Alumina giant Alcoa is shutting an ageing refinery and axing the facility's remaining workers.

The US-listed company started phasing out its workforce at the 60-year-old Kwinana Alumina Refinery in Western Australia in January 2024.

It announced overnight on Monday that the facility south of Perth would close for good.

Multiple factors led to the decision, including the facility's age, size and operating cost, as well as broader market conditions, Alcoa said.

"Alcoa operated the Kwinana refinery for a number of years in a challenging environment and made the difficult decision to permanently close the facility after unsuccessfully exploring multiple options for a sustainable path to restarting," chief operations officer Matt Reed said.

The refinery has about 220 employees, but the wor

See Full Page