Point Henry smelter - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Aluminium smelting

Aluminium smelting is the process of extracting aluminium from its oxide alumina, generally by the Hall-Héroult process. Alumina is extracted from the ore Bauxite by means of the Bayer process at an alumina refinery....

is located near Geelong, Victoria

Geelong, Victoria

Geelong is a port city located on Corio Bay and the Barwon River, in the state of Victoria, Australia, south-west of the state capital; Melbourne. It is the second most populated city in Victoria and the fifth most populated non-capital city in Australia...

in the suburb of Moolap

Moolap, Victoria

Moolap is a residential and industrial suburb of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The name Moolap is derived from an Aboriginal word for nearby Point Henry, moo-laa, thought to mean 'men gathering to go fishing'. Moolap in Aboriginal tongue means "Shady Place" ....

. The smelter has a production capacity of 185,000 tonnes of aluminium a year. It is operated by Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals

Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals

Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals is a joint venture between Alumina Limited and Alcoa and is abbreviated to AWAC. AWAC's business is the mining of bauxite, the extraction of alumina and the smelting of aluminium. It has about 25% of the global alumina market...

Australia, a joint venture between Alcoa

Alcoa

Alcoa Inc. is the world's third largest producer of aluminum, behind Rio Tinto Alcan and Rusal. From its operational headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Alcoa conducts operations in 31 countries...

(60%) and Alumina Limited

Alumina Limited

Alumina Limited is a public company listed on the Australian and New York Stock Exchanges. It was formed in 2003 in a demerger from Western Mining Corporation, and is one of the largest companies on the ASX....

(39.25%). Alumina is brought in by ship and unloaded at a dedicated pier

Port of Geelong

The Port of Geelong is located on the shores of Corio Bay in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The port is the sixth-largest in Australia by tonnage....

, and approximately half of this finished aluminium is sold to the neighbouring Alcoa Australia Rolled Products plant, where aluminium is rolled into sheet for can manufacture. The remainder of the aluminium is despatched by road as ingots. Around 1000 people are employed at the Point Henry plant.

Construction of the smelter at Point Henry commenced in 1960 by the Cavalier Construction Company. Smelting commenced in 1962, with full production commencing on 4 April 1963. The initial electricity supply to the smelter was a 220 kV transmission lines from the Geelong Terminal Station direct to the smelter. When production started, the maximum power demand of the smelter was 39.76 MW. By June 1964 it was 68.38 MW, and by October 1964 76.6 MW - more than the entire Geelong region's demand. November 1965 it was 78.88 MW, February 1967 79.84 MW, and 140 MW by 1969. On 20 March 1969 Alcoa's own brown coal fired Anglesea Power Station

Anglesea Power Station, Victoria (Australia)

Anglesea Power Station is located at Anglesea, in Victoria, Australia within the floristically rich Anglesea Heath area. It is brown coal powered with one steam turbine with a capacity of 150MW of electricity, supplying almost 40% of the electricity used by the nearby Point Henry aluminium...

was brought on line. Of 150 MW capacity, the power station is connected to the smelter by around 30 km of high voltage transmission lines, and is used to augment the supply from the Victorian electrical grid.

The current power demand of the smelter is 360 MW for a 185,000 tonne annual production capacity, of which approximately 40 per cent is met by the Anglesea power station. The Point Henry smelter, along with the smelter at Portland

Portland, Victoria

The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...

, use 18 to 25 per cent of Victoria's electricity production. In March 2010 it was announced that the operators of Loy Yang B power station (Loy Yang Power) had signed a contract with the smelter operators for the supply of electricity to power aluminium smelters at Portland

Portland aluminium smelter

The Portland aluminium smelter is located atPortland, Victoria, Australia.The smelter has a production capacity of 345,000 tonnes of aluminium per yearThe smelter is a joint venture owned by...

and Point Henry until 2036, the existing power contracts expire in 2014.

See also