Alcoa wins bidding for Ormet carbon anodes

Alcoa Inc. has won an auction for carbon anodes from bankrupt aluminum producer Ormet Corp., agreeing to pay more than $11 million for 51,800 tonnes.

The Pittsburgh-based aluminum producer will pay $252 per tonne, or nearly $4.31 million, for 17,086 tonnes of baked carbon anodes in Hannibal, Ohio, where Ormet is based, and $194 per tonne, or more than $6.74 million, for 34,755 tonnes of anodes in Baltimore, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

Alcoa’s bids, which remain subject to court approval, topped competing offers from four other companies: Aminco Resources LLC, White Plains, N.Y.; Bognar & Co. Inc., Pittsburgh; Century Aluminum Co., Chicago; and Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp., Franklin, Tenn.

Separately, the bankruptcy court has approved the sale of approximately 430 tonnes of new and used copper rods to Leetsdale, Pa.-based Libertas Copper LLC. Three companies had been vying for the rods .

In addition, Ormet has received approval to sell 688 tonnes of aluminum fluoride to Noranda for $950 per tonne, or $653,600 .

Ormet, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, is selling what it considers to be excess assets.

The sales come as Ormet’s losses have continued to swell. The company lost $16.6 million in November, 48.2 percent more than October losses of $11.2 million, putting the loss in the first 11 months of the year at nearly $134.2 million, according to a bankruptcy court filing. The company received no revenue from sow sales in November, the documents indicate.

Ormet has idled its smelter in Hannibal and sold its alumina refinery in Burnside, La.