Rio Tinto | Minerals and Metals for the world

A project to upgrade the quality of foundry ingot.
Improving metal flow between reduction cells and the cast house at the Boyne Island smelter.
Working on the stockpile configuration at the Weipa bauxite mine in Northern Queensland to improve the shiploading rate.
Delivering on customers' specific requirements for bauxite quality.

Comalco is an integrated business which involves mining bauxite mineral, refining it into alumina and smelting alumina into aluminium metal, and the Six Sigma discipline will help reap the greatest value from Comalco's US$750m investment in the Comalco Alumina Refinery (CAR), now under construction at Gladstone in Queensland.

The alumina industry is attractive because markets are experiencing growth rates of about three per cent a year. However, it is a difficult business to enter because first a large secure bauxite supply is needed. At Weipa in far north Queensland, Comalco has one of the world's largest deposits. Weipa is low cost with under used infrastructure capable of inexpensive expansion. This is where CAR will add value to the Weipa resource by turning more bauxite into alumina.

CAR starts production in 2005. Comalco has already put in place a sales contract which underscores the validity of the investment. In June, it signed one of the largest alumina supply contracts in the history of the industry. Norwegian industrial conglomerate Norsk Hydro will buy 500,000 tonnes of alumina per year for more than 20 years from Comalco. Starting with a volume of 300,000 tonnes in 2005, Comalco will provide Norsk subsidiary Hydro Aluminium's two Australian smelters with 500,000 tonnes of alumina annually from 2006 through to 2030.



A project to upgrade the quality of foundry ingot. Improving metal flow between reduction cells and the cast house at the Boyne Island smelter. Working on the stockpile configuration at the Weipa bauxite mine in Northern Queensland to improve the shiploading rate. Delivering on customers' specific requirements for bauxite quality. Comalco is an integrated business which involves mining bauxite mineral, refining it into alumina and smelting alumina into aluminium metal, and the Six Sigma discipline will help reap the greatest value from Comalco's US$750m investment in the Comalco Alumina Refinery (CAR), now under construction at Gladstone in Queensland. The alumina industry is attractive because markets are experiencing growth rates of about three per cent a year. However, it is a difficult business to enter because first a large secure bauxite supply is needed. At Weipa in far north Queensland, Comalco has one of the world's largest deposits. Weipa is low cost with under used infrastructure capable of inexpensive expansion. This is where CAR will add value to the Weipa resource by turning more bauxite into alumina. CAR starts production in 2005. Comalco has already put in place a sales contract which underscores the validity of the investment. In June, it signed one of the largest alumina supply contracts in the history of the industry. Norwegian industrial conglomerate Norsk Hydro will buy 500,000 tonnes of alumina per year for more than 20 years from Comalco. Starting with a volume of 300,000 tonnes in 2005, Comalco will provide Norsk subsidiary Hydro Aluminium's two Australian smelters with 500,000 tonnes of alumina annually from 2006 through to 2030.
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