Moscow, Russia — February 11, 2015 – Mechel OAO (NYSE: MTL), one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, reports that Chelyabinsk Metallurgical Plant won the status of a potential rail supplier to Germany’s railway operator Deutsche Bahn AG, following a production audit.
Read more at: http://www.mechel.com/press/press?rid=750&oo=2&fnid=68&newwin=0&apage=1&nm=121646&fxsl=view_soc.xsl
PARIS: Alstom will build a geothermal power plant in Indonesia under a 61 million euro ($69 million) deal with a subsidiary of PT Pertamina, the French industrial giant said Wednesday.
Indonesia, made up of thousands of islands stretching from the Indian to the Pacific Oceans, is home to some 130 volcanoes and is estimated to hold around 40 percent of the world’s geothermal potential.
Feb 10 (Reuters) – Vale’s chief executive said on Tuesday that a possible initial public offer of part of its nickel division was off the cards for now due to low prices for the commodity, but that other asset sales could be expected over the coming year.
The Brazilian miner is under pressure to resolve a cash-flow squeeze this year as it wrestles to fund mega-projects in the midst of a price slump in its core product: iron ore.
Read more at: http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/02/10/vale-sa-ceo-idINL1N0VK27J20150210
European stainless steel distributors have held back from placing large orders this year as they fear a further decline in surcharges in the months ahead, Germany-based service center Damstahl said Tuesday.
Distributors will likely continue to purchase material on a hand-to-mouth basis until they think raw material prices have bottomed out, which might happen in February, Damstahl said.
European stainless steel mills are cautiously optimistic for 2015 on the back of more positive PMI data, and also expect anti-dumping duties against Chinese and Taiwanese cold rolled imports to improve the market outlook, it said.
Read more at: http://www.platts.com/latest-news/metals/london/european-stainless-distributors-fear-further-26008499
China exported 1457 tonnes of rare earths in January, down 49 percent from a year earlier reports the Beijing Times.
The report, citing a source at the General Administration of Customs, notes that the total value of rare earth exports in the month totalled 124 million yuan, down 49.5 per cent from a year earlier.
According to previously released data from Hohhot customs in Inner Mongolia, China exported a total of 28,000 tonnes of rare earth in 2014, an increase of 27.3 per cent.
Read more at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/latest/chinese-rare-earth-exports-plunge-in-2014/story-e6frg90f-1227214662085
State-run diversified miner Aneka Tambang announced Monday that its newly built chemical grade alumina (CGA) plant in Tayan, West Kalimantan, is now ready to cater to domestic and export markets, particularly Japan.
The new facility is also prepared to start bringing additional cash into the company, up to US$200 million a year.
Read more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/02/10/antam-kicks-commercial-operation-its-cga-plant.html
(Bloomberg) — United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, may seek to refinance the debt it holds in Russian state banks with international lenders at a better rate.
“We are comfortable with the debt as we refinanced it in time, but we are not comfortable with the rate we have under the Russian bank loans,” Chief Executive Officer Vladislav Soloviev said in an interview in Moscow this week. “I don’t see new investment projects as possible in the next couple of years in Russia because of such rates.”
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-04/rusal-may-seek-to-refinance-russian-debt-with-foreign-banks
Shelby Knowles — THE BATTALION
Alaa Elwany and his team received a grant for $500,000 from NASA in order to pursue research on shape-memory alloys, or “smart metals.”
Shape-memory alloys are popular in a range of industries including aerospace and health, and their development was accelerated last month when NASA awarded a $500,000 grant to the A&M team to study their production. These alloys, sometimes called “smart metals,” are lightweight materials that can be deformed and restored to their original shape when heat is applied.
“These are materials that literally have a memory,” said Alaa Elwany, principal investigator of the team. “If it is subjected to some temperature or some abnormal stress then it regains its original shape.”
Read more at: http://www.thebatt.com/news/view.php/859423/NASA-grant-funds-smart-metals-project
| The estimated value of mineral production increased in the United States in 2014, despite the decline in price for most precious metals, the U.S. Geological Survey announced today in its Mineral Commodity Summaries 2015.
The estimated value of mineral raw materials produced at mines in the United States in 2014 was $77.6 billion, an increase of 4.6 percent from $74.2 billion in 2013. U.S. economic growth supported the domestic primary metals industry and industrial minerals industry, however, weak global economic growth and the strong U.S. dollar limited U.S. processed mineral exports, which decreased to $108 billion in 2014 from $129 billion in 2013. Meanwhile, low-priced metal imports increased during most of 2014. Read more at: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=4114#.VMwzfnl0zVI |
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