Alumina, aluminium and bauxite

Rio Tinto Alcan owns, operates or has interests in seven bauxite mines and deposits, six alumina refineries, six specialty aluminas plants, 26 aluminium smelters and 13 power generating plants, nine of them hydroelectric. 

Rio Tinto Alcan also operates 120 facilities for the production of engineered products mainly for aerospace, marine, mass transportation, automotive, building construction, display, electricity transmission, wind-power generation, recreation and leisure applications.

The Bauxite and Alumina business unit focuses on large scale, cost effective assets. Besides the Weipa and Ely bauxite deposits in Queensland, Australia, it operates, in whole or in part, mines at Gove in the Northern Territory, Porto Trombetas in Brazil, Accra in Ghana and Conakry in Guinea. It also has two alumina refineries in Gladstone, Queensland; as well as another at Gove; Sao Luis, Brazil; Quebec by Jonquière, Canada; and Gardanne, France.

The Primary Metal business unit comprises smelters that use alumina to produce aluminium. It has the industry's largest share of low-cost production capacity, the most advanced smelting technology, the ability to generate about half of its own power needs, equipment sales, engineering services and aluminium trading operations, anode and cathode production facilities and aluminium fluoride plants. Rio Tinto Alcan smelters span the world, located in Australia, Canada, Cameroon, China, France, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, the UK and the US, with new build projects in Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

The Engineered Products business unit is an interconnected network of fabricated and semi-fabricated aluminium and composite businesses that share key resources, processes and technologies, as well as serving common markets including aerospace, automotive, mass transportation, marine, building, electrical, beverage can packaging and other specialty segments. It is the number one supplier of value added aluminium products to Europe's aerospace industry and number two worldwide.

Rio Tinto Alcan is a global supplier of bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium, with an annual production of 30 million tonnes of bauxite, 8.7 million tonnes of alumina and 4.3 million tonnes of aluminium. The following table presents key data about Rio Tinto Alcan's operations:

Rio Tinto Alcan proforma share of production

Download the Rio Tinto Alcan operations map [PDF: 343 KB] 

Download the Rio Tinto Alcan list of operations [PDF: 170 KB]

Production data notes

(a) Rio Tinto held a 38.6% share in QAL until 24 October 2007; this increased to 80% following the Alcan acquisition.

(b) Yarwun was previously known as Comalco Alumina Refinery.

(c) Rio Tinto Alcan sold its share in the Vlissingen smelter in the first half of 2007.

(d) Rio Tinto Alcan has an 80% interest in the Awaso mine but purchases the additional 20% of production.

(e) Rio Tinto has a 22.9% shareholding in the Sangaredi mine but receives 45% of production under the partnership agreement.

(f) Includes beneficiated and calcined bauxite production.