Top Alumina refineries of Australia

The aluminium industry in Australia is operating six alumina refineries in the country, which are mostly producing smelter grade alumina for both the domestic and export markets. The nation’s alumina production in 2019 was 20.5 million tonnes and maintained its position as the second-largest producer of alumina and the world’s largest exporter.

The six Australian alumina refineries are:

Kwinana Alumina Refinery -Alcoa

In 1963 Kwinana Alumina Refinery was commissioned and was the pioneer of Alcoa’s three Western Australian (WA) alumina refineries. It has an annual nameplate production capacity of 2.2 million tonnes and produces non-metallurgical alumina (15% of production) and smelter-grade alumina (85% of production).

Kwinana refinery receives its bauxite ore from Alcoa’s Huntly Bauxite Mine. The total alumina produced in the refinery, out of which 75% is exported to the overseas market, while the remaining 25% is shipped to Alcoa’s Portland Aluminium Smelter in Victoria, Australia.

The refinery operations occupy approximately 1,500-hectares within the Kwinana Industrial Area, 22 kilometres south of Perth.

The refinery employs around 900 with direct jobs and with 300 contractual contractors and more than half of these employees live in the neighbouring communities of Kwinana, Cockburn and Rockingham.

Pinjarra Alumina Refinery – Alcoa

Pinjarra Alumina Refinery, commissioned in 1972 is considered one of the world’s largest alumina refinery in the world, producing around 4.7 million tonnes of alumina. per year.

Pinjarra alumina refinery owned by Alcoa gets its bauxite transported via an overland conveyor from the Huntly Bauxite Mine near Dwellingup. Pinjarra refinery is located within the Shire of Murray in the Peel region south of Perth, Western Australia (WA), and approximately six kilometres east of the Pinjarra townsite. The refinery is sited at the foot of the Darling Scarp on approximately 6,772 hectares of freehold land which incorporates the refinery footprint, the residue storage area and surrounding farmlands.

The refinery implements a wide range of world-leading technologies that continuously improve production and environmental performance. In 2019, new residue filtration technology was commissioned which reduces land use and increases water recovery.

Queensland Alumina Limited – Rio Tinto Rusal

Queensland Alumina Limited (QAL) stands as one of the largest alumina refineries by alumina production capacity in Australia, located in Parsons Point, Gladstone, Queensland, Australia.

The alumina refinery is in operations since 1967, however, it was planned in 1964. The refinery holds a capacity to produce 3.80 million tonnes of the world’s best smelter grade alumina per year. In 1981 the output was at a quarterly basis over 600,000 tonnes per quarter.

At times of lower demand, operations get altered, subsequent rises in demand have seen an expansion in output and employment.

QAL has been operated by a range of consortium partners of international aluminium producers over time. Comalco brought in to the consortium in 1969. In 1982 it was owned by Comalco (30.3%), Kaiser Aluminum (28.3%), Alcan (21.4%), and Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann (20%).

Since April 2005, it has been owned by Rio Tinto (80%) and Rusal (20%). In September 2017 the QAL celebrated 50 years of operation.

QAL has been shipping its alumina to other destinations excluding Queensland and Tasmania is UAE, Qatar, China, New Zealand, Bahrain and Russia.

Wagerup Alumina Refinery – Alcoa

Alcoa’s Wagerup Alumina Refinery imitated operations in 1984 and as one of the world’s most environmentally and technologically advanced alumina refineries produces approximately 2.8 million tonnes of alumina each year.

Wagerup refinery receives bauxite ore via an overland conveyor from Alcoa’s Willowdale Bauxite Mine, which is located east of Waroona.

The refinery is located approximately 150 kilometres south of Perth on the border of Western Australia’s (WA) Peel and South-West regions. It is situated within an 8,442-hectare area which includes 5,520 hectares that are used as highly productive farmlands.

Approximately 650 employees and 190 contractors work at the refinery, with more than 30% of employees living within the local shires of Harvey and Waroona.

Worsley Alumina – South32

The mining and metal company South32 mines bauxite in the South West of Australia and transport it on an overland conveyor belt to a refinery where the bauxite is turned into white alumina powder and then exported to aluminium smelters around the world including South32’s Hillside and Mozal aluminium smelters in Africa.

South32 holds an 86% stake in Worsley Alumina, while Japan Alumina Associates (Australia) Pty Ltd owns 10% and Sojitz Alumina Pty Ltd owns 4%.

At the time, building the mine, conveyor belt and processing plant was Australia’s most expensive capital project, costing AUD$1.2 billion and employing 3500 people.

Over the past three decades, the production has increased four-fold, making Worsley Alumina one of the largest and lowest-cost alumina producers in the world.

As a major employer in the South West and Peel regions of Western Australia, the operations inject more than $1 million each day into surrounding communities through wages, local businesses and community investment.

Yarwun Alumina Refinery – Rio Tinto

In 2002, the construction of a world-class Yarwun alumina refinery in Gladstone, Queensland, Australia started and in 2004 the first shipment was carried out.

The production of the alumina refinery doubled in and presently, it produces more than three million tonnes of alumina per year, which is exported to aluminium smelters in Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific region.

In 2018, Rio Tinto’s Queensland Research and Development Centre (QRDC) relocated within Australia from Brisbane to Yarwun Refinery and Gladstone became the home of innovation.

QRDC is Rio Tinto’s global centre for technology, research and development in the alumina refining process. The move confirms the need for our Research & Development team to be closer to the operations as a series of potentially game-changing technologies will be trialled in the coming years.

Conclusion

Western Australia’s all alumina operations are fully vertically integrated with operators involved in each stage and producing each material.