Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals is a joint venture between Alumina Limited (40% share) and Alcoa (60% share) and is abbreviated to AWAC. AWAC's business is the mining of bauxite, the extraction of alumina (aluminium oxide) and the smelting of aluminium. It has about 25% of the global alumina market. Alcoa acts as the day-to-day manager.
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[edit] Australian Operations
Alcoa has two smelters in Victoria, located at Portland and Point Henry in Victoria. It has three alumina refineries in Western Australia, located at Kwinana, Pinjarra and Wagerup, and two bauxite mines at Huntly and Willowdale, also in Western Australia. [1]
[edit] Portland smelter
The Portland smelter produces about 360,000 tonnes of aluminium a year, and is Victoria's largest single exporter. [2][3][4]
The smelter has been the subject of significant controversy since its inception in 1986. In 1984, under the leadership of John Cain, the ALP government signed a joint venture agreement with Alcoa to build an aluminium smelter at Portland. The State Government entered into a deal with Alcoa, which provides for subsidised electricity until 2016, at a price linked to the world price of aluminium. It is estimated that the cost of electricity for the smelter is $14 per MWh (1.4 cents per kWh) [5], and that it has cost the state more than $2 billion over 20 years. [6]
The Portland smelter is believed to consume between 18 and 25 per cent of the state's electricity. [7] Given that most of this energy is derived from brown coal in the Latrobe Valley, the production of aluminium is a significant contributor to Victoria's greenhouse emissions.
