Rio Tinto doubles capacity at its Yarwun alumina refinery

Rio Tinto Alcan, one of the world's leading mineral and metal conglomerates, is in the process of doubling the capacity of the alumina refinery at Yarwun. The construction work is almost near completion. The official opening ceremony of the upgarded section took place recently. Campbell Newman, the former Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Queensland from 2012-2015, declared the upgraded section open.

The construction job was carried out by Bechtel and it had taken five years to finish. The total cost of the project was $2.5 billion.

Hundreds of workers lined up on the day as dignitaries and industry bosses listened to then-general manager Mike Dunstan describe the importance of the achievement. The expansion more than doubled production at the refinery to 3.4 million tonnes of alumina per year.

Mr Dunstan said at the opening ceremony that the facility had performed better than expected during commissioning.

During construction, $1.9 billion was spent on contracts and procurements in Australia, including $360 million in Gladstone and $1.4 billion in Queensland.