Alumina, aluminium and bauxite

Rio Tinto Alcan owns, operates or has interests in six bauxite mines and deposits, ten alumina refineries, 23 aluminium smelters and 12 power generating plants, nine of them hydroelectric. 

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; 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, France, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, the UK and the US, with new build projects in Australia, South Africa and Malaysia.

Rio Tinto Alcan is a global supplier of bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium, with an approximate annual production of 35 million tonnes of bauxite, 9 million tonnes of alumina and 4 million tonnes of aluminium. The following table presents key data about Rio Tinto Alcan's operations:

Rio Tinto Alcan proforma share of production

Production data notes

(a) Rio Tinto sold its 50 per cent interest in the Ningxia aluminium smelter with an effective date of 26 January 2009.
(b) Production at the Sohar smelter commenced in the third quarter of 2008.
(c) Rio Tinto Alcan has an 80 per cent interest in the Awaso mine but purchases the additional 20 per cent of production.
(d) Rio Tinto has a 22.95 per cent shareholding in the Sangaredi mine but receives 45.0 per cent of production under the partnership agreement. Data have been restated to reflect a moisture content adjustment.
(e) Includes beneficiated and calcined bauxite production.