2024-01-10
Alcoa said the refinery and associated residue storage facilities will continue to be actively managed. Also, the company’s port facilities, located alongside the refinery, will continue to operate and import raw materials and exports alumina at the company’s Pinjarra alumina refinery.
Reed said the company will support its employees in transitioning to other opportunities, either within the business or at other workplaces.
Alcoa made no mention of the specific impacts to around 300 contractors that work at the Kwinana refinery, but Reed said: “We deeply appreciate the commitment and support of our many loyal employees, contractors, and suppliers at our Kwinana refinery, which has made a major contribution to Western Australia’s economic development over the last 60 years of continual operation.”
He added that Alcoa remains committed to WA in the long-term and will continue to assess options for the refinery, monitoring the factors that led to this decision.
The news was “very disappointing” for workers said Steve McCartney, state secretary at the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU). Despite a rumour about a production stop in the week prior to the announcement, McCartney said: "We didn't think it was going to be this quick, and that certain…it was a bit of a surprise to everybody.”
McCartney added that AMWU would focus on ensuring that workers had opportunities to transfer or upskill to other jobs.
The WA government is also set to provide support. WA premier Roger Cook, a Kwinana local, said: “Our Government will step up to provide support for local workers to retrain, reskill and look for new career opportunities in the local area. And we will continue to work with Alcoa to ensure its other operations in WA – including its Pinjarra and Wagerup refineries – support local jobs into the future.”
Alcoa does not expect the curtailment at Kwinana to impact production at its remaining Western Australian refineries, Pinjarra and Wagerup.
Australia’s federal minister for resources, Madeleine King, further assured that Alcoa’s decision will not affect Australia’s or Western Australia’s sovereign capacity in alumina production, or the broader supply chain of alumina, “which is essential for our future transition towards net zero emissions”.
Alcoa’s decision comes just a month after aluminium was added to Australia’s strategic minerals list. High purity alumina has been a part of the critical minerals list since 2022.
Despite King’s assurances about alumina, Alcoa’s decision comes amid a quickfire assault of disappointments in Australia’s resources sector.
The Kwinana facility refines bauxite ore from Alcoa’s Huntly bauxite mine in North Dandalup, WA. For the past year it has been operating at 80% of its nameplate capacity, with only four of the refineries’ five digesters operating since January 2023. That year, the facility produced 1.5m t/y of alumina, around 1.2m t/y of which was smelter-grade alumina. The remaining amount produced was non-metallurgical alumina.
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