Ageing Tiwai Point smelter still pumping it out

Feb. 2 (BusinessDesk) – Rio Tinto’s 40 year-old aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point, near Bluff, had its biggest production year ever in 2011, churning out 354,0309 tonnes of saleable aluminium, up from a previous record of 352,976 tonnes in 2007.

The arm of Rio that owns the smelter, Pacific Aluminium, announced the plant was for sale last October, along with Australian smelters and some orphan assets in Europe and the U.S. that no longer fit the Canadian-headquartered global player’s long term plans.

In its first full year of operation in 1972, the smelter produced 85,272 tonnes of saleable metal. These days, the smelter employs 900 people and produced export revenue of more than $1 billion in 2010.

Rio Tinto has given no recent update on the sale process, but industry sources suggested Tiwai Point would be valuable to a second tier aluminium industry participant for the high quality of its metal, and for the fact that the plant had been continually upgraded and modernised throughout its life.

Also on the block are the Boyne, Bell Bay and Tomago smelters in Australia, along with the Gladstone power station, which provides electricity to the Boyne complex in Queensland. Rio will also sell the Gove bauxite mine and alumina refinery.

(BusinessDesk)

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