MAL Hungarian Aluminium
The Magyar Alumínium AG ( MAL), full name Magyar és Alumíniumtermelő - kereskedelmi Zrt, German. Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade AG (MAL AG), is a Hungarian corporation headquartered in Ajka Veszprém County north of Lake Balaton. The company was one of two 100 % Hungarian investors and was nationalized by the Hungarian Parliament on 12 October 2010.
History
The Hungarian Alumuniumerzproduktion began in 1917 with the aluminum ore mining and industrial Ltd., which took over after the First World War, the former foreign investments and companies with offices in Fiume (Rijeka ), Trieste, Bucharest and Zagreb. The company bauxite Trust AG Holding was founded in Zurich for the management of the activities of the Hungarian and foreign companies. In the late 1920s, this group, which was in the hands of German companies, one of the largest bauxite company in the world.
1946 all the files of the former German companies in Hungary were taken to the Soviet Union. From the existing Hungarian bauxite industry, the Soviet-Hungarian bauxite - aluminum AG was formed. The bauxite mining and its processing industry played in the Hungarian industry after 1945 a special role. Therefore, the Bakony Bauxite mining companies, the Lehmerdefabrik and aluminum smelter in Ajka, the Lehmerdefabrik in Almasfuzito and nationwide Hungarian aluminum industry was summarized.
The result is the company Magyar Alumínium AG in 1995 as part of the privatization of the Hungarian aluminum industry. Hungarian private investors led by Zoltán Bakonyi took over the former state-owned enterprises Bakony Bauxite mining, alumina factory Ajkaer and Inotaer aluminum smelter, they added one in the newly formed company and transformed it into a corporation. The entire company is ISO 9001 certified and other quality management standards such as ISO 14001.
To further strengthen the distribution channels, the company was in 1997/98 reorganized, divided into several divisions and among other things, the MAL- Product S.R.L. in Romania and a Handels GmbH (MAL - Germany GmbH) in Germany, founded jointly with the company Metalworks lump GmbH in Renningen ( MWK today Renningen GmbH - a company of Georgsmarienhütte Holding GmbH). In 2001, the majority shares of the Slovenian company SILKEM doo, which produces various synthetic zeolites and ground alumina products purchased. Furthermore, acquired the majority ownership of the Bosnian bauxite mine Rudnici Boksita Jajce in June 2004. As of January 31, 2006 Inotaer the aluminum smelter was shut down and there taken at the same time two blast furnaces to melt scrap into operation. On June 1, 2007, these production capacities were sold for semifinished aluminum products in Inota to the company INOTAL aluminum processing GmbH.
70-75 % of total production going as exports to the countries of Western Europe.
Ajka alumina factory
The Ajka alumina factory was founded in 1943 to promote and process the local bauxite deposits. The processing of bauxite by the Bayer process is carried out. In addition, aluminum cast alloys there are the ALU FÉM Division, among others made of gescholzenem aluminum scrap and waste.
As one of the few companies worldwide that MAL AG produced in Ajka also very pure gallium and operates the only aluminum electrolysis in Hungary.
Kolontár - dam failure
National and International attention was the company on October 4, 2010, when the storage dam of the landfill basin for storage of red mud of the alumina factory Ajkai Timföldgyár broke and depending on the source - from 600,000 to about 1.1 million cubic meters of caustic and heavy metal-containing sludge have leaked. The mud got into the flood leading Torna creek and flooded the nearby communities along the creek Kolontár, Devecser, Somlóvásárhely, Tüskevár, Apácatorna and Kisberzseny.
In this basin is one of currently 8 are particularly at risk retention basins, where, according to information from the WWF Hungary about 55 million cubic meters of red mud are stored. Among other things, in a further Rotschlammdeponie at Almásfüzit between Györ and Budapest, but there kept about 12 million tonnes of toxic sludge.
Several years ago, was part of the privatization Hungarian environmental organizations had pointed out the weak agreements on corporate responsibility in the event of an accident. Greenpeace demands of both business owners the full liability for the consequences of the accident. On the part of the company's complete takeover of all costs of the accident was promised. The purpose previously were promised compensation of 110,000 euros has an estimated fortune of both owners and Árpád Zoltán Bakony, in front of an estimated 145 million euros, with which they are among the thirty richest Hungary.