Alcoa To Restart Curtailed Aluminum Smelting Capacity At Portland Aluminium In Australia

(RTTNews) - Alcoa Corp. (AA) said that the Portland Aluminium joint venture plans to restart 35,000 metric tons per year or mtpy of curtailed capacity at its aluminum smelter in the State of Victoria in Australia.

The company noted that the process to restart the capacity, which has been idle since 2009, will begin immediately, with metal production expected to start in the third quarter of 2022.

Portland Aluminium is an unincorporated joint venture with 358,000 mtpy of total capacity, and Alcoa Corporation has 197,000 mtpy of consolidated capacity.

Once the restart is complete, Portland Aluminium will operate at about 95 percent of total capacity and Alcoa will have about 186,000 mtpy of its consolidated capacity at Portland operating.

The project is expected to create approximately 30 permanent roles at the smelter and about 50 temporary construction positions. The smelter currently has a workforce of about 680, consisting of both direct employees and contractors.

The restart's total cost is expected to be about $28 million of which Alcoa Corporation's share is approximately $9 million. Restart expenses are expected to be incurred between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the third quarter of 2022.

Alcoa also recently announced the restart of its 268,000 mtpy of smelting capacity at the Alumar smelter in Brazil, which is expected to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2022. When both projects are complete, Alcoa will have approximately 82 percent of its 2.99 million metric tons of global aluminum smelting capacity operating.