Alcoa announces closure of Kwinana refinery

Alcoa has announced that it will permanently close its Kwinana alumina refinery in Western Australia. This decision follows the curtailment of production at the refinery in June 2024.

Alcoa says it has undertaken numerous studies and analyses since curtailment to determine the future of the refinery, including restart and closure. Multiple factors led to the decision to permanently close the refinery, including the age of the facility, scale and operating costs, market conditions and bauxite grade challenges.

“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,” said Matt Reed, Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for Alcoa. “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.”

Alcoa says it will work with relevant stakeholders on a safe and responsible closure of the refinery and associated residue storage areas. Additionally, Alcoa will begin to prepare the site for new economic development opportunities, and as part of this, the company plans to work with the Western Australian State Government on potential future land use options.

Alcoa’s port and associated rail facilities at Kwinana will continue to operate, as will Alcoa’s strategically important other Western Australian and Victorian operations.

The Kwinana refinery currently has approximately 220 employees; this number will be reduced during 2026 as the closure progresses. Certain employees will remain beyond 2026 to prepare the site for future redevelopment. Permanently closing Kwinana’s 2.2 million metric tons of annual capacity will bring Alcoa’s global consolidated refining capacity to 11.7 million metric tons.

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