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  • Opening of new casting line at Hydro Rackwitz (L-R): Jenny Stenberg Sørvold, 1st secretary, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Berlin; Thomas Stürzebecher, managing director at Hydro Aluminium Gießerei Rackwitz GmbH; Eivind Kallevik, executive vice president for Hydro Aluminium Metal; and Thomas Schmidt, minister of Regional Development, Free State of Saxony. (Photo: Marco Prosch, Hydro.)

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    Hydro Opens New Casting Line to Meet Growing Demand for Low-Carbon Forging Stock

    Hydro officially opened the new HyForge casting line at its aluminum recycling plant in Rackwitz, Germany. The €40 million investment responds to the automotive industry’s drive to decarbonize by significantly increasing the use of recycled, post-consumer aluminum scrap. Held on September 14, 2023, the opening ceremony marked the end of a 14 month construction process […]

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    Alba Introduces New Aluminum Alloy for Extrusion Customers

    Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) introduced a new aluminum alloy, 6060.HE, which is aimed for extrusion customers. Produced in a billet form with a wide range of applications in the construction sector, this new alloy provides a faster extrusion rate that will improve the process efficiency and productivity for its users. “We are pleased to be […]

  • Aluminum billet produced using green hydrogen as a fuel at Hydro’s casthouse in Navarra, Spain.

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    Hydro Trials the Use of Green Hydrogen in Its Recycling Operations

    By Andrea Svendsen, Managing Editor. Hydro successfully produced a batch of aluminum billet using green hydrogen as an energy source. Performed at the company’s extrusion plant in Navarra, Spain, the trial was conducted in collaboration with Hydro Havrand, Hydro’s green hydrogen company, and Fives, an industrial engineering group with expertise in hydrogen burner technology. According […]

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    Machine Learning Brings Big Value to Light Metal Manufacturing

    By Andrew Halonen, Mayflower Consulting LLC. Material developers and producers are feeling global pressure to optimize their respective businesses, especially as communications get easier and as once-difficult tasks are optimized and commoditized by automation technologies. Gone are the days that a midwestern forging producer would automatically have a competitive advantage with an automotive OEM over […]

  • stacks of aluminum billet

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    Rio Tinto and Giampaolo Group Enter into Matalco Aluminum Recycling Joint Venture

    Rio Tinto and Giampaolo Group entered into an agreement to form a joint venture to manufacture and market recycled aluminum products. Under the terms of the agreement, Rio Tinto will acquire a 50% equity stake in Giampaolo Group’s wholly-owned Matalco business. The transaction reflects the joint venture partners’ shared commitment to meeting the increasing demand for […]

  • Figure 2. First cast of billet on the DC casting line at KM&M.

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    KM&M Launches New Facility for the Development of Specialty Alloys and Processes

    Kingston Metals & Materials Inc. (KM&M-Aluminum) started up a new aluminum facility in Kingston, ON, Canada (Figure 1). The company focuses on supporting the development of specialty aluminum alloys, products, and processes by providing equipment, analysis, and decades of expertise in one central operation. With the launch of this new facility, KM&M is now the […]

  • The melting and holding furnaces within the new Matalco casthouse in Kentucky.

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    Matalco Launches Remelt Facility in Kentucky

    Matalco Inc. completed the construction and startup of its seventh remelt facility, located in Franklin, KY, which will operate under the name Matalco Kentucky LLC. The $65 million investment represents the company’s third new plant project in the last eight years. The new plant will focus on the production of rolling ingot — affirming the […]

  • One of two 50 tonne tilting melting furnaces installed in SCM’s new remelt and casting plant. (All photos taken by Chip Jackson and Nick Harrison, SCM.)

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    SCM Celebrates 20th Anniversary with New Casthouse and Extrusion Line

    By Andrea Svendsen, Managing Editor. Service Center Metals (SCM), an aluminum extrusion manufacturing company headquartered in Prince George, VA, is celebrating 20 years of continuous operation this year. As the company moves into its third decade, it is completing a $127 million investment in a new remelt and casting plant and new extrusion plant near […]