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Argus’ comprehensive coverage of the global ferrous markets provide independent price assessments, news and market analysis for iron ore, coking coal, ferrous scrap, pig iron and steel.
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Australia offers support to Rio Tinto’s Tomago Al plant
Australia offers support to Rio Tinto’s Tomago Al plant
Sydney, 12 December (Argus) — The Australian government has offered support to UK-Australian producer Rio Tinto to operate its 600,000 t/yr Tomago aluminium smelter beyond 2028 through a long-term power purchase agreement. Rio Tinto subsidiary Tomago Aluminium will work with Australia's federal and New South Wales (NSW) governments over coming months on an energy solution to support the 600,000 t/yr smelter from 2028, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said today. The deal will include a fixed-price power purchase agreement and a commitment from Tomago Aluminium to invest A$1bn ($670mn) into the plant over 10 years, he added. A long-term power purchasing agreement is in the interest of continued long-term investment into the industrial future of Tomago, Australia's minister of industry and innovation Tim Ayres said at a press conference. But Ayres declined to comment further on the specifics of the deal. Rio Tinto in October warned that it may need to close Tomago at the end of 2028 when its current electricity contract ends because of unsustainable energy costs. It had been looking for a new energy solution since 2022, but was not able to find one, it said at the time. The company began talks with NSW state and federal officials over energy cost support for Tomago in June. It has run the smelter normally over 2025. It produced 426,000t of aluminium on a 100pc basis at Tomago in January-September, down by 2.2pc on the year. Australia's support for Tomago comes one day after Tim Ayres defended the government's industrial policy record. Industrial policy is "a rational, pragmatic response to the acute challenges of this moment," he said at a speech to the Sydney Institute on 11 December. The government's support packages for the Whyalla steelworks , global producer Glencore's Queensland copper operations , and global producer Nyrstar's lead and zinc smelters were informed by its obligation to preserve and strengthen economic conditions for Australian workers, he added. The government may also offer support to another Rio Tinto aluminium smelter. Tasmanian state officials have called on the federal government to back the company's 190,000 t/yr Bell Bay aluminium smelter through low-carbon production subsidies in November. By Avinash Govind Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
EU may crank up coal and steel research funds in 2027
EU may crank up coal and steel research funds in 2027
London, 11 December (Argus) — The European Commission could fund a much larger share of research in the coal and steel industry from 2027, according to a staff working document published yesterday. The EU Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) would fund 70pc of corporate research and 100pc of academic research into green initiatives if the EU moves forth with the proposal. It currently funds 50pc of both corporate and academic research projects, but has struggled to attract participants or meet its spending targets, noting that the "underspending of the project is rooted in a lack of attractiveness of certain aspects of the programme". RFCS spent 57pc of its €43mn ($50mn) budget for large coal projects and only 31pc of its €208mn budget for steel research from 2021 to 2024. Brussels, troubled by a lack of applications, consulted companies and academics this year and found that its spending requirements were the largest barrier. Most were unable or unwilling to fund 50pc of large research projects themselves. RFCS has supported a number of groups hoping to repurpose old coal mines for clean energy. GreenJOBS and Mine-TO-H2, two funding recipients, both plan on making green hydrogen from mine water, while GrEnMine received pilot funding worth €3.5mn to research new ways to store gravitational energy in abandoned mines. Others, such as REM and GI-mine, are working on new methods to capture methane from coal mines. In the steel sector, RFCS has awarded funds to hydrogen power projects such as ProSynteg and HYDREAMS and research groups such as BIOCODE, which hopes to replace up to 10pc of the coal in coke ovens with biomass. The EU dissolved the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) — an agency tasked with making a common European steel market, which eventually led to the creation of the EU — in 2002. The EU used revenues from ECSC assets to launch and fund the RFCS in the same year, and boosted the programme in 2021 by tapping into the assets themselves. By Austin Barnes Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
ArcelorMittal to raise ferro-alloys surcharge on coil
ArcelorMittal to raise ferro-alloys surcharge on coil
London, 11 December (Argus) — Leading European steelmaker ArcelorMittal is increasing its ferro-alloy surcharge on flat carbon steel in response to cost rises since the imposition of a new safeguard on the materials. The increases vary depending on product, with bulk commodity volumes likely to see an uptick of just a few euros, while 10-15pc of the company's orderbook could see an additional surcharge of around €10/t. Speciality grades could see even steeper increases, up to €20-50/t for some products. Ferro-alloy prices have risen across the board since the imposition of a tariff-rate quota by the European Commission. Silicomanganese, with a manganese content of 65pc, increased by €175/t between 20 November and 9 December to a midpoint of €1,140/t, according to Argus assessments; over the same period ferro-silicon, with 75pc silicon content, jumped by €317.50/t to €1,525/t, while ferro-manganese increased by €167.50/t to a midpoint of €1,140/t. Some ferro-alloys, such as ferro-manganese, will also be in scope of CBAM, increasing the cost of importing further. Interestingly, some higher-gauge coil products have very steep default values compared with more commoditised grades. For grain-oriented silicon-electrical steel, for example, the default CBAM value is much higher for every country than their respective values for more commoditised steels. Japan, for example, has a default value for HS722511 and HS22611 grain-oriented electrical steel of over 5t, compared with just 2.31t for 7208 products; South Korea has a default value of over 5.85t for both of these products, compared with 2.33t for 7208 products. China, which accounts for most grain-oriented imports, has a default value on these products of almost 9t, compared with 3.82 for 7208 products. The high default value for steel using silicon appears to tie into particularly strong measures the EU is taking to protect its heavily pressured ferro-silicon industry from lower cost, more carbon intensive overseas competition. Under the safeguard measures implemented by the EU last month, ferro-silicon received the most extreme level of support, with its out of quota minimum price threshold set at €2,408/t cif Europe, more than double the spot market price prior to the safeguard's introduction. By Colin Richardson and Ronan Murphy Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
China's CATL to raise $1.4bn to fund battery projects
China's CATL to raise $1.4bn to fund battery projects
Beijing, 11 December (Argus) — China's largest battery manufacturer CATL plans to raise up to 10bn yuan ($1.4bn) by issuing five-year bonds, the company said on 10 December. It aims to support project construction and to replenish working capital through the fundraising, said the company. More details, including which projects will be funded, were undisclosed. CATL is the world's largest battery manufacturer, with its power battery installations accounting for 38pc of the global market during January-October, industry data show. It is building several large-sized production projects in China, including the 100 GWh/yr plant in Jining in north China's Shandong province, and a 40 GWh/yr plant in Shandong's Dongying city, as well as a 80 GWh/yr project in Xiamen of Fujian province. The company has also expanded its production outside China. It began constructing a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant in Spain's Aragon region on 26 November. It also operates a 14 GWh/yr plant in Germany, and is building a 100 GWh/yr plant in Hungary set to start operations in early 2026. A 15 GWh/yr plant in Indonesia is expected to begin production in 2027. CATL's battery installations rose to 210.67GWh in the first three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase of 33.6pc. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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