SMM News: in the first half of this year, the world produced about 32 million tons of primary aluminum, which is expected to exceed 64 million tons for the whole year. Demand for aluminium is expected to fall 7.1 per cent this year compared with last year, compared with a previous forecast of 2.7 per cent, so total demand for aluminium this year is about 59.89 million tonnes, down 7 per cent from 2019. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, demand for aluminium in Europe will fall 12.7 per cent in 2019 compared with the previous year, followed by North America with a decline of 9.3 per cent, and China will have the smallest decline of about 5.4 per cent. On this basis, it is estimated that the global primary aluminum surplus will rise to 4 million tons.

Africa

Mozambique (Mozambique)

June 11 this year marks the 10th anniversary of the commissioning of the first aluminum casting line of (Mozal), the Mozart aluminum factory in Mozambique, which is an industrial project to develop the economy after the end of the civil war in Mozambique. The project, built in (Maputo), Maputo district, with an investment of US $2 billion, is the largest private investment project in Mozambique and the number one foreign investment project. The aluminum plant is close to the port of Matola (Matola), so construction also includes port facilities, roads and bridges. The production capacity of the aluminum plant doubled in 2003, and there is an energy efficiency project under construction this year, which will increase the output of primary aluminum, but the electricity consumption has not increased. After the completion of the renovation and expansion of the aluminum plant, Mozambique will also actively attract foreign investment and build projects related to downstream products of aluminum, as well as some other projects.

America

Argentina

In April 2020, Argentina's Alur aluminum company (Aluar Aluminio Argentino) greatly reduced aluminum production under the double pressure of the COVID-19 epidemic and the decline in the global market, cutting production by 25% on the basis of the original production reduction of 60, 000 tons per year. The company's (Puerto Madryn) aluminum plant in Madrid Port stopped its production capacity of 50%, with a production capacity of only 230000 tons per year.

Brazil

There are three companies in Brazil that extract primary aluminum with a total capacity of 1.37 million tons / year and have stopped production of 805000 tons / year in 2019. On March 6 this year, Albras Aluminum Company stopped production of one electrolytic line due to a transformer fire and resumed production in May, while the other three electrolytic lines were not affected. Albras Aluminum Co., Ltd. (AIbras) is located in Belem (Belem), with a raw aluminum production capacity of 460000 tons per year.

Canada

Canada has 9 primary aluminum enterprises with a total production capacity of 3.29 million tons / year, and has stopped production of 303000 tons / year in 2019, which is the highest operating rate among the major primary aluminum production countries in the world. In February, (Stas Inc.) of Stace and (Rio Tinto) of Rio Tinto reached an agreement to promote the advanced compact aluminum melt Filter system (ACF,Advanced Compact Fiitration),) developed by Rio Tinto in aluminum ingot foundry plants around the world (ACF,Advanced Compact Fiitration),), which is patented and manufactured and marketed by Stace. The ACF filter was developed by Rio Tinto's Arvide R & D Centre in Quebec, Canada in the early 21st century. It can remove more than 90% of the impurities in aluminum melt, about 20% higher than the efficiency of conventional filters, and is of great benefit to the production of aluminum alloy thin strips such as cans. The ACF prototype, designed and manufactured by Stace, has been successfully operated in Rio Tinto's Canadian Grand Bay area Aluminum Plant (Grande-Baie) and Lateri è re Aluminum Plant for more than a decade and achieved the desired results. Rio Tinto has five aluminum plants in Canada with a total production capacity of 1.625 million tons per year, all at full capacity. Lito announced in June that its Jonquie è re complex would cut production capacity by 8000 tons.

Guiana

In February, (First Bauxite), the Guiana first bauxite company, began mining Guiana's bauxite, a state-owned enterprise that supplies raw materials for the electrolytic aluminum plant to be built.

America

By the end of 2019, there were eight original aluminum plants in the United States with a total capacity of 1.7 million tons per year and a shutdown of 820000 tons per year, of which two plants were completely shut down (see Table 1). In early 2020, Alcoa (Alcoa) agreed to sell Gumsprings waste disposal company (Gum Springs) for $250 million to Verlies Technology Solutions (the VTS,Veolia ES Technical Solutions), plant has approximately 70 employees and experts, a poison disposal plant and a landfill that specializes in handling aluminum reduction cell waste in North America. Under the agreement, VTS will continue to serve electrolytic aluminum plants in North America.

In March this year, Alcoa announced that it would shut down the 230000 tons per year production capacity of Intalco,Ferndale,Washing ton in Fedar County, Washington, in July, having previously stopped production of 49000 tons per year. The factory lost $24 million in the first quarter of 2020 because its products were not competitive in the market.

Alcoa began to implement its new primary aluminum electrolysis model in September 2019, carrying out various energy-saving measures, and will sell non-core assets of US $500 million to US $1 billion before the beginning of 2021. It will sell its global uncompetitive primary aluminum production capacity of 1.5 million tons / year and 4 million tons / year of alumina capacity.

Gulf region and Asia (excluding China)

When talking about the situation of China's primary aluminum industry, the original article only gives a brief description of Baiyinhua Coal Power Company (Baiyinhua Coal&Power), China Hongqiao Group (China Hongqiao Group), China Zhongwang holding Company (China Zhongwang Holdings), Wenshan Aluminum Company (Wen shan Aluminium), and a table of production capacity and shutdown capacity of 106aluminum plants, which is far from being able to explain the general situation of China's current primary aluminum industry, and even has some mistakes, so it is not adopted.

Bahrain

Bahrain Aluminum Company (Alba) has passed the ASI environmental, social and management certification in January this year, and is the second electrolytic aluminum enterprise in the Gulf region to receive this certification. In order to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, Bahrain Aluminium's five service teams have carried out fruitful work around the world to solve the problems existing in the use of aluminum products for users. In March, an advanced crane was installed in the electrolysis workshop, which can be operated and maintained by means of sound and video.

The construction of the waste tank lining treatment project of Bahrain Aluminum Company is progressing smoothly as planned, which is the first of its kind in the Gulf region and Bahrain aluminum industry. when completed, all waste tank linings (SPL) will be fully utilized by other industries and will no longer leave pollution. The project can be delivered in the first quarter of 2021 with a SPL capacity of 35000 tons per year.

The production capacity and shutdown of primary aluminum enterprises in Asia (excluding China) and Oceania are shown in Table 2.

Indonesia

UAE Global Aluminium Company (Emirates Global Aluminium, EGA) and Indonesian Asahan Aluminium Company (PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium,Inalum) signed a memorandum in January this year to promote patented and other new technologies developed by EGA and to help build a new primary aluminum project in Indonesia, with EGA providing technology, raw material supply and market development.

At the beginning of the year, the Indonesian Aluminum Company announced that it would expand the open-pit mining of the bauxite-rich mine in (Island of Borneo), Borneo Island, to expand the capacity of the state-owned Indonesian Aluminum Company to 750000 tons per year, and to build a new original aluminum plant with a capacity of 500000 tons per year in North Kalimantan province, but the tight power supply has a certain impact on the construction of the project, and the existing hydropower supply can only extract 250000 tons / year of primary aluminum. Indonesia Aluminum Company plans to increase its production capacity to 300000 tons / year through technological reform.

Iran

Iran's primary aluminum production capacity is about 475000 tons per year. It plans to reach 800000 tons / year by March 2022 and 1.5 million tons / year by 2025. According to Southern Aluminium Company (Iran's South Alnminium Co.,salco, the first batch of electrolytic cells has been put into production, producing a total of 4500 tons of primary aluminum from March to May.

Malaysia

Extruded metal company (May Press Metal) said in May that its strategic development goal is to extend upstream and downstream products and develop smelting plates upward, becoming the company's core business, mainly in extrusion plants such as (Press Metal Sarawak Sdn Bhd and Press Metal Bintulu Sdn Bhd), which has an 80% stake in Sarawak. The primary aluminum production capacity of the two plants is 120000 tons / year and 640000 tons / year respectively. In order to develop production, Sarawak Extruder signed a 15-year power supply contract with Sericat Cesco Power Company (Syarikat Sesco Bhd,Sarawak) on July 31, 2019, supplying a total of electricity 500MW. The electrolysis plant under construction is the third, with a production capacity of 320000 tons per year and can be completed in early 2021. At that time, the company's total production capacity can increase by 42%, and the original aluminum will rise from the current 760000 tons / year to 1.08 million tons / year.

United Arab Emirates

March is the Global Recycling Day (Global Recycling Day) of (EGA), a global aluminum company in the United Arab Emirates. The company's industrial waste recovery increased by 30% to 140000 tons per year, and the amount of waste landfill decreased to zero. The company's current goal is to minimize waste production and treat the waste tank lining as raw materials for other industrial sectors.

Now, in addition to the waste tank lining (SPL), the waste volume of Global Aluminum has been reduced by 5%, and the SPL quantity is very unstable, which will only be available when the electrolytic cell is overhauled after a few years of operation. Global Aluminum is one of the largest recyclers of aluminum electrolysis waste in the world and a leader in SPL recovery. In 2019, it recovered 46,700 tons of SPL, which was treated and sold to cement plants in the United Arab Emirates. As fuel and primary raw material, the recovered SPLs increased by 13% over 2018.

Global Aluminum Company has also recycled about 28000 tons of other by-products, such as carbon ash, to supply cement plants as fuel. Some companies have carried out research and development on the utilization of alumina production waste for decades, but have not yet found an effective utilization process. Global Aluminum is focusing on tackling this technology. Once successful, it will be a major event for the aluminum industry.

Europe and Russia

The production capacity and shutdown of primary aluminum enterprises in Europe, Russia and the Gulf are shown in Table 3.

Bosnia

Bosnia has only one aluminum plant in Mostar with a production capacity of 130000 tons per year and 362 employees. The Bosnian-Croat Federation (Bosniak-Croat Federate) is its largest shareholder, accounting for 44%, the Croatian government accounts for 12%, and the rest is privately owned by some small individuals. In recent years, due to the bad market environment, it was closed at the end of 2019.

Germany

There are four primary aluminum enterprises in Germany, with a total capacity of 630000 tons / year. Only Noyce Aluminum Plant (Neuss) has stopped production of a series of 80, 000 tons / year electrolytic cells, and the rest are in normal production. (Trimet Aluminium) Aluminium is a large German primary and recycled aluminum enterprise, founded in 1985, is a family business founded by Heinz-Peter Schluter. It began to produce primary aluminum in the 1990s and celebrated its 35th anniversary in May this year. It now has 2300 employees, 4 electrolytic aluminum plants, 2 recycled aluminum plants and 9 aluminum foundry plants.

On May 8, the company's Hamburg aluminum plant put into production a new 48-room anode baking furnace, which was much more energy efficient than the old furnace, which had been in use for eight years, and then stopped production. The new furnace uses a new combustion system, which is not only much more energy efficient, but also more environmentally friendly, emitting much less greenhouse gases. The project has an investment of 13.55 million US dollars. The carbon anode produced by Hamburg Aluminum Plant is not only for our use, but also for Essen Aluminum Plant.

The roasting capacity of anode carbon block in Hamburg Aluminum Plant is about 120000 tons / year, with a length of 1.6m and a mass of nearly 1.2t. It is slowly heated to 1100 ℃ in the furnace for a total time of 18 hours. Temet's Hamburg aluminum plant has about 380 employees and a raw aluminum output of 130000 tons per year.

Iceland

Iceland has three original aluminum plants with a total extraction capacity of 883000 tons per year, while only the Stramswick aluminum plant has stopped production of 72000 tons per year. Rio Tinto announced in February that it would complete negotiations with the government in the first half of the year on how to improve the market competitiveness of aluminum under the current severe market conditions, with high electricity prices and difficult aluminum plants. This is a strategic discussion and negotiation, even involving the closure of the plant.

Netherlands

Adel Aluminium currently produces 80,000 tons of primary aluminum per year. The company's plan is to become an European leader in low-cost and energy-efficient aluminum electrolysis within 10 years. (Aldel) of Ader Aluminium has received a guarantee from (Glencore) of Glenn Cole that it will buy 180000 tons of aluminum ingots for annual remelting from the company this year and next year. In the current weak situation, this is great news for Adell Aluminum.

Russia

As of 2019, Russia has 10 original aluminum plants, which is the second largest producer of primary aluminum in the world after China, with a capacity of 4.225 million tons per year. The most commendable thing is that it uses hydropower to extract almost all raw aluminum. At the beginning of this year, (Rusal), a Russian United aluminum company, reported that it had invested 9.6 million US dollars to upgrade the coke calciner of the Volgograd aluminum plant (Vg AZ), and the production efficiency was greatly improved to 12t / h, while only 8t/h~9t/h was the other furnace. The production capacity of the improved new furnace calcined coke is 96600 tons / year, which achieves the harmonious development and balance between output and environmental protection. The coke into the furnace is "dry", that is, "dry calcination", that is to say, its moisture content is very low, which is much lower than that used in other furnaces. The second feature is that the content of other elements in the carbon used is effectively controlled, and the calcination process is also well controlled. Ensure that each piece of carbon is uniformly calcined. As a result of these improvements, the energy consumption of calcination has been reduced, while the output has been increased. At the same time, the heat generated during calcination is used to generate electricity and burn Scald, and the resulting carbon ash can be returned to the production process as fuel.

In February this year, United Aluminium announced that it would invest US $81.5 million to modernize and upgrade the Sayanogorsk Aluminum Plant and the Khakas Aluminum Plant, with the largest project being the transformation of the (Khakas Aluminium Smelter,KAZ foundry of the Haakas Aluminum Plant and the anode equipment of the Sayanogorsk Aluminum Plant (Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter,SAZ.

A 10-ton aluminum melt treatment furnace will be added to the foundry workshop of the Haakas aluminum plant; two transformers in the substation of the Sayanogorsk aluminum plant will be removed and replaced with silicon rectifiers. United Aluminum Co., Ltd. said that it will invest 190 million US dollars to upgrade and expand the anode production line of KAZ Aluminum Plant from 2020 to 2023, which will be completed in 2023 and invest 56.5 million US dollars in 2020. In addition to direct economic benefits, this project also has huge environmental and social benefits.

The three existing anode baking furnaces at the Sayanogorsk aluminum plant will be transformed into a continuous production line, all equipped by Reed Hammer (Riedhammer). When this line is completed, the anode quality will be greatly improved and energy efficiency will also increase significantly. In addition, the anode baking area will be equipped with a new digital system, and the operating parameters of all furnaces will be displayed on one screen, which is clear at a glance.

According to the United Aluminum Corporation's June report, the advanced inert anode industrial electrolytic cell has been tested and designed with a new concept, with a record low carbon footprint; the next step is to develop aluminum's carbon-free aluminum reduction cell technology. This new generation of inert anode electrolytic cell adopts many new technologies, not only the carbon footprint is only 2CO2/t aluminum, but also the production cost is reduced. The intermediate test cell is a small cell with 140kA current and the production capacity is 1t/d.

Also in June, Rusal started production in a new foundry at the Boguhani aluminum plant with an alloy remelting ingot capacity of 120000 tons per year and equipment imported from (Properzi), Italy, for casting high-strength aluminum alloys with high silicon content, die-casting wheels, generator parts and various spare parts. This new integrated casting line is fully automated and will not form scum or mix with impurities during casting, which cannot be compared with the traditional casting line. The foundry project invested 8.6 million dollars.

Spain

(Parter Capital Group), the Swiss group Pat Capitar, has sold most of its aluminum plants, called Alu-Ibelica Aluminium, in (Avile and La Coruria), Spain, to (Grupo Industrial Riesgo), an industrial Lisgo company in Grubo, Spain. The latter, a conglomerate headquartered in (Madrid), Madrid, with a turnover of US $218 million in 2019, announced that it had drawn up a five-year plan to invest US $272 million, and that the two aluminum electrolysis plants acquired belonged to Alcoa, with a production capacity of 140000 tons per year for round and remelting ingots.

Alcoa began a 30-day meeting with the workers' committee (Works Council) on June 25 to discuss the collective dismissal of employees at the (San Ciprian) aluminum plant in Saint Kipling, Spain. The primary aluminum production capacity of the plant is 228000 tons / year. The company hopes to restart the foundry to maintain production, mass layoffs involving 534 employees, but no final agreement was reached. There is also an alumina plant in the area, which is not affected by the negotiations.

Tajikistan

In January, Tajik Aluminum Company (Talco), based in (Tursunzade) Tulsonzad, (Tajikistan), Tajikistan, signed a contract with Reed Hammer for the renovation and expansion of the anode baking furnace, and Tajik Aluminum signed a contract with French Feiwei Industrial Group (Fives) to jointly build the project. Reed Hammer is responsible for basic design, engineering, material supply and management guidance; Feiwei Industrial Group is responsible for the supply and installation of ignition systems, multi-function cranes, anode transport systems, flue gas treatment systems and anode assembly; Tajik Aluminum is responsible for coordination and coordination.

In the Republic of Tajikistan, the Tulsson rolled Aluminum Plant is one of the most important economic consortia and one of the pillars of the country's economy. The company was founded in the 1970s and used to produce as much as 500000 tons per year of primary aluminum. but today's output is only about 100000 tons per year. The reconstruction and expansion project is divided into two phases, with the first phase increasing the output to 300000 tons per year, followed by the construction of the second phase to double the output. All adopt today's high and new technology.

Tulsonzad aluminum products are highly competitive in the market, thanks to two aspects: full use of water and electricity and cheap labor. The company will play an important role on the stage of the world aluminum industry.

The United Kingdom

There is only one primary aluminium producer in the UK-Advanced British Aluminium Company (Advance Brtish Aluminium), only has a small aluminum plant called Rachabe (Lachaber) in (Fort william), Fort Williamsburg. Affected by the current novel coronavirus epidemic, the aluminum plant has stopped production by 25%, maintaining 75% production capacity and retaining 30,40 employees.

Oceania

Australia

In January 2020, Hydro Aluminium agreed to sell the (Kurri Kurri Smelter) site of the Cooli aluminum plant to the relevant companies. As early as 2014, Hydro decided to close the aluminum plant permanently and discussed with the local government and other shareholders whether it could be used effectively. Hydro and Australian company (FIow Systems) reached a land sale and purchase agreement and planned to complete the deal in 2018, but various reasons failed to achieve.

New Zealand

New Zealand has an aluminum plant called New Zealand aluminum smelter (New Zealand's Aluminium Smelter,NZAS), which belongs to Rio Tinto (Rio Tinto),. Due to high electricity prices, the aluminum market is sluggish, and there are no signs of improvement in the market, it has decided to close in August 2021. It is said that the industrial electricity consumption is among the highest in the world. The New Zealand aluminum smelter lost $28 million in 2019.