United Mining Supply (UMS) to source alumina for Alteo specialty alumina plant in France

Guinean mining logistics company United Mining Supply (UMS) is looking for sourcing alumina to produce specialty alumina at Alteo plant in France. This news came in late January after UMS chairman Fadi Wazni told S&P Global Platts. UMS took over the charge of Alteo’s production site near the southern city of Marseille in early January.

Alteo’s Marseille plant will initially need to procure 400,000 tonnes of alumina per year to process it into specialty products dedicated to lithium-ion batteries and smart phones. In around three years, this requirement is expected to increase to 500,000 tonnes per year with the expansion of the plant, said Wazni to S&P Global Platts.

"We may open bids for alumina as early as this week," he said. "The market for alumina is quite big so we are quite confident."

UMS may source the alumina from Europe or the United States, according to the report. Alteo, under UMS leadership, is expected to produce 240,000 tonnes of specialty alumina per year in the first year of operation.

The plant is currently producing and supplying to customers in the automobile and ceramic industries in the US, China, France, and other part of Europe.

"We are experiencing strong demand. The market is in good shape now and we have to add capacity," Wazni said.

Besides Alteo, there are a few other producers of this specialty alumina across the world. The total worldwide capacity for this type of alumina is around 2 million tonnes per year, with one plant in the US and two or three in Asia, including South Korea.