Alcoa restores half its Australian aluminium output in wake of blackout

<p>Global aluminium maker Alcoa has restarted half the capacity at its aluminium smelter in Australia's Victoria that was crippled by a state-wide blackout six months ago.</p> <p>The Portland smelter has been running at a third of its 300 000 t/y capacity since a freak storm prompted the poweroutage in December, causing molten aluminium to solidify in the facility's potlines and freezing production.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/The-Alcoa-aluminium-smelter-at-Point-Henry-AAP-1.jpg" alt="news" width="448" height="252" /></p> <p>"Getting to the half way point in our bid to restore the business has been a big task, but what I have seen up to now gives me great confidence in our ability to deliver the plan," Plant Manager Peter Chellis said in a statement.</p> <p>The plant's resumption has come in part due to a A$240-million ($182-million) government-sponsored rescue package that has secured its future for at least four years in a state that has suffered from a spate of job losses including the shutdown of three major car makers and a power station.</p> <p>With local power costs soaring, a cheap source of energy was also needed. The Portland smelter lined up a four-year powersupply deal with AGL Energy for 510 megawatts, or about 10% of the state's electricity load, earlier this year.</p> <p>{googleAdsense}</p> <p>"We are expecting to have production restored to pre-outage levels by early to mid-August," Alcoa spokeswoman Jodie Read told Reuters.</p> <p>The government's financial aid is dependent on the smelter staying open at least until 2021 and output remaining at least 90% of pre-blackout levels.</p> <p>The plant is co-owned by Alcoa, Australian firm Alumina Ltd, China's CITIC Resources and an arm of Japan's Marubeni Corp.</p>