Rio Tinto announces it will never reopen Gove alumina refinery
MINING giant Rio Tinto has officially decided to never reopen their Gove refinery, and will instead embark on a lengthy, costly and environmentally fraught dismantling operation.
The East Arnhem Land refinery has been in ‘care and maintenance mode’ since operations were mothballed and 1100 workers sacked in November 2013 - but the company always attested that it may one day be reopened.
Rio representatives have now ruled out that possibility, and alerted the NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner yesterday that it would be fully shutdown and dismantled.
Rio’s Gove Operations general manager Linda Murray told NT News the company’s board had “made the decision” and was in the process of meeting with stakeholders to inform them of the news today.
“We’ll now commence a number of studies to ensure that we engage with the local communities and government to work out what the final land form would be for areas,” Ms Murray said.
“So, are there economic areas that people want to remain - like the wharf.
“Rio Tinto has a commitment here - we have mining that will still continue and we still have economic growth that will come with that until 2032, we will still be mining bauxite, and we will continue to work with the community.”
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