Sebree aluminum potline in Kentucky mostly restarted: union
One of two potlines at Century Aluminum's 218,000 mt/year Sebree smelter in western Kentucky idled by a power outage May 29 is mostly restarted and should be fully operational soon, United Steelworkers officials said Monday.
According to one USW official, the potline is about 75% restarted and should reach 100% in the next couple of weeks. A second union official agreed. Both asked not to be identified because the Chicago-based company has not released an official restart update.
Century officials could not be reached for comment Monday.
During the company's second-quarter 2018 earnings call, CEO Michael Bless said both the Sebree potline and the first of three restarting potlines at the company's 252,000 mt/year Hawesville smelter -- also in western Kentucky -- should be in full production by the end of September.
Century said the Sebree equipment failure negatively impacted Q2 earnings by $8.5 million, with expenses related to the Hawesville restart estimated at $3 million in the April-June quarter.
Century is spending about $75 million to rebuild the three Hawesville potlines. Two potlines, totalling about 100,000 tonnes per year, currently are operating at Hawesville.
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