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South32 plans to restart its shuttered Brazil Aluminium smelter using a mix of wind, hydro and solar power.
The diversified mining and metals group on Thursday announced it would participate in the restart of the Alumar aluminium smelter, which has been in care and maintenance since 2015, together with its joint venture partner Alcoa Corporation.
South32, a company spun out of mining giant BHP Billiton in 2015, said its 40 percent share will be powered by 100 percent cost efficient renewable power, secured under long-term contracts, and will place the smelter in the second quartile of the global aluminium site cost curve.
South32 expects to invest around $70 million to support the restart.
First production is expected in the June 2022 quarter, with full capacity from the smelter’s three potlines to be achieved in the March 2023 quarter and will lift the group’s annual aluminium production by more than 16 percent.
The restart, along with the introduction of green power, forms part of South32’s strategy to reshape its portfolio to increase its exposure to base metals required for the transition to a low carbon future.
“We see strong long-term market fundamentals for aluminium,” said Kerr.
“We are further integrating our business and meaningfully increasing our share of metal produced utilising green energy.”
The group — which has promised to cut its direct and secondary carbon emission in half by 2035 — is also pursuing significant green energy plans for its energy intensive Mozal smelter in Mozambique and the Hillside smelter in South Africa.
The greening of the power from these smelters is critical to South32’s decarbonisation commitments as almost 90 percent of its secondary or Scope2 emissions are owed to the coal-fired power it is supplied by South Africa’s Eskom.
The group has rolled out energy efficiency technology at Mozal, and plans to do the same at Hillside. — fin24.
Online Reporter