Novelis to expand aluminium recycling capacity

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL(Commodity Online): Novelis do Brasil Ltda., a subsidiary of Novelis Inc., the worldwide leader in aluminum rolled products and can recycling, announced that it has begun work on a US$15 million expansion of recycling capacity at its integrated aluminum rolling and recycling complex in Pindamonhangaba, Sao Paulo.

The investment will include the addition of two new furnaces and related improvements, which will increase the plant's capacity to recycle used beverage cans and other aluminum scrap by one third to 200,000 metric tons per year. The expansion will allow a nearly 20 percent increase in sheet ingot production to feed the plant's rolling mills. The new equipment is expected to come on stream in the spring of 2011.

"Improving our ability to recycle metal and manage our molten metal flow allows us to increase production of rolling ingot for our mills and reduces the need to purchase ingot from external parties," said Alexandre Almeida, senior vice president of Novelis Inc. and president, Novelis South America. "The overall effect is a more efficient operation to help us respond to our customers' needs."

Novelis is Brazil's leading producer of flat rolled aluminum products and its largest recycler of beverage cans, processing approximately 8 billion cans in 2009. The aluminum can is an environmental success story in a country where the recycling rate is currently estimated at better than 91 percent, placing Brazil among the world leaders in beverage can recycling.

Novelis' assets in Brazil include primary aluminum units in Aratu (BA) and Ouro Preto (MG), aluminum rolling operations in Pindamonhangaba and Santo Andre (SP), and nine hydropower plants located throughout the State of Minas Gerais. (Courtesy: PRNewswire)