China body blames design faults for aluminium accident

China's State Administration of Work Safety ordered safety checks at all nonferrous metal plants after it said a design flaw helped cause molten aluminium to spill from a foundry in Shandong province this month, killing 16 workers and injuring 59. In a report posted on the safety body's web site (www.chinasafety.gov.cn), it blamed design and operational faults for the Aug. 19 accident at Weiqiao Aluminium's foundry, owned by Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group. "The design has big faults," the safety body said in the report, which accused Weiqiao Aluminium of violating design specifications at the workshop in Zouping county. A county spokesman said the accident was still being investigated. Senior executives at Weiqiao were not available for comment. Shandong Weiqiao controls Weiqiao Aluminium and Hong Kong-listed Weiqiao Textile (2698.HK: Quote, Profile , Research). Weiqiao Aluminium has 4 alumina refineries, 5 aluminium smelting plants and one aluminium cathode block foundry, according to the report. The foundry started operations on July 6 this year with capacity of 30,000 tonnes a year. It used non-professional containers to transport molten aluminium from Weiqiao Aluminium's smelter, which is located 22 kilometres from the workshop. The foundry produced cathode block, which is made from aluminium and other minor metals and used in reduction cells in which primary aluminium is produced. Weiqiao, the country's second-biggest alumina producer after Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (2600.HK: Quote, Profile , Research) (601600.SS: Quote, Profile , Research), had capacity of 4 million tonnes of alumina and 500,000 tonnes of primary aluminium, industry sources said. The firm was building another 2 million tonnes of alumina capacity. Alumina is the main material for aluminium production. The fatal accident might briefly affect its operations of primary aluminium due to safety checks, the sources said. A slowdown in Weiqiao's aluminium production was unlikely to reduce supplies in the domestic market, given that the country's production rose 34 percent in the first seven months of the year.