Alcan cuts output in Australia

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33774, 21 February 1975, Page 16

Alcan cuts output in Australia

t.Vew Zealand Press Association —Copyright)

Alcan Australia, Ltd, will cut aluminium production at its Kurri Kurri smelter by 15 per cent from March 1. the directors say.

Comalco, Ltd, cut its Bel! IBay smelter output by about I9| per cent from January 1, land Alcoa of Australia. Ltd, has cut back to a four day (week at its Point Henry [aluminium fabricating division.

These cutbacks by Australian smelters and fabricating n'ants. coupled with falling demand from overseas customers. have also forced reductions in the output of alumina by the two main Australian producers.

OueensGnd Alumina. Ltd. whose Gladstone refinery sunnlies both the Bel] Bav. and Kurri Kurri smelters, as well as overseas customers, has cut its March-ouarter ontnut from an annual rate of 2.4 m tonnes to about 2m. tonnes. Q.A.L. draws all its bauxite requirements—about 4.8 m tonnes a year—from Comalco’s Weipa mine in North Queensland. Alcoa of Australia is cutting alumina outnut bv its Kwinana and Piniarra refineries bv about 18 ner cent and mav he forced to cut back further if exnort dem?"d continues to decline The only other alumina: nroducer in Australia is the Swiss-Australian gove project. whose output of about I one million tonnes a vear is! all taken by Alusuisse. Alcan Australia’s cutback: at Kurri Kurri. which will mean a reduction *in annual i output rate from about 46.000 to 39,000 tonnes, directly re-' suits from a drop in Australian market demand since the

[Company exports little if any ingot metal. The company says that the reductions in demand for' semi-fabricated aluminium ( nroducts, particularly for the building industry, would 1 mean a reduction of em [ployees at Kurri Kurri and; other locations.

It said that the exact num- [ ber of employees affected was being discussed by management and the unions.

Alcan Australia’s total workforce in all states is about 2000. of which 200 are directly employed at the Kurri Kurri smelter.