As this is the seventh-generation XJ, they've had a considerable amount of time to determine what, exactly, they needed to do to improve the product. Arguably, the present generation is one that is a considerable departure from many of its predecessors--as well as from most vehicles that are available today--in that the vehicle, which was originally launched in June 2003 as a '04 model, has an aluminum monocoque. According to David Mitchell, chief program engineer for the XJ, this use of aluminum not only makes the vehicle distinctive vs. other cars in the large premium category (the car is considered, says CJ O'Donnell, executive vp, Sales & Marketing, Jaguar North America, in the context of the Mercedes 5-Class, the BMW 7 Series, and the Audi A8; the last-named is also an aluminum-intensive vehicle, albeit one with a different approach to the processing of the material. In the case of the Jag, there is an extensive use of self-piercing rivets and adhesives for putting the panels together into the monocoque; Audi uses extrusions for more of a frame-like structure.), a distinctiveness that ought to aid in sales, but it provides customer benefits, as well. Mitchell claims, for example, that because of the deployment of the lightweight material in the vehicle (the long-wheelbase versions of the vehicle, which we're talking about here, are five inches longer than the short-wheelbase models, yet weigh a mere 53 lb. more), advantages include improved performance, reduced emissions and improved fuel economy. These advantages are directly predicated on the fact that the engine--the XJ8L, Vanden Plas, Super V8, and Super V8 Portfolio all use the same base 4.2-liter V8 (DOHC; four valves per cylinder), but while the horsepower rating for the first two is 294 @ 6,000 rpm, the latter two also feature an Eaton 112 Roots-type supercharger which boosts the engines to 390 hp @ 6,100 rpm--powers a comparatively light vehicle (that is, for a vehicle that has an overall length of 205.3 in. and a wheelbase of 124.4 in). The Super V8, for example, weighs 4,059 lb. A vehicle that O'Donnell cites in comparison, the BMW 760Li, weights 4,552 lb.

One of the things that will be happening to the Jaguar lineup, O'Donnell says, is that it will be going increasingly upscale. While there has been an effort to have cars for the well-heeled masses--as in the X-Type and the S-Type--there will now be more of an emphasis on vehicles that are for the really well-heeled. To wit:

The big difference in the XJ '06 lineup is actually a small--or perhaps "discrete" is the proper nomenclature--addition: the Super V8 Portfolio. Like the vehicle from which it is directly derived, the Super V8, this new model is not small in any sense of that word, as it is dimensionally identical, inside and out. What is definitely small, however, is the number of vehicles that have been made available to dealers in the U.S.: 145. That's for the entire model year. All of them, by the way, have been spoken for, as have the additional five, for the Canadian market. By Jaguar's reckoning, this limited run makes the Super V8 Portfolio truly a rare thing, as O'Donnell points out that in calendar year '04 there were: 2,260 Bentley Continental GTs sold in the U.S. (@$162,285); 658 Mercedes 5600s ($131,725); 442 BMW 760Lis ($119,595); and an estimated 150 Audi A8L W12s ($118,120). Not only are there fewer Portfolios, but there is a lower price point: $115,995.

Agree to develop use of aluminum extrusions for autos

DETROIT -- BMW AG and Hydro Aluminium Automotive (HAA) have signed a multiyear agreement to develop automotive applications, including space frames and subframes, for aluminum extrusions.

HAA, a unit of Hydro Aluminium AS of Oslo, Norway, already has built space frames using extrusions for BMW's prototype electric cars and currently is making subframes in production volumes for General Motors Corp.'s Chevrolet Corvette sports cars.

HAA, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, has manufacturing facilities on both sides of the Atlantic, including 20 extrusion plants in Europe.

The agreement with BMW is regarded as a positive sign for the future of extrusions and extrusion alloys overseas and in North America. Aluminum industry sources in the United States said it shows that proponents of extrusions continue to strengthen their position with customers and potential customers in the light-weight structural components market.

The world market for aluminum in structural automotive components is being driven by the need for lighter cars with higher fuel economy ratings, the sources said.

In a joint statement, executives of BMW and HAA said, "We have great faith in the success of this simultaneous development program, to be carried out between one of the most innovative car manufacturers and Europe's largest aluminum producer."

HAA belongs to Hydro Aluminium's Extrusion Group, which has four plants in the United States, including one in Holland, Mich., which is making the rear subframes for the Corvettes. Most of the group's work to date in the automotive structural area has involved Series 6000 alloys, notably 6061 and its equivalent European alloy.

The joint statement did not specify which projects are involved in the new agreement, but BMW is believed to be working on at least three experimental space frame/subframe programs in Europe. The agreement does not appear to involve the cars BMW will build at its first U.S. assembly plant, which is being constructed in Spartanburg, S.C.

This year programmed is shaping up to be one of great quality. With a little over 5 months until showtime - Metal Bulletin has the committment of the following speakers.

1 Keynote address:

Producer strategies in a globally competitive business restructuring and cost containment - Jon-Harald Nilsen, Executive Vice-President Norsk Hydro and President, Hydro Aluminium, Norway

2 A review of LME aluminium contract issues and LME Select2 one year on - Simon Heale, Chief Executive, London Metal Exchange, UK

3 Exploiting the potential of deregulated energy market - a representative of KW International, UK

4 The aluminium extrusions sector: exploring the market and developing new applications - Francois Coeffic, Group Vice President, European Operations, Sapa AB, Luxembourg

5 Aluminium in the global packaging business: working to make the most of a growth market? -- Lars Emilson, Group Director -- Beverage Cans, Rexam plc, UK

Those who already subscribe to Primary Aluminium Monthly, Aluminium Extrusions Markets, and Aluminium Flat Rolled Markets should be quite familiar with the names Raju Daswani and Kirstine Veitch. Both have the responsibility of analysing the market and compiling the information into the various monthly Aluminium Reports. One based in New York and one in London they collaborate to bring readers the most informative industry reports around.

Educated at University of Edinburgh she received her degree in geology and carried on her studies at The Royal School of Mines at Imperial in London where she received an MSC in Mineral Project Appraisal.

Each Aluminium report consist of mill prices, detailed statistics and analysis of production and consumption levels in key markets, analysis on Asian market trends, prices and demand levels, monitoring fringe producers' activity within markets, regional economic statistics and end-use trend overview, industry news on new plants expansions and closures, and commentary on market developments including order levels and lead times at mills.

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SENIOR rail executives and high-speed rail specialists from Korea, Japan, France, Germany, and the United States outlined the current state of play and probable future developments of high-speed rail during the KTX symposium in Seoul.

Mr Kim Se-Ho, administrator of Korean National Railroad (Korail), which operates KTX, said current issues included finding ways to reduce track maintenance costs, and solving wheel-rail interface and tunnel noise problems. He also looked forward to the development of a high-speed network in Korea covering more than 1000km, with the next generation of trains running at 350km/h.

Future developments in Korean high-speed rail were addressed by Mr K R Yang of the Korea Railroad Research Institute. He said the next 350km/h train, while still based on the French technology transferred during the KTX project, would be an entirely Korean project. "We shall be self-sufficient in future projects," he said.

The $US 200 million development budget would produce a train with a number of differences from KTX. These include a uniquely Korean front end design, induction motors instead of synchronous motors, use of aluminium extrusions instead of mild steel for the car bodies, reducing weight by about 7%, the addition to friction and electric regenerative braking of eddy-current braking, pressurised passenger accommodation, and a shorter 11 car version. A prototype train with two power cars and five trailers has been built and tested. It reached 302.1km/h in August 2003.

NEW YORK -- Alcoa Inc., the world's largest producer of soft alloy and hard alloy extruded products, has posted another round of price hikes on soft alloy extrusions it said would amount to 5 cents a pound effective with new orders starting June 26 and all shipments commencing June 30.

The Pittsburgh-based aluminum giant, which lofted a 7-cent-a-pound price hike on soft alloy extrusions in January, said that the new round would exclude rods in diameters over 7 inches, square bars over 6 inches and rectangular bars with a circle size topping 13 inches.

There was no indication from Alcoa at presstime as to whether the 5-cent-a-pound price hike scheduled for the end of June would be additional to prices arrived at following the 7-cent boost posted in January, adding up to at least a 12-cent-per-pound price increase year-to-date. U.S. aluminium companies seldom post price cuts.

Alcoa and its competitors posted price hikes of 21 to 24 cents a pound in the last three quarters of 1999--quite a bit better than the bench-mark London Metal Exchange cash price, which climbed about 19 cents a pound over the same period.

The LME price moved up another 6 cents a pound in January, providing the groundwork for the 7-cent move on soft alloy extrusions by Aloca and some of its competitors. But the LME price has since fallen about 9 cents a pound.

After a firm start, market prices for soft alloy extrusions also have been trending downward this year. Going prices for standard 6063 alloy extrusions, which ended 1999 at about $1.28 a pound, peaked at $1.38 to $1.39 a pound in February. At mid-year, they are approaching $1.28 a pound, a retreat which suggests that the early 2000 postings by aluminum companies didn't take root.

Market sources said Wednesday that Alcoa was cutting back operations at its four-press Yankton, South Dakota, plant, which it secured in conjunction with the July 1998 purchase of Alumax Inc. The Yankton plant serves mainly the truck trailer and housing markets. There was no confirmation of the cutback from Alcoa by presstime.

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) announced today that it has appointed Galdino Claro, 43, to the newly created position as president of Alcoa China effective immediately.

He will be responsible for the company's eight joint venture or wholly owned operations in China as well as our newly acquired Korean company, Changwon Precision Extrusions. He will also serve as Alcoa's principal representative to the Government of China. Mr. Claro had been president of Alcoa Europe Extrusions and End Products, with responsibility for 20 plants in nine countries. He will be located in Beijing.

Succeeding Mr. Claro as president of Alcoa Europe's extrusions and end products business is Philippe Royer, 40, who joined Alcoa in January 2002. He will be based in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr. Royer had been president of VAW AG's foil business.

Alcoa is the world's leading producer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina, and is active in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa's businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components, Alcoa also markets consumer brands including Reynolds Wrap(R) aluminum foil, Alcoa(R) wheels, and Baco(R) household wraps. Among its other businesses are vinyl siding, closures, precision castings, and electrical distribution systems for cars and trucks. The company has 129,000 employees in 38 countries.

A strong industry presence at the UITP exhibition in Madrid could not disguise the fact that some exhibitors were questioning why they should be there.

THE changing nature of the railway manufacturing and supply industry and the way that operators are now purchasing equipment is having a knock-on effect on events such as major exhibitions. While the UITP exhibition in Madrid last month had two halls full of exhibitors, some were beginning to question the true value of their presence.

The relationship between operators, manufacturers, and suppliers changed for ever when operators abandoned the practice of purchasing on the basis of highly detailed technical specifications in favour of much simpler performance specifications.

This left most of the technical choices with the manufacturer, and the effect of this for medium and small-scale component and sub-system suppliers was that the operator was no longer their customer. Suppliers then had to deal direct with the manufacturer. Under the old scheme of things, exhibitions were ideal venues to meet scores if not hundreds of operators. But with industry rationalisation, the number of "new" customers has shrunk to the Big Three, Alstom Transport, Bombardier Transportation, and Siemens Transportation Systems, followed by companies such as AnsaldoBreda, CAF, and Talgo.

While quality is always more important than quantity in the visitors to any individual stand, a good number of exhibitors, including some major ones, felt the show was "a bit low key" and that there might be better ways to achieve their commercial ends than attending some of the large number of exhibitions on the international calendar.

A strong industry presence at the UITP exhibition in Madrid could not disguise the fact that some exhibitors were questioning why they should be there.

THE changing nature of the railway manufacturing and supply industry and the way that operators are now purchasing equipment is having a knock-on effect on events such as major exhibitions. While the UITP exhibition in Madrid last month had two halls full of exhibitors, some were beginning to question the true value of their presence.

The relationship between operators, manufacturers, and suppliers changed for ever when operators abandoned the practice of purchasing on the basis of highly detailed technical specifications in favour of much simpler performance specifications.

This left most of the technical choices with the manufacturer, and the effect of this for medium and small-scale component and sub-system suppliers was that the operator was no longer their customer. Suppliers then had to deal direct with the manufacturer. Under the old scheme of things, exhibitions were ideal venues to meet scores if not hundreds of operators. But with industry rationalisation, the number of "new" customers has shrunk to the Big Three, Alstom Transport, Bombardier Transportation, and Siemens Transportation Systems, followed by companies such as AnsaldoBreda, CAF, and Talgo.

While quality is always more important than quantity in the visitors to any individual stand, a good number of exhibitors, including some major ones, felt the show was "a bit low key" and that there might be better ways to achieve their commercial ends than attending some of the large number of exhibitions on the international calendar. Even the biggest, most successful companies, will sometimes admit that they attend not because they see positive benefits in the exercise but because they know their major competitors will be there and cannot be seen not to be there. Additionally, in an industry in which products may have a life span of up to 40 years, no-one can come up with an exciting new offer every few months.

Of course, there is another side to these events and one must never discount the value of the personal contacts made, nurtured, and sustained over the years. There is also a public relations value. But whether there are now too many events to meet those needs is something organisers and participants collectively need to look at Or perhaps market imperatives will sort out the situation.

ALUMINIUM extrusions from China could soon be finding their way into the European rolling stock production market following the announcement at InnoTrans of the establishment of a joint venture between MIW, Germany, and Shandong Conglin Group, China.

The joint venture will be called Longkou Conglin/MIW Car Body System Engineering, based in Longkou, Shandong province, where the world's first 10,000-tonne oil hydraulic double-action extrusion press was installed in July.

The press can extrude aluminium and its alloy from 1000 to 7000 series large industrial profiles and seamless aluminium tube. Maximum section width is 970mm with a maximum length of 30m. Maximum tube diameter is 600mm also with a maximum length of 30m.

Shandong Conglin's vice general manager and senior engineer, Mr P Zhiang, told IRJ in Berlin that about 40% of the company's current production was for the Chinese railway rolling stock industry and they hoped to increase this to 60% by entering the European market. One current order is for aluminium profile door handrails for cars being built by Bombardier Transportation for Guangzhou Metro.

MIW--Metallindustriewerk Staaken--is based in Berlin and is involved in sheet metal work, profile processing, and mechanical manufacturing, mainly for the European rail vehicle industry. A number of staff from the Chinese factory will be trained at MIW.

A strong industry presence at the UITP exhibition in Madrid could not disguise the fact that some exhibitors were questioning why they should be there.

THE changing nature of the railway manufacturing and supply industry and the way that operators are now purchasing equipment is having a knock-on effect on events such as major exhibitions. While the UITP exhibition in Madrid last month had two halls full of exhibitors, some were beginning to question the true value of their presence.

The relationship between operators, manufacturers, and suppliers changed for ever when operators abandoned the practice of purchasing on the basis of highly detailed technical specifications in favour of much simpler performance specifications.

This left most of the technical choices with the manufacturer, and the effect of this for medium and small-scale component and sub-system suppliers was that the operator was no longer their customer. Suppliers then had to deal direct with the manufacturer. Under the old scheme of things, exhibitions were ideal venues to meet scores if not hundreds of operators. But with industry rationalisation, the number of "new" customers has shrunk to the Big Three, Alstom Transport, Bombardier Transportation, and Siemens Transportation Systems, followed by companies such as AnsaldoBreda, CAF, and Talgo.

While quality is always more important than quantity in the visitors to any individual stand, a good number of exhibitors, including some major ones, felt the show was "a bit low key" and that there might be better ways to achieve their commercial ends than attending some of the large number of exhibitions on the international calendar.

ALUMINIUM extrusions from China could soon be finding their way into the European rolling stock production market following the announcement at InnoTrans of the establishment of a joint venture between MIW, Germany, and Shandong Conglin Group, China.

The joint venture will be called Longkou Conglin/MIW Car Body System Engineering, based in Longkou, Shandong province, where the world's first 10,000-tonne oil hydraulic double-action extrusion press was installed in July.

The press can extrude aluminium and its alloy from 1000 to 7000 series large industrial profiles and seamless aluminium tube. Maximum section width is 970mm with a maximum length of 30m. Maximum tube diameter is 600mm also with a maximum length of 30m.

Shandong Conglin's vice general manager and senior engineer, Mr P Zhiang, told IRJ in Berlin that about 40% of the company's current production was for the Chinese railway rolling stock industry and they hoped to increase this to 60% by entering the European market. One current order is for aluminium profile door handrails for cars being built by Bombardier Transportation for Guangzhou Metro.

LIVONIA, Mich. - General Motors Corp. has put two-and-a-half times as much aluminum as steel into the Precept, its first high-mileage supercar concept model which foreshadows the prototype auto GM is expected to unvell before 2004 to meet its commitment to the government-industry Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV).

Equipped with more than half a ton of lightweight aluminum components, including several parts of the hybrid electric propulsion system, the Precept is a 5-passenger car capable of providing approximately 90 miles per gallon with diesel fuel, equivalent to about 80 mpg with gasoline.

he first detailed account of the body structure (spaceframe) and body shell applications for metals in the Precept, which was introduced early this year, was given by Thomas L. Lobkovich, manager of advanced body engineering for GM, at the 21st annual Automotive Design and Fabrication Seminar here sponsored by the Automotive and Light Truck Group of the Aluminum Assocaiton.

Lobkovich said that the aluminum body structure of the Precept weighted 152 kilograms (335 pounds). The structure is made up of 192 parts joined by 600 rivets, 1,600 spot welds and 15 meters of metal inert gas (MIG) welds but no adhesive bonds.

LONDON -- The worlds leading aluminum maker, Alcoa Inc., and Luxfer Holdings Plc. said Thursday Alcoa will acquire the aluminum plate, sheet and soft-alloy extrusion production and distribution businesses of Luxfer's wholly-owned subsidiary British Aluminium Ltd. for [pound]182 million ($273 million).

The deal, which is subject to clearance by European antitrust authorities, but not U.S. regulatory approval, was announced in a joint statement issued by Pittsburgh-based Alcoa and Luxfer, head quartered In Manchester, England.

The businesses, to be acquired generated about [pound]220 million. ($360 million) in revenue in 1999 and have 1,550 employees.

British Aluminium's manufacturing operations are based in England and Wales and its distribution businesses operate in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland under the names Aluminium Supply Aerospace and Baco Metal Centres. A sales office in St. Louis was included in the purchase.

All U.K. operations will become part of Alcoa Europe. Ricardo E. Belda, Alcoa vice president. and president .of Alcoa Europe, said "The acquisition of the British Aluminum business further demonstrates Alcoa's commitment to The European markets. In particular, this transaction will enable us to offer an extensive line of Alcoa products to the aerospace and plate customers from these European-based facilities."

Luxfer's chief executive, Ian McKinnon said the sale represented an important milestone for the group. "This sale represents the first major reshaping of the group since it was formed in 1996. It will provide Luxfer with funds to reinvest in its retained businesses."

Taiwan's 345km high-speed line is now taking shape. It will run along the west coast of the island state connecting Taipei with Kaohsiung. When it opens in late 2005, 300km/h 12-car trains will operate at average headways of between nine and 10 minutes.

TAIWAN's new high-speed railway will revolutionise rail travel along the country's western seaboard where the majority of the country's 22 million people live. An end-to-end journey time of lh 30mm is planned with one intermediate stop for each trip. By comparison, the shortest time today by Taiwan Railway Administration's (TRA) fastest 1067mm-gauge trains is 3h 50mm, with the majority of the services taking longer.

The project is being implemented by the Taiwan High Speed Railway Corporation (THSRC) under a 35-year design, build, and operate concession which was signed in 1998. THSRC secured a credit of $NT 323 billion ($US 9.8 billion) from a syndicate of banks in February 2000. At the same time the government entered into a tripartite agreement with THSRC and the lending banks under which the government would buy back the project in certain circumstances.

Taiwan suffered a major earthquake on September 21 1999, which delayed the award of the THSRC civil works contracts by several months. Additionally, the earthquake resulted in a revision to the earthquake zoning levels affecting the civil contracts. However, the need to comply with revised zoning was subsequently withdrawn subject only to THSRC demonstrating prior to commencement the adequacy of its more stringent seismic design criteria. Although some time was lost in the design phase, the delays are expected to be made up during the construction phase, as a number of recovery measures have been agreed and adopted.

Truman Capote once observed that 'Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go', a sentiment that might equally apply to the city's eighth Architecture Biennale, arrayed in all its customary pomp and pretension in the Castello Gardens and the great ropeworks and munitions sheds of the Arsenale. This time the press vernissage coincided with the tail end of the Venice Film Festival, so an intoxicating menage of cinematic and architectural luminaries could be spotted on assorted corniches, landing stages, restaurants and hotel lobbies. Native Venetians, who have had their fill of tired and emotional visitors (from the Queen of Cyprus and Napoleon to Byron swimming in the Grand Canal), remain admirably unmoved by such brushes with celebrity, stoically wrapping binliners around their feet to wade through the equinoxal acqua alta in St Mark's Square. (Many stars from both film and architectural firmaments still cherish the illusion that they actually can walk on water...)

In the Biennale director's chair this time was Deyan Sudjic, current editor of Domus, who kept instructions to his vast cast of architects, exhibition designers, cultural commissioners and general hangers-on simple and was rewarded with one of the more interesting and coherent shows of recent times. Sudjic's unifying theme of 'Next' had a strong whiff of branding about it (What Comes Next, Up Next, Next Generation, Next Technology, Next Places), but was essentially an attempt to track the progress of architecture over the first decade of the twenty-first century. It was also elastic and accommodating enough to sustain different interpretations and the familiar flummoxing diversity when representatives from over thirty countries, from Austria to Venezuela, are invited to make some kind of grandiose arid definitive architectural statement.

Caption: A NEW 275km/h eight-car Shinkansen emu for JR East--the Series E2-1000--is undergoing tests in Japan. It will operate on the Tohoku Line, which will be extended 97km from Morioka to Hachinohe in 2002. It has two driving trailers and six motored cars, and can seat 630. Bodyshells are made of double-skin aluminium extrusions.

Built on the site of Altamira's prehistoric caves, Juan Navarro Baldeweg's new museum has a poetic affinity with the surrounding landscape. Within this subterranean realm is a diverse set of spaces for exhibition and research.

The museum constructed by Juan Navarro Baldeweg on a hillside in Cantabria is somewhat paradoxical. This container houses a replica of the famous Altamira Caves: the underground site of prehistoric art is nearby but -- for essential preservation reasons -- no longer accessible to cameratoting, vapour-breathing tourists. The new building protrudes only slightly above ground level, follows the slope of the land, and is coloured or textured using a palette that is almost like environmental camouflage. Yet Baldeweg's latest addition to Spanish architectural culture is neither subservient to its context nor apologetic of its true nature and intent. It is elegant and bold within reason.

The design, which dates back to 1994, seems to evolve around sets of dualities. There is, first of all, the authentic cave now secluded from view and its facsimile double, a situation that in lesser hands might have led to second-hand kitsch and a ridiculously inferior experience. There is the duality in section between the (second) cave hollowed out of the ground and the expansive dome of the sky high above. And there is the duality in plan between the column-free box sheltering the surrogate cave and the immediately adjacent exhibition wing arranged as a perpendicular cascade of interior terraces. This other half is not unlike one side of a Baroque garden parti. I visited the caves, as a teenager in the 1970s. The former visitors' centre and car park seem smaller when revisited a quarter of a century later. The new museum is further on along the contours, further away from the road leading from the picturesque rural town of Santillana del Mar (a distance also less than that remembered). Baldeweg is a nativ e of this temperate province between the Pyrenees and Galicia. Although based in Madrid, he retains an indigenous respect for topography and climate, an ease also manifest in his early and well-named House in the Rain in the hills behind Santander. The architect's own memory and knowledge have undoubtedly assisted Altamira.

Approaching from the east, you first glimpse the slanting parapet, its ochre or dull gold-coloured aluminium siding glinting in the morning light. Then, as the extended range of the building presents itself to the north, the great sloping roof is revealed as a series of striations, an artificial geology Including linear light monitors and strips of grassed turf. Walls of local ashlar to the left and a flush stone dado to the right augment this feeling of sedimentation, of Baldeweg's building being literally of the earth. The dado looks as if each panel of stone might, like some prehistoric machine, have been simply tilted up in place.

Crudely put, the museum is a shed. Having driven past to where cars and buses are parked in tray-like extrusions out into the fields, visitors approach the building again from the north-west. Another wall of honey-coloured ashlar comes forward with a further layer behind of a pergola and cafe terrace. Cows can be seen and heard on the meadows above, towards the south. The museum wing with its low light monitors (reminiscent, perhaps, of certain instamatic cameras) rises towards the deep green farmland, the monitors' upright north faces made of cool frameless glass.

Entry takes place in the terraced section at the point where it and the sheltered cave diverge -- the latter seems to shear subtly to the left and into the hillside. The entrance, identified by a sharp flat canopy, has its flanks painted a telluric red. To the left, an orthogonal void cut like a proscenium or picture frame is clearly a signal of something important deep in the interior. From the entry, internal trays ascend to the right, each with a single horizontal band of ceiling tipped to allow north light in. Just inside the north elevation, a strip of floor used for lectures and meetings is lowered so that you find yourself momentarily below ground.

Access to the facsimile cave is by a sequence of internal stairs slotted into the seam between the project's two principal parts. From down there, buried one storey deep in the earth, you look up and see the sky framed by the single aperture, a glimpse positing today's tourist in a relationship with the outside similar to that of the cave's original visitors. Baldeweg's work is in general noticeable for its investigation of primary volumes (cubes, cylinders, hemispheres) -- his library at Madrid's Puerto de Toledo, for instance, or the Conference Centre in Salamanca (ARs December 1994 and July 1990). Being unusually contingent upon context and content, Altamira is also a resonant reflection of Baldeweg's other interests as a painter. There is, undoubtedly, a painterly quality about the yellow aluminium with two finishes of stone (vertical surfaces), and the tilted grey aluminium strips --the light monitors' southerly face -- inserted amid striations of green grass (horizontal canvas or roofscape). Emerging f rom this latter surface, the artificial meadow, are of course the light monitors. Baldeweg is interested in colour and aesthetic composition but also in the devices that illuminate his interior world. Considering the other half of the building, especially the rectangular void in front of 'the cave', we realize perhaps that the architect is primarily concerned with mechanisms of seeing.

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazilian diversified miner Cia. Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) could be considering the sale of its 54.5-percent stake in aluminum smelter Valesul Aluminio SA, according to reliable sources.

The stake in Rio de Janeiro-based Valesul, which produces 98,000 tonnes of primary aluminum a year, is valued at between $110 million and $120 million.

Fellow diversified miner BHP Billiton, which owns the remaining 45.5 percent, last week revealed plans to sell its minority stake. "The parties interested in buying BHP Billiton's stake may also be interested in CVRD's stake," said the sources, who are close to both companies.

Valesul is a relatively costly operation compared with CVRD's joint-venture Aluminio Brasileiro SA (Albras) smelter in north Brazil because its electrical energy costs are higher. The smelter accounts for less than 10 percent of BHP Billiton's global aluminum capacity of more than 1 million tonnes a year.

Oslo-based Hydro Aluminium ASA and Brazil's Cia. Brasileira de Aluminio (CBA), Sao Paulo, as well as several unnamed U.S. and Asian companies, are considered favorites to purchase BHP Billiton's stake.

"The purchase of a Valesul stake could be attractive to a foreign company because it would allow the buyer to participate in the Brazilian market, while for a Brazilian company the issue would be an increase in market share," said a source close to the sale of the stake by Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton, which reportedly is already at an advanced stage.

NEW YORK -- Pechiney Aluminium has agreed to purchase British Aluminium's specialty extrusions operations from Luxfer Groups Luxfer Holdings Plc unit. Terms were not disclosed.

The Paris-based Pechiney interests said that the extrusions unit is a $40-million-a-year business producing hard alloy extrusions for the transportation industries and general engineering applications.

Situated in Workington in northern England, the unit has a workforce of 280 producing about 10,000 tonnes of extrusions a year on three presses.

Hydro Aluminium will construct its first wholly owned automotive components plant in China to better serve customers in the country's growing automotive market.

Hydro will build the plant in Suzhou, north of Shanghai, to satisfy its automotive customers and further raise its own profile as the leading global supplier of lightweight precision tubing components. Global market leaders in heat and fluid transfer like Behr, Calsonic, Delphi, Denso, Valeo and Visteon are each located in the regions close to the Suzhou Industrial Park site, where the plant will be based.

Taiwan's 345km high-speed line is now taking shape. It will run along the west coast of the island state connecting Taipei with Kaohsiung. When it opens in late 2005, 300km/h 12-car trains will operate at average headways of between nine and 10 minutes.

TAIWAN's new high-speed railway will revolutionise rail travel along the country's western seaboard where the majority of the country's 22 million people live. An end-to-end journey time of lh 30mm is planned with one intermediate stop for each trip. By comparison, the shortest time today by Taiwan Railway Administration's (TRA) fastest 1067mm-gauge trains is 3h 50mm, with the majority of the services taking longer.
The project is being implemented by the Taiwan High Speed Railway Corporation (THSRC) under a 35-year design, build, and operate concession which was signed in 1998. THSRC secured a credit of $NT 323 billion ($US 9.8 billion) from a syndicate of banks in February 2000. At the same time the government entered into a tripartite agreement with THSRC and the lending banks under which the government would buy back the project in certain circumstances.

Taiwan suffered a major earthquake on September 21 1999, which delayed the award of the THSRC civil works contracts by several months. Additionally, the earthquake resulted in a revision to the earthquake zoning levels affecting the civil contracts. However, the need to comply with revised zoning was subsequently withdrawn subject only to THSRC demonstrating prior to commencement the adequacy of its more stringent seismic design criteria. Although some time was lost in the design phase, the delays are expected to be made up during the construction phase, as a number of recovery measures have been agreed and adopted.

ALUMINIUM extrusions from China could soon be finding their way into the European rolling stock production market following the announcement at InnoTrans of the establishment of a joint venture between MIW, Germany, and Shandong Conglin Group, China.

The joint venture will be called Longkou Conglin/MIW Car Body System Engineering, based in Longkou, Shandong province, where the world's first 10,000-tonne oil hydraulic double-action extrusion press was installed in July.

The press can extrude aluminium and its alloy from 1000 to 7000 series large industrial profiles and seamless aluminium tube. Maximum section width is 970mm with a maximum length of 30m. Maximum tube diameter is 600mm also with a maximum length of 30m.
Shandong Conglin's vice general manager and senior engineer, Mr P Zhiang, told IRJ in Berlin that about 40% of the company's current production was for the Chinese railway rolling stock industry and they hoped to increase this to 60% by entering the European market. One current order is for aluminium profile door handrails for cars being built by Bombardier Transportation for Guangzhou Metro.

MIW--Metallindustriewerk Staaken--is based in Berlin and is involved in sheet metal work, profile processing, and mechanical manufacturing, mainly for the European rail vehicle industry. A number of staff from the Chinese factory will be trained at MIW.

NEW YORK -- Alcoa Inc., the world's largest producer of soft alloy and hard alloy extruded products, has posted another round of price hikes on soft alloy extrusions it said would amount to 5 cents a pound effective with new orders starting June 26 and all shipments commencing June 30.

The Pittsburgh-based aluminum giant, which lofted a 7-cent-a-pound price hike on soft alloy extrusions in January, said that the new round would exclude rods in diameters over 7 inches, square bars over 6 inches and rectangular bars with a circle size topping 13 inches.
There was no indication from Alcoa at presstime as to whether the 5-cent-a-pound price hike scheduled for the end of June would be additional to prices arrived at following the 7-cent boost posted in January, adding up to at least a 12-cent-per-pound price increase year-to-date. U.S. aluminium companies seldom post price cuts.

Alcoa and its competitors posted price hikes of 21 to 24 cents a pound in the last three quarters of 1999--quite a bit better than the bench-mark London Metal Exchange cash price, which climbed about 19 cents a pound over the same period.

The LME price moved up another 6 cents a pound in January, providing the groundwork for the 7-cent move on soft alloy extrusions by Aloca and some of its competitors. But the LME price has since fallen about 9 cents a pound.