Bell Bay Aluminium acquires deal from Tasmanian government securing 1,500 jobs

Bell Bay Aluminium had urged the government of Tasmania in February that increasing the electricity rates will hit the company hard and may result in large scale jobs cuts. In return, the government has struck a secretive deal with the firm that could secure the 1,500 jobs that were in risk.

The details of the deal were not revealed by either Tasmania’s Energy Minister Matthew Groom or GM of Bell Bay Ray Mostogl citing commercial sensitivities.

What is known is that Bell Bay has assured they will be increasing their power consumption by 10 percent and investing $30 million to upgrade the plant.

Mr. Mostogl says that the deal was not indicative of creation of new jobs but rather securing of the existing ones.

The new investment of $30 million made by the parent company Rio Tinto Alcan is based upon the expectation that business in Tasmania will prove fruitful in the “medium term”. Bell Bay Aluminium is making a commitment to produce around 4,000 tons of premium grade aluminium all of which will be shipped to markets in Asia.

The General Manager says, "There's no crystal ball to say what will happen in five years' time," but at least now they have “moved from a point of thinking about closure to actually thinking about growing."