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    • Big J posted
    Posted in General » The federal government has protected thousands of jobs with a $76.8m lifeline for Alcoa

    Where does the output from the plant go?

    Is it domestic?

    Australia exports most of our Aluminium metal production

    There are currently four aluminium smelters operating in Australia producing Australian primary aluminium metal. Production was 1.58 million tonnes in 2018, of which 1.45 Mt was exported. Australia is the world’s sixth largest producer.

    That 1.45 Mtpa export is worth around US$ 3.5 B.

    We used to export 2 Mtpa until Geelong and Kurri Kurri closed in the last 10 years.

    Realistically Australia should be making over 10 Mtpa of aluminium metal (from 100% of the alumina we currently make) as most of the ingredients come from Australia including the coal and at times gas and are exported to be smelted off-shore.

    RTT_Rules

    I agree.

    Also, it is a shame that we do not attempt to do this with some of the other resources (Eg rare earths, magnesium) or try to retain what we already do without threat of closure (eg Copper, Nickel)

    Edit history

    Edited 17 Dec 2020 07:54, 2 years ago, edited by Big J

    Where does the output from the plant go?

    Is it domestic?

    Australia exports most of our Aluminium metal production

    There are currently four aluminium smelters operating in Australia producing Australian primary aluminium metal. Production was 1.58 million tonnes in 2018, of which 1.45 Mt was exported. Australia is the world’s sixth largest producer.

    That 1.45 Mtpa export is worth around US$ 3.5 B.

    We used to export 2 Mtpa until Geelong and Kurri Kurri closed in the last 10 years.

    Realistically Australia should be making over 10 Mtpa of aluminium metal (from 100% of the alumina we currently make) as most of the ingredients come from Australia including the coal and at times gas and are exported to be smelted off-shore.

    RTT_Rules

    It is a shame that we do not attempt to do this with some of the other resources (Eg rare earths, magnesium) or try to retain what we already do without threat of closure (eg Copper, Nickel)