VINACHEM

Aleris International has broken ground for the construction of an $300M aluminum rolling mill in China’s Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province.

The greenfield mill will produce semi-finished rolled aluminum products in a joint venture with Zhenjiang Dingsheng Aluminum Industries Joint-Stock Co.

Aleris will own 81% of the venture, named Aleris Dingsheng Aluminum (Zhenjiang) Co Ltd.

The factory will produce rolled aluminum plate, heat-treated plate and non-heat treated plate for the aerospace, general engineering, tooling and molding, petrochemical and transportation industries.

The company said that the operation also has the potential to manufacture product for automotive applications.

The potential rolling force of the hot mill qualifies it as the world's strongest, similar to the one at Aleris’s Koblenz, Germany facility. Additionally, various advanced commercial plate products developed by Aleris will be produced at the Zhenjiang facility, providing alloy options for Chinese customers.

The mill is designed for an eventual capacity of approximately 250kt/y with approximately 100,000m2 initially under roof, on more than 280,000m2 of land.

Construction is expected to be completed within two years, with product shipping to customers by Q4 of 2012.