Century Aluminum Announces Casthouse Expansion Project into Low Carbon Billet Production for its Grundartangi, Iceland smelter

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[{"type":"text","content":"CHICAGO, Nov. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Norðurál Grundartangi ehf (“Norðurál”), has commenced construction of a new low-carbon billet casthouse at its Grundartangi, Iceland smelter. The new value-added casthouse will have a capacity of 150,000 tonnes of billet production and is expected to start production in the first quarter of 2024. The expansion project will also increase Grundartangi’s annual capacity to produce primary foundry alloys from its current 60,000 tonnes of capacity to 120,000 tonnes of capacity. This incremental billet and primary foundry alloy capacity replaces standard-grade ingot production, raising expected product premiums for Grundartangi products. The $120 million investment is expected to create approximately 90 jobs. \"We are very excited to bring billet production to Grundartangi and, beginning in 2024, to bring low-carbon Natur-Al™ billet to the European market,” commented President and Chief Executive Officer Jesse Gary. “Once complete, the new casthouse will enable Grundartangi to produce over 80% of its production as value-added products, further strengthening this world-class asset. In addition, by utilizing renewable electricity to further process our aluminum into billets in Iceland, we are not only creating a more valuable product, but we are also strengthening the Natur-Al™ brand and lowering the carbon footprint of aluminum production throughout Europe. We are proud to announce that the project will be fully financed with Icelandic green financing from Arion Bank and powered with green energy from our partners at Landsvirkjun.\" The new Natur-Al™ billets and foundry products will be produced to meet growing demand from European customers for low-carbon aluminum products. Grundartangi uses Iceland’s 100% renewable energy resources to create Natur-Al™ aluminum, which has one of the lowest CO₂ footprints in the world. Natur-Al™ billet and foundry products are expected to have less than a quarter of the CO₂ content than the industry average, fulfilling the growing demand from Europe’s most environmentally conscious consumers. Natur-Al™ products can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of end products which is necessary in the highly competitive markets for consumer goods, vehicles, packaging and cons...

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