Ghana puts bauxite, lithium and iron ore in the spotlight to woo Australian capital
Ghana has stepped up efforts to attract Australian investment into its growing critical minerals sector, pitching the country as a stable and reform-driven destination for mining and value-added mineral development at the 2026 Africa Down Under (ADU) Summit in Perth. The Ghanaian delegation was led...
Alcoa prices $2.6b senior notes for South32 bauxite, alumina and aluminium deal
Alcoa Corporation has set the price for a USD 2.6 billion senior notes offering to help finance the cash consideration for its proposed acquisition of South32’s bauxite, alumina, and aluminium assets . Along with the cash on hand, this debt is expected to provide permanent funding for the...
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Industry call to scrap state pollution target
BUSINESSES including embattled aluminium giant Alcoa are pushing Ted Baillieu to scrap Victoria's pollution reduction target, saying it could undermine the federal carbon scheme and lead to higher costs. Less than two years after the former Brumby government introduced a statewide target to cut...
Banks got help, so should Alcoa - union
The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) has appealed to the federal government to help support Alcoa's struggling aluminium plant in Victoria until the Australian dollar returns to more normal levels of exchange. The aluminium giant is reviewing the viability of the Point Henry smelter in Geelong in...
Rio Tinto vows to protect Austrothelphusa crab
Mining company Rio Tinto says it will go beyond the call of environmental safeguards to protect a newly discovered freshwater crab if it is allowed to expand a Cape York bauxite mine. Rio submitted its second environmental impact statement (EIS) on the South of Embley project to the Queensland...
Alcoa Gains 5-Year Extension To Start Wagerup Alumina Expansion
The Australian unit of Alcoa Inc. (AA) on Monday received approval from regulators in Western Australia state for a five year deferral of the proposed multibillion dollar expansion of the Wagerup alumina refinery. The state's Environmental Protection Authority recommended that the time limit for...
No blank cheque for Alcoa: Wayne Swan
TREASURER Wayne Swan says the Gillard government won't be writing a "blank cheque" to bail out the aluminium industry. With Alcoa to review the future of its Geelong aluminium smelter, Mr Swan said the government was talking to the aluminium industry about the challenges it faced. “We're talking to...
Rio Tinto swings to loss after aluminium writeoff
Global miner Rio Tinto took an $8.9 billion charge on its struggling aluminium business on Thursday, triggering a second-half net loss amid a gloomy medium-term outlook for the metal. Five straight years of surpluses in aluminium and rising input costs have hammered margins in the industry, sharply...
Cape Alumina doubles bauxite Hills resources, starting pre feasibility study
Cape Alumina (ASX: CBX) has doubled the inferred resource at its Bauxite Hills project on Cape York, Queensland, to 60 million tonnes of bauxite and will proceed with a pre-feasibility study. The company is working to start production from late 2014 when demand for bauxite in Asia is expected to...
Alcoa WA operations not at risk: Analyst
A resource analyst says it is unlikely there will be any flow-on effect on Western Australian alumina refineries from Alcoa's struggling Point Henry smelter in Geelong. About 600 Victorian manufacturing jobs are in jeopardy as Alcoa considers shutting the unprofitable smelter. Peter Chilton of...
Rusal Australia chairman fears jobs loss from carbon tax
THE Australian arm of the world's largest aluminium producer has warned that a higher carbon cost is adding to the risk that Australia will lose jobs and investments to China's refineries and smelters. Rusal Australia chairman John Hannagan said China's producers were already competing aggressively...
Uncertain times for south west Victorian aluminium workers
Alcoa's announcement to undertake a comprehensive review of its Point Henry aluminium smelter has sparked fears for hundreds of jobs and the future of the industry. It's an anxious time for aluminium workers. Alcoa announced it is undertaking a review of its Geelong smelter, which could include...
Carbon tax to add to Alcoa uncertainty caused by high dollar, higher input costs
ALCOA says a carbon tax will make life harder for the company as it reviews the future of its Victorian smelter and the jobs of up to 600 workers. However Alcoa Australia managing director Alan Cransberg said today the looming tax was not the reason for the review, as Tony Abbott sought to link a...
Resources boom slows to a simmer as China starts raising the heat
BHP Billiton's $US9.9 billion December-half profit and Alcoa's announcement yesterday that it is reviewing the future of the Point Henry aluminium smelter in Geelong both point to a change in the resource boom. It has slowed from a fast boil to something more like a simmer, and there are...
Australian Bauxite has set a new record for bauxite thickness
Australian Bauxite (ASX: ABZ) has set a new record for bauxite thickness at the Goulburn Bauxite Project in New South Wales, intersecting of 33 metres of true thickness. Four holes drilled at the Mt Rae area to follow up on previous results have verified the presence of unusually thick bauxite at...
Federal Government will support Alcoa, MP Richard Marles
THE Federal Government "will leave no stone unturned" to secure the future of Alcoa's aluminium smelter near Geelong, the local member says. Alcoa says it will examine the viability of its aluminum smelter at Point Henry in Geelong, which employs 600 people, because low metal prices, a high...
Geelong aluminium smelter under cloud
ALCOA'S 600 workers a Geelong aluminium smelter face an uncertain future with a new review of the plant. Alcoa said today it would review the viability of its Point Henry aluminium smelter because higher metal prices, input costs and exchange rates had made it unprofitable. "Our goal is for Point...
Portland aluminium smelter's future safe for now
PORTLAND'S aluminium smelter has escaped the knife for now as international giant Alcoa today announced it was considering curtailing its Point Henry operation near Geelong. Alcoa's Australian managing director Alan Cransberg said Point Henry had become unprofitable and production may be cut back...
Aussie Aluminum Heading for Scrap Heap
Low metals prices, high costs and the strong Australian dollar are doing to the country's aluminum-smelting industry what a frat boy does to his empty beer can: crushing it. Australia is the world's fourth-largest producer of refined aluminum and the third-largest exporter, according to Deutsche...
Alcoa May Cut Australian Aluminum Smelter Output After Review
Alcoa of Australia Ltd., jointly owned by Alcoa Inc. and Alumina Ltd., may cut production at its Point Henry aluminum smelter in the state of Victoria as global economic conditions “severely” hurt the industry. A review of the smelter’s future will be completed by the end of June, the unit of the...
