Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals is a joint venture between
Alumina Limited
Alumina Limited is an Australian holding company. Spun off from Western Mining Corporation in 2002, its sole asset is a 40% shareholding in Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals.
History
Alumina was founded in December 2002 when Western Mining Corpo ...
(40% share) and
Alcoa
Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primar ...
(60% share) and is abbreviated to AWAC. AWAC's business is the mining of
bauxite
Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...
, 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.
Australian operations
Alcoa has two
smelters in Victoria, located at
Portland and
Point Henry
Moolap is a residential and industrial suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The name Moolap is derived from an Aboriginal word for nearby Point Henry, moo-laa, thought to mean 'men gathering to go fishing'.
Moolap is located in the City of ...
in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
. It has three
alumina refineries in
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
, located at
Kwinana Beach,
Pinjarra and
Wagerup, and two
bauxite
Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...
mines at Huntly and Willowdale, also in Western Australia.
Portland smelter
The Portland smelter produces about 360,000 tonnes of aluminium a year, and is Victoria's largest single exporter.
Point Henry smelter
The Point Henry smelter commenced full production on April 4, 1963. It has a production capacity of 185,000 tonnes of aluminium a year. March 20, 1969, saw Alcoa's own
brown coal
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...
-fired
Anglesea Power Station brought on line at augment the electricity supply from the Victorian grid.
[''R. Arklay and I. Sayer'' – 'Geelong's Electric Supply' – September 1970]
The Point Henry smelter closed in 2014.
Other operations
AWAC has other operations in Brazil, Guinea, Jamaica, Suriname, Spain, and the USA
See also
*
Alumina
*
Aluminium smelting
Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide, alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an alumina refinery.
This is an electrolyti ...
*
Alcoa
Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primar ...
*
Alumina Limited
Alumina Limited is an Australian holding company. Spun off from Western Mining Corporation in 2002, its sole asset is a 40% shareholding in Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals.
History
Alumina was founded in December 2002 when Western Mining Corpo ...
*
Australian Aluminium Council The Australian Aluminium Council is an Australian industry association representing companies involved in bauxite mining and the refining, production and distribution of aluminium.
Miles Prosser has been the Executive Director of the Australian A ...
*
List of Alumina Refineries
This is a list of alumina refineries
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.
Types of ...
*
List of aluminium smelters
This is a list of primary aluminium smelters in the world. Primary production is the process by which alumina is smelted to pure aluminum metal. Secondary production is the process of recycling aluminum scrap into aluminum that can be used again. ...
AWAC webpage
References
{{Authority control
Aluminium smelters
Aluminium companies of Australia
Alcoa
Joint ventures
Manufacturing companies of Australia