q2 amid high global inventories.

India's leading producer and exporter of alumina and aluminium National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) posted a 20.46 percent increase in aluminium production to 104,776 tons from 86,979 tons in Q1 ended June 30. Similarly, alumina production increased to 400,800 tons from 392,900 tons in corresponding quarter last year. Power generation also increased by 14.35 percent to 160MU from 1400MU, the company said.
Despite of sluggish market, the company has managed to increase its export of aluminum to 27,995 ton from 12,623 tons in the corresponding quarter.
However, due to low prices, the turnover and profit for the quarter have reduced considerably, the company said.
Meanwhile, as part of growth strategy, NALCO plans to set up two Greenfield projects in India, which include a Rs.16, 500 crore smelter and power complex at Jharsuguda, and a Rs.6, 000 crore mines and refinery complex in Andhra Pradesh.

Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company plans to set up a QAR 72 million aluminium extrusion plant with strategic partners. The plant will produce aluminium profiles in different graded alloys for the construction and industrial sectors.
The plant is expected to be operational by 2010. Abdul Rahman al Ansari, CEO of QIMC, said, "The only one of its kind in Qatar would come up at New Industrial Area. As the project founder we will have a 40 percent stake in the aluminium extrusion plant. The remainder will be held by Qatari shareholding companies."
"The company has already got the land and it is waiting for the permit, which is expected soon. Aluminium profiles are extensively used in modern buildings and industrial plants. Currently, Qatar meets its needs for aluminium profiles through imports." added he.
"Qatar is the only GCC country, which currently does not have the facility to produce aluminium profiles. Our New Industrial Area project will make up for this," he said. The technology for the aluminium extrusion project would come from companies based in Japan, the US and the UK. QIMC would shortly launch 2 other projects a plant to produce chlorinated paraffin wax and the other for unsaturated polyester resins.
The company has already tied up with an Indian company to establish the chlorinated paraffin wax unit in Doha and it has been working on the export oriented project for a year now.
Al Ansari said, "QIMC has already approved the project for producing unsaturated polyester resins. The project will be implemented with the involvement of a UK based company and a Qatari firm. A project to produce high quality 'autoclaved aerated concrete' has been delayed to benefit from 'falling' material costs. Qatar's construction sector uses autoclaved aerated concrete, also known as thermostone blocks in large quantities." The company is inviting fresh quotations for the project to lowering project costs. Qatar Paving Stones, fully owned by QIMC, has commenced production in March. Al Ansari said that the company has done well in H1 of 2009 despite the global financial crisis. The company earned a net profit of QAR 80.9 million in H1, a 0.99 percent up compared with the same period last year.

The world's largest aluminium producer UC RUSAL is planning to cut output due to an accident at a hydroelectric power station that feeds two of its Siberian smelters, said the company.
The company majority stock holder Oleg Deripaska called a meeting with Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko to discuss the use of back-up capacity to ensure energy supplies to RUSAL's smelters, the company said in a statement.
"One of the issues discussed was the possibility of reducing output at RUSAL's smelters to create additional reserves of energy required for the stable functioning of the region on the eve of the autumn-winter season, when the load on the energy system increases," the company said. However, the aluminium major did not give any details how much capacity could potentially be cut.
Ten people died and more than 60 are missing after a turbine room flooded at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station, Russia's largest. US RUSAL said production at Khakassia and Sayanogorsk smelters -- which run on electricity from the damaged power plant -- was so far unaffected as they had switched to alternative suppliers. The company, with debts of $16.8 billion, had already announced a cost reduction programme this year lead a 10 percent reduction in aluminium production in the first six months of 2009.
US RUSAL's primary aluminum output stood at 1.98 million tons in the first half in 2009. Cuts at its Siberian smelters totaled 4.5 percent in the period. In 2008, the company produced 4.4 million tons of primary aluminium, up from 4.2 million tons in 2007.
Power for the Sayanogorsk and Khakassia plants is now being supplied from the neighboring regions of Krasnoyarsk and Kemerovo, said Vladimir Shulekin, spokesman for the Sayanogorsk plant, located about 50 km (30 miles) from the dam.

Rio Tinto finally sold its Paris-based aluminium packaging division to Amcor, an Australian company, in a $2 billion. The deal will help the company to reduce its huge debt burden.
The sale brings Rio's total divestments to $8.8 billion in the past 18 months, with an additional $1 billion to $1.5 billion to come from the flotation of its American energy assets.
The Anglo-Australian miner launched its divestment two years ago as part of its plan to reduce the $40 billion of debt, which was taken to buy Alcan, the Canadian aluminium producer.
The packaging operations, which Rio inherited as part of the Alcan purchase, were considered to be the least important for a miner and, therefore, the highest priority for disposal.
Tom Albanese, Rio's chief executive, has admitted that the company held on too long for a high price and that the sale was derailed by the credit crunch.
Rio said had that it would sell its American packaging division to Bemis, based in Wisconsin, for $1.2 billion and Amcor is buying the European and Asian assets. Rio has also raised $15.2 billion in a rights issue and the combination of capital-raising and disposals should cut the company's debt in half to $20 billion.
Guy Elliott, Rio's chief financial officer, said, “We believe Amcor's offer is in the interests of all stakeholders. These businesses would be acquired by a leading player in the global packaging sector that is well placed to enable ongoing success of the businesses.”

The country's leading aluminium producer National Aluminium Co (NALCO) has put its alumina capacity expansion on hold due to local problem, said C. R. Pradhan, Chairman of the company.
“We have delayed because of various other problems, local problems," C.R. Pradhan. "It was to come three-four months back," he said, but did not give a new timeline.
State-run NALCO, which has a refinery in the eastern Orissa state, had plans to raise its alumina refining capacity to 2.1 million tons per annum from 1.6 millions ton currently. Security was tightened at its bauxite mine in the state earlier this month after suspected Maoist rebels threatened to attack the site.

A Russian government commission recommended the introduction of progressive export duties for nickel and the maintenance of current high import duties for cars.
"The commission has agreed a proposal to apply progressive export duties for nickel. The introduction of export duties is envisaged in case the price for nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) exceeds $12,000 per ton," the commission said in a statement.
In January 2009, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had signed an order to abolish export tariff of 5 percent on nickel to support the country's leading miner Norilsk Nickel in the midst of the economic crisis.
Norilsk, the world's largest nickel and palladium producer, said July output of all its metals declined in the first half of this year from the same period a year ago.

China's largest copper producer Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd net profit down by 59 percent to $185.9 million for the first six months of this year compared to same period of last year.
The company's revenue dropped 24 percent to 21.21 billion yuan to 27.8 billion yuan. Jiangxi's copper cathode production stood at 370,000 metric tons, up by 1.4 percent from 365,000 metric tons of H1, 2008, in the first half of 2009. The company's gold and silver production rose by 39 percent and 19.5 percent respectively compared to a year ago.
The company said it expects the global economy to "start recovery slowly in the second half of the year" and sees copper prices "unlikely to experience any substantial fall."

GE Energy has signed a $45 million service contract with Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd in the UAE.
The Atlanta-based company will help the aluminium manufacturer to cut its production costs by maximising the efficiency of 19GE turbines that help power its factory.
Under the agreement, GE Energy will supply parts and perform repairs, upgrades and service for planned outages for the next seven years.
GE will also help cut down the company's spare parts inventory to save on costs.
All repairs under the deal will be completed at the Gulf Turbine Services facility in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital. The center was established in 2001 as a joint venture between GE and Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies. GE has more than 1,000 turbines installed throughout the Middle East, providing more than 70 gigawatts of power.

GE Energy has signed a $45 million service contract with Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd in the UAE.
The Atlanta-based company will help the aluminium manufacturer to cut its production costs by maximising the efficiency of 19GE turbines that help power its factory.
Under the agreement, GE Energy will supply parts and perform repairs, upgrades and service for planned outages for the next seven years.
GE will also help cut down the company's spare parts inventory to save on costs.
All repairs under the deal will be completed at the Gulf Turbine Services facility in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital. The center was established in 2001 as a joint venture between GE and Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies. GE has more than 1,000 turbines installed throughout the Middle East, providing more than 70 gigawatts of power.

China's imports of refined copper dropped to 292,226 tons in July from June's record 378,943 tons, ending five months of record inflows, said data from General Administration of Customs.
China, the world's top consumer of copper and aluminum, also imported less primary aluminium in July at 131,724 tons, down from June's 267,861 tons.
The closure of the arbitrage window -- buying at the London Metal Exchange prices and selling to Shanghai -- reduced merchants' imports of spot refined copper and primary aluminium.

Siemens Energy, part of German industrial group Siemens AG, acquired majority stake in Chinese metal firms Yangtze Delta Manufacturing and aluminium foundry GIS Steel & Aluminium Products.
However, the transaction price was not revealed. These moves will help Siemens Energy to expand its global production network for high-voltage circuit-breakers in China.

China may post a rise in the annual production capacity of alumina, primary aluminum and refined copper, refined lead and refined zinc in 2009.
According to a report, the country will produce 3 million tons of alumina, 2 million tons of primary aluminium, while refined copper's output will stand at 50,000 tons. China, however, will produce 200,000 tons of refined lead and 300,000 tons of refined zinc, added the report.
Citing China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the report said that recent rebounding in non ferrous metal prices are leading more investment in the sector, which is resulting to help in the country's non ferrous metals production capacity surplus.
In the month of July, the country's total production of 10 major non ferrous metals increased by 2 percent YoY to 2.22 million tons although over the first 7 months of the year the total dropped by 4.3 percent on an annual basis to 13.92 million tons.
The MIIT said the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association has advised the government not to approve new primary aluminum and alumina producing facilities to be built in the near future and to close more outdated refined lead and zinc smelting facilities.

Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) expects alumina production in 2009 to fall 11 percent from 2008 to 8 million tons.
Citing Luo Jianchuan, the company's president, a report said, Chalco expected to produce 3.4 million of aluminium, up 5 percent from a year.
"Since the second quarter, recovering prices have encouraged Chinese companies to partially restart idled capacity," said Luo, adding that Chalco had restarted 670,000 tons of alumina production capacity, and was now running at 67 percent of its total capacity.
The world's no.3 alumina maker had also restarted 310,000 tons of aluminium production capacity, and was running at 83 percent of total capacity, added the president.
"Many production lines are getting ready to restart, or have already restarted a little," said Liu Xiangming, Vice President, Chalco. "But we need to take a long-term view, and consider the market fluctuations, consider the impact on prices brought about by increasing recovered production capacity." Chalco expects China to import 5.5 million tons of alumina this year.
The company posted worst-than-expected loss for the second year, its third consecutive quarterly loss due to sluggish demand and low prices of aluminium in the mid of financial crisis. "We must work hard not to lose money in the second half and from the full year perspective we will try to cut the losses that we saw in the first half," said Xiong Weiping, chairman and chief executive officer of Chalco.
"China's aluminium industry has entered a phase with excessive production capacity and fierce competition. But in the long term, the aluminium industry is still a sunrise industry. He added that demand for the metal would increase as urbanisation and industrialisation grow with economic development.
Chalco expects global aluminium prices to hold in a range of $1,800 to $2,300 a ton for the rest of the year, Luo said. He, however, expected domestic prices to range between from $2,052 to $2,345 per ton.
The company is also negotiating power fess with suppliers directly, expecting a breakthrough by the end of this year, Vice President Liu said.
Beijing has introduced a pilot scheme to allow big electricity users to buy power directly from generators, offering a chance for some companies in power-intensive industries, such as Chalco, to reduce power fees and cut production costs.

State-run National Aluminium Company (NALCO) is amongst the 18 navaratna companies in India which are currently being assessed for the Maharatna status, C.R. Pradhan, Chairman and Managing Director demanded.
The award of the Maharatna status would provide greater autonomy to a company compared to the navratna tag. Referring to the recent victory of the Prince Group in a television reality show, Pradhan said that group efforts in all spheres can give 100 percent better results than the individual efforts.
The NALCO chairman also assured to look into the demands of the Officers' Association for hike in pay and perks. B.L. Bagra, Director (Finance), NALCO advised officers to look beyond their organization and cautioned that too much of greed can lead to disaster. J Varghese, director (personnel), NALCO called for sustained efforts from the NALCO employees to enable the company to post a better performance.

In a bid to boost foreign mine investment, Zambia will not reintroduce the controversial windfall tax it applied when copper prices rose last year, despite the current rally in metals prices.
The introduction of a 25 percent windfall tax and other taxes in 2008 was backed by the World Bank to help Zambia raise funds required to build schools, roads and provide health and education services in the southern African country. Mines and Minerals Development minister Maxwell Mwale said the government would not reintroduce the tax, which was scrapped in January, as it could scare away foreign investors.
The government policies should not be determined by short term conditions such as the price of copper as investors wanted stable policies in mining. Mwale said following increased production by many copper producers, most of the estimated 12,000 employees who lost their jobs because after the fall in the prices of metals in 2008 could be re-employed. Zambia had also said it will not refund foreign mining companies the millions of dollars they paid in taxes when the controversial tax was in force, but could revise existing taxes. Last year, Zambia introduced a 15 percent profit variable tax, 25 percent mineral windfall tax and raised corporate tax to 30 percent from 25 percent and mineral royalty to 3.0 percent from 0.6 percent, upsetting foreign mining firms.
Copper mining is Zambia's economic mainstay and the mines are a major employer for many of its 12 million people. Some of the foreign mining companies operating in Zambia include Canada's First Quantum Minerals, London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, Equinox Minerals and Glencore International AG of Switzerland.

Nickel may drop after a 67 percent rally this year if Vale SA resumes output at two Canadian sites hit by a strike, according to RBC Capital Markets analysts.
Vale, the second-biggest nickel producer, started training 1,200 employees to resume partial output at its Sudbury site within weeks, the company said Aug. 26. Stockpiles in China, the biggest metal user, gained to as much as 100,000 tons. The nickel market remains structurally oversupplied, buried under the weight of enormous excess capacity and inventories. Stockpiles of metal monitored by the LME have advanced 45 percent from January and are close to a 15-year high.
Supply will outpace demand by 20,000 tons this year and 19,000 tons next year. Sudbury produced 85,300 tons of nickel last year, about 31 percent of Vale's total output of the metal. The company shut most of Sudbury on May 1 for maintenance and completely halted operations June 1 after demand slumped. The plant remains closed amid a strike over pensions and bonuses that started July 13.
Voisey's Bay produced ore processed into 77,500 tons of refined nickel last year, or 28 percent of the company's output. Unionized workers began a strike at the location on Aug. 1. Vale says it hasn't any plan to restart Voisey at present.

The delegation of Bombay Metal Exchange Ltd. had a meeting with the Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh regarding the issue of restriction on imports of scrap by traders.
In the meeting, the Minister Jairam Rameshji agreed to remove the condition of actual users while importing scrap in India considering the fact that scrap does not come under hazardous category and also because it is very much needed in the country to support the small scale and cottage industries which are the backbone of our country and are providing employment to lakhs of people in the rural area, said the BME press release.
The role of the traders is very much important in entire economy. The condition of Form 9 and Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificate will remain same as per the present import policy.