The Southland Times
Tiwai smelter pours 10 millionth tonne
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
2 min read
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters equipment improvement engineer Stu Templer shows off the pot that held the 10 millionth tonne of aluminium, which was poured at the smelter.
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters has hit a milestone, pouring its 10 millionth tonne of aluminium.
The smelter, at Tiwai Point, has had a big year after celebrating its 40th anniversary last month and pouring its 10 millionth tonne on Tuesday, and it is also on target for a record year of production of more than 354,000 tonnes, despite the price of the metal dropping about 25 per cent in the past six months.
General manager Ryan Cavanagh said the high level of production was because of continual improvements to the smelter's equipment.
However, the price of aluminium had dropped by about 20 to 25 per cent in the past six months, from about US$2700 a tonne (NZ$3536) to about US$2100 (NZ$2750), he said.
The cause was a slowdown in the growth and confidence of key markets, such as Europe, Asia and the United States, and less building demand, Mr Cavanagh said.
The price drop did not affect production and the smelter was still "flat out", but it was selling it with less profit, he said.
"We are expecting it to be a record year (for production) – we are still making a profit, but not as much."
Smelter equipment improvement engineer Stu Templer, who has been at the smelter since its inaugural year, said one of the major changes at the smelter was staff numbers. In 1991 there were 1200 people, but that had decreased to about 850 through better productivity.
Mr Cavanagh said the smelter's aluminium was used for a range of products, including in 60 per cent of the world's computer memory disks and 40 per cent of the world's capacitors, which are used in cellphone batteries.
There was no news yesterday about the sale of the smelter after it was announced in October its majority owner, Rio Tinto, had transferred it and five other Australia-based assets into a company called Pacific Aluminium to be sold.
The process to sell the smelter was not expected to be completed in the near future, Mr Cavanagh said.
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters has hit a milestone, pouring its 10 millionth tonne of aluminium.
The smelter, at Tiwai Point, has had a big year after celebrating its 40th anniversary last month and pouring its 10 millionth tonne on Tuesday, and it is also on target for a record year of production of more than 354,000 tonnes, despite the price of the metal dropping about 25 per cent in the past six months.
General manager Ryan Cavanagh said the high level of production was because of continual improvements to the smelter's equipment.
However, the price of aluminium had dropped by about 20 to 25 per cent in the past six months, from about US$2700 a tonne (NZ$3536) to about US$2100 (NZ$2750), he said.
The cause was a slowdown in the growth and confidence of key markets, such as Europe, Asia and the United States, and less building demand, Mr Cavanagh said.
The price drop did not affect production and the smelter was still "flat out", but it was selling it with less profit, he said.
"We are expecting it to be a record year (for production) – we are still making a profit, but not as much."
Smelter equipment improvement engineer Stu Templer, who has been at the smelter since its inaugural year, said one of the major changes at the smelter was staff numbers. In 1991 there were 1200 people, but that had decreased to about 850 through better productivity.
Mr Cavanagh said the smelter's aluminium was used for a range of products, including in 60 per cent of the world's computer memory disks and 40 per cent of the world's capacitors, which are used in cellphone batteries.
There was no news yesterday about the sale of the smelter after it was announced in October its majority owner, Rio Tinto, had transferred it and five other Australia-based assets into a company called Pacific Aluminium to be sold.
The process to sell the smelter was not expected to be completed in the near future, Mr Cavanagh said.
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