Copying and distributing are prohibited without permission of the publisher

(AMM) Century Aluminum holds off restart despite rising aluminum tags

February 24, 2010 - 22:04 GMT Location: NEW YORK

KEYWORDS: Century Aluminum , Ravenswood , aluminum , smelter

Aluminum prices are finally high enough to warrant a restart at Century Aluminum Co.'s shuttered smelter in Ravenswood, W.Va., but the company won't be firing up any potlines just yet.

Three-month aluminum on the London Metal Exchange closed second-ring trade Wednesday at $2,113.50 a tonne, well into the $2,000-plus range that Logan W. Kruger, president and chief executive officer, said in October could justify a restart. Prices also have been relatively stable, settling below the symbolic $2,000-a-tonne mark just once over the past three months.

But higher prices alone won't cut it, Kruger said this week, noting that both a long-term power arrangement and a new labor contract must be in place for the company to consider bringing back online the 170,000-tonne-per-year smelter. Century's highest-cost smelter was idled in February 2009 amid deteriorating market conditions.

"We are constantly looking at the capacity we have curtailed and analyzing under what circumstances it might make sense to consider reopening it," Kruger told investors during a conference call Tuesday evening.

For Ravenswood, those circumstances include a new long-term...

All material subject to strictly enforced copyright laws. © Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.


subscribe to this feed Comment & analysis

  • COMMENT: When super-cycle poster child BHP Billiton trims its plans...

    BHP Billiton is one of the poster children for the commodities super-cycle: a mining company whose immense upstream assets in copper and iron ore have fed the industrialisation of China since the early years of the 21st century and enabled it to return $52 billion to shareholders between 2001 and 2011.

  • LORD COPPER: There is nothing to fear after JP Morgan loss ...

    So, here we go again. Another bank, another huge trade gone bad. This one doesn’t even appear to have been a case of rogue trading; a whole desk seems to have been operating with the full knowledge of the management and/or risk committee.

  • COMMENT: Keep calm and carry on?

    The decision of the Indonesian government last week to uphold the ore export ban and taxes from May 6 has failed to calm the nervous market. So far, both producers and buyers have displayed an impressive tolerance level to the export uncertainty. But how long will their patience last?

Upcoming Events

Most readMost emailed

Popular Searches on MB

MB Glossary


From Aluminium to Zinc...
Search this free glossary on metals