Portugal’s mining strategy may favour copper over lithium
Portugal already has the largest copper mine in the European Union, operated by Lundin Mining.
Norwegian Norsk Hydro, one of the world’s top aluminum producers, is selling its aluminum remelt plant in Taiwan to Ting Sin Metal for an unrevealed amount, the company said in a statement on Monday.
The deal is expected to close next month.
The remelter has an annual capacity of about 75,000 metric tons of extrusion ingot and mainly serves the Taiwanese market, Hydro said.
The global aluminum industry is showing signs of progressive decline. Giant miners, such as diversified miner Rio Tinto (LON & NYSE:RIO) are either cutting jobs at their aluminum operations or plainly thinking about selling their divisions.
In March this year, Rio announced it was closing its Lynemouth aluminum smelter in Northumberland, England as part of its aluminum restructure plan. And in May, the Rio sold off non-core operations from the aluminum business it bought in 2007 for about $44 billion.
For almost two decades the aluminum sector has been equally affected by both market and non-market forces and, currently, the sector is experiencing the substantial influences of poor global economic growth, which is largely prices and demand for the commodity.
Aluminum is one of the most versatile and essential materials for the global economy. The commodity’s extensive properties, including strength, conductivity, recyclability, and lightweight make it the world’s second most used metal after steel. Aluminum is consumed in almost every industry; however, out of all these industries, the construction and automotive industries are the largest consumers, consuming over half of the total aluminum consumption.
Norsk Hydro is a global supplier of aluminum, including bauxite extraction to the production of rolled and extruded aluminum products and building systems. The company employs approximately 23,000 people in more than 40 countries.
