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3h ago

Alcoa Permanently Closes Kwinana Alumina Refinery, Cutting 2.2 Million Tons From Capacity

The company determined there was no sustainable restart due to the plant’s age, high costs and bauxite constraints.

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An empty beach leads to a heavy industrial area with large smoke plumes
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Overview

  • About 220 remaining employees will be progressively reduced during 2026, with a small number staying beyond 2026 to ready the site for redevelopment.
  • Alcoa will book roughly US$890 million in restructuring and related charges in Q3 2025 and expects about US$600 million in closure cash outlays over six years.
  • The shutdown lowers Alcoa’s global consolidated refining capacity to around 11.7 million metric tons.
  • Port and rail facilities at Kwinana will keep operating as Alcoa works with Western Australian authorities on decommissioning and future land use.
  • Production had been curtailed since mid-2024 after workforce reductions that began in January 2024, and an ABC-cited expert has estimated a roughly $650 million annual hit to WA’s economy.