“Alcan is a multinational, market driven company and a global leader in aluminium and packaging. With world-class operations in primary aluminium, fabricated aluminium as well as flexible and specialty packaging, aerospace applications, bauxite mining and alumina processing, today’s Alcan is well positioned to meet and exceed its customers’ needs for innovative solutions and service. Alcan employs almost 70,000 people and has operating facilities in 55 countries and regions.” This is how the company presents itself on the Internet.
We are at the corporate head office in Montreal, Canada, greeted by Captain J. D. Powell, Manager of Marine Operations. “In order to feed our alumina refineries we move 30 million tonnes of bauxite a year. The bauxite comes from two locations, 13 million tonnes from Kamsar in Guinea, Africa, and 17 million from Trombetas in Brazil.”
The Bauxite and Alumina (B&A) Group of Alcan represents a global network of bauxite mines and/or deposits and alumina refineries, supplying the Primary Metal Group and external customers with smelter grade alumina in addition to producing specialty alumina for third parties. The Bauxite and Alumina Group employs 4,500 persons in 11 countries and has a current alumina capacity of 5.8 million tonnes a year. The group also owns/ leases and operates a global transportation network that includes rail systems, freight trains, bulk carriers and port facilities. Alcan Shipping Services is a part of the B&A Group.
“Ensuring the flow of bauxite to the refineries, as well as shipping alumina are the two focus areas of what we do here,” continues Captain Powell. “Shipping is an important part of the production chain where we are dependent on reliable and on time deliveries all year. This can be a challenge here in Canada where the ice conditions and weather can be rather rough during winter.”
Captain Powell continues to point out that most of the shipping they do is short sea shipping as Africa and Guinea is some eight to ten days away, about the same goes for Trombetas in Brazil. There is also a considerable trade with alumina from Jamaica and Corpus Christie in Texas (Gulf of Mexico). The best quality bauxite in the world can be found some 150 km to the North and South of equator – the further away from this, the less the quality.
“Ideally all bulk carriers transporting bauxite would be double hull vessels with very smooth ship sides in the holds as bauxite is a very sticky material if it gets wet. And there is moisture in the bauxite anyway, and normally it takes quite a bit of time to get out the remaining cargo residues out of the holds as it gets stuck between the frames. But the world is of course not like that, most vessels are single hull,” says Powell.
“The bulk carriers we use are the Handysize type as there are draft restrictions in most places, as well as the terminals in both ends. But we do also operate Panamax vessels. At Kamsar, for instance, the vessels are dependent on high tide to leave the port. Some vessels cannot load to full capacity due to these restrictions. When it comes to unloading here in Canada, we prefer operators and masters who are used to cold climate operations in the winter time,” said Captain Powell, who is joined by Jean Grenon, Principal Director of the Commercial Department, Captain M. Y. Bozhinov, Administrator of the Maritime Transport Department, and Keith Kavanagh, Manager of the Marine Chartering Department.
“When it comes to hiring the vessels we need about 1/3 of them run on contracts, 1/3 on time charter and 1/3 vessels from the spot market. So in total we engage some 75 to 80 Panamax vessels and some 70 Handysize vessels per year. We also move pet coke and import about a million tonnes of this per year,” adds Captain Bozhinov.
“Commercially we need to deliver all the time. It is very hard to operate a refinery or aluminium processing factory without the raw materials arriving just in time. That is what makes this job both entertaining and challenging,” concludes Jean Grenon.
Planned alumina refinery in Guinea:
“Next door” to the bauxite mine
Alcan has signed a protocol of negotiation with Alcoa World alumina and the government of the Republic of Guinea for the development of a 1.5 million tonne per year alumina refinery in the West African nation. This protocol sets out the items and framework for the alumina refinery project, which will be negotiated with the government.
“Due to the significant quantity and high quality of the bauxite reserves, Guinea represents an attractive location for an alumina refinery and a potential value maximising growth opportunity for Alcan,” says Michael Hanley, President and CEO of Alcan Bauxite and Alumina. “In addition, the long standing involvement of Alcan and Alcoa in Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) places us in a uniquely favourable position to develop such a project,” added Hanley. Alumina production is scheduled for 2008, according to an Alcan press release.
For further information, please visit
www.alcan.com
Mineracao Rio do Norte:
Bauxite production in Brazil
Mineracao Rio do Norte (MRN) is a producer of bauxite out of which aluminium is extracted in a cost effective way, located in Porto Trombetas, Oriximina City, in western Para State, Brazil.
The company’s history started with the first discovery of bauxite in the Amazon region, in the far west of Para State, by Alcan in 1967. In that very year, on 5 June, Mineracao Rio do Norte was established to extract and trade the bauxite from the area of the Trombetas River region, in a plateau called Saraca.
Nevertheless, MRN only started up its operational activities in 1979 with a production capacity of 3.35 million metric tonnes and sales that were guaranteed to its own shareholders through long term contracts.
After its most recent expansion, Mineracao Rio do Norte’s annual installed capacity was increased to 16.3 million tonnes to meet both domestic and international markets, But, the successive records achieved allowed the company to end 2005 with a production of 17.2 million tonnes of bauxite.
MRN’s growth was a result of a series of positive factors. Among them we can highlight the following: the quality and the geographic location of its bauxite deposits, the possibility for production outlet on ships up to 60,000 tonnes.
MRN is an association of seven companies, namely Companhia Vale do Rio Doce – CVRD (40%), Alcan participacoes (12%), Companhia Brasieira de Alumino – CBA (8.58%), Norsk Hydro (5%), Alcoa World Alumina (5%), and Abalco (4.62).
The ship loader has a capacity of 8,000 tonnes per hour, and the Trombetas River (part of the Amazonas River) has a draft for ships of approximately 60,000 dwt capacity. The railroad from the mining area to the ship loader is 27 km long.
From a press release of Mineracao Rio do Norte
For further information please visit www.mrn.com.br
Date: 05 February 2008