Alcoa has announced the permanent closure of its Kwinana alumina refinery in Western Australia (WA) following a curtailment of production in June last year.
The decision was influenced by factors such as facility age, scale, operating costs, market conditions and bauxite grade challenges.
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The permanent closure of Kwinana’s facility, which has an annual capacity of 2.2 million tonnes (mt), will reduce Alcoa’s global consolidated refining capacity to 11.7mt.
As of now, the Kwinana refinery employs around 220 people. However, this number is expected to decrease in 2026 as the closure process advances.
Alcoa’s port and rail facilities at Kwinana will remain operational, alongside its other significant operations in WA and Victoria.
Alcoa executive vice-president and chief operations officer Matt Reed said: “Alcoa operated the Kwinana refinery for a number of years in a challenging environment and made the difficult decision to permanently close the facility after unsuccessfully exploring multiple options for a sustainable path to restarting.
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By GlobalData“We appreciate the dedication and support of our Kwinana employees, contractors and suppliers who have made a major contribution to Western Australia’s economic development and prosperity over more than six decades.”
The company will collaborate with the WA State Government on potential future land use options for the site.
Alcoa is set to report restructuring and related charges totalling approximately $890m ($623m after-tax, or $2.41 per share) in the third quarter of 2025 (Q3 2025) due to the permanent closure. This includes around $375m in non-cash asset impairment charges.
Cash outlays for the permanent closure are expected to be around $600m over six years, with $75m to be spent in Q4 2025.
Meanwhile, Alcoa will record adjustments to asset retirement obligations in Brazil in Q3 2025, resulting in a charge to cost of goods sold of approximately $50m (after-tax), or $0.19 per share.
