Products and Productive Processes

BETTER ALUMINUM FOR A BETTER WORLD

CBA is the only vertically integrated, end-to-end aluminum producer in Brazil. Our operations extend from bauxite mining to production of primary and semi-fabricated aluminum products. All our operations are supplied with 100% of their electricity requirement from our own hydropower plants.

CBA’s high quality, high purity raw materials ensure our business is sustainable and competitive. They also allow us to work closely with our customers to develop applications for aluminum in a wide range of solutions for society.

We offer solutions and services for the following markets:

Packaging

Automotive

Transportation

Building and construction

Consumer goods

Mining

Bauxite is mined in Itamarati de Minas, Miraí and Poços de Caldas, in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, and in Barro Alto, in the Midwest state of Goiás, using best practices in sustainable land management. The bauxite ore is then beneficiated and transported—first by truck and then by rail—to the

plant in Alumínio (SP). Mined land is reclaimed and returned to surface landowners with the same or better physical and chemical properties than before it was mined.

Alumina Refinery

On arrival at the plant, the bauxite ore is blended based on its physical and chemical properties. At the Refinery, the first step in the process is extracting aluminium oxide (alumina) from the bauxite. This is achieved through chemical reactions using alkaline solutions at high temperatures, in what is known as the Bayer process. The bauxite residue, or red mud, is stored in a dam.

Smelters

The alumina is carried in silo trucks to smelting facilities. At the Smelters, anode paste—a mix of coal-tar pitch and petroleum coke – and electrolyte bath – consisting primarily of fluoride – are added to the alumina. Electrolytic reduction in Soderberg cells transforms the alumina into molten aluminium, which is then carried in trucks to different departments at the Casthouse.

Casthouse

The molten aluminium is fed along with master alloys and scrap into the Casthouse furnaces, where it is cast into ingots, billets, plate sheet, caster rolls and rod. In addition to the Alumínio (SP) plant, this process is used at our Metalex operation in Araçariguama (SP) to produce billets, and at our Itapissuma (PE) operation to produce plate sheet and caster rolls. Both operations use a mix of ingots and scrap.

Downstream

Value-added, semi-fabricated products are manufactured via rolling, extrusion and surface treatment processes. Many of these products are custom-developed with our customers to meet their stringent needs. Our Alumínio (SP) plant produces the full range of semi-fabricated products, while the Itapissuma (PE) operation is dedicated to rolled products.