Alcoa Australia’s Portland aluminium smelter in Victoria will reduce its production rate immediately.
According to Alcoa, the smelter has recently faced instability and challenges relating to the production of rodded anodes.
Rodded anodes are necessary to convey electricity into the smelting pots.
“Our teams are focused on safely taking the production offline and working to restore stability across the facility,” Alcoa executive vice president and chief operations officer Bill Oplinger said.
Situated on 600 hectares in the coastal town of Portland, about 360km from Melbourne, the smelter is a joint venture between Alcoa, CITIC and Marubeni Aluminium Australia.
Alcoa owns the majority share of 55 per cent and manages the day-to-day operations at the site.
Production at the smelter will be reduced to approximately 75 per cent of the total capacity of 358,000 metric tonnes per year.
The smelter has previously been operating at 95 per cent total capacity.
“Completing this task in a controlled fashion is our priority as we work to improve operations,” Oplinger said.
According to Alcoa, the smelter has recently faced instability and challenges relating to the production of rodded anodes.
Rodded anodes are necessary to convey electricity into the smelting pots.
The majority of the product from the smelter is exported to customers in Asia, with the smelter producing approximately 19 per cent of Australia’s total aluminium production.
Alcoa has not outlined a timeframe on when the smelter will return to full capacity, only saying that the reduction would begin immediantly.