Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter

Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter as seen from the top of Bluff Hill
Tiwai Point is located in New Zealand
Tiwai Point
Tiwai Point
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Location of Tiwai Point within New Zealand

The Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter is an aluminium smelter owned by Rio Tinto Group (79.36%) and the Sumitomo Group (20.64%),[1] via a joint venture called New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) Limited.[2]

The facility, New Zealand's only aluminium smelter,[3] is at Tiwai Point, near Bluff. It imports alumina and processes it into primary aluminium. The plant's alumina is supplied from refineries in Queensland and the Northern Territory of Australia. Around 90 per cent of the aluminium produced at NZAS is exported, mainly to Japan.[4]

The smelter was opened in 1971[2] following the construction of the Manapouri Power Station by the New Zealand government to supply it with electricity. It uses 13 percent of New Zealand's electricity,[5][6] and is reported to account for 10 percent of the Southland region's economy.[7]

Rio Tinto has threatened to close the smelter several times, for example in 2013 and 2020, but to date closure has been deferred after renegotiation of the price it pays for electricity.[8][9][10][11] As of January 2021, Rio Tinto announced that it had reached an agreement with its power supplier Meridian Energy to pay a lower price in return for keeping the smelter running until December 2024.[12][13] In July 2022, NZAS signalled that it would once again offer to remain open if it could secure new power agreements on favourable terms.[14] In May 2024, new twenty year electricity contracts were agreed with three suppliers, allowing the smelter to remain open until 2044.

There are concerns regarding the environmental legacy of waste stockpiled at the site, near to an eroding beachline.[15]

  1. ^ "Aluminium". riotinto.com. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  2. ^ a b Cook, Megan (11 March 2010). "Pulp and paper, aluminium and steel industries – 3. Aluminium". teara.govt.nz. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  3. ^ Grant, David. "Aluminium smelter, Tīwai Point". teara.govt.nz. Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  4. ^ "New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited". Rio Tinto Alcan. 2011. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
  5. ^ Devlin, Collette; McCarthy, Phil (3 August 2015). "Tiwai Smelter deal signed between Meridian Energy and NZAS". stuff.co.nz. Archived from the original on 2020-11-07. Retrieved 2017-01-13.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Tim Shadbolt vows to save smelter". Newshub. 4 April 2013. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-01-12.
  8. ^ Foxcroft, Debrin; Stevenson, Rebecca (9 July 2020). "Tiwai Point aluminium smelter to close, 1000 jobs to go". Stuff. Archived from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  9. ^ Rutherford, Hamish (9 July 2020). "Rio Tinto announces plans to close New Zealand aluminium smelter in 2021". NZ Herald. Archived from the original on 2020-07-09. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  10. ^ Braae, Alex (10 July 2020). "The Bulletin: Tiwai Point closing affects everything". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 2020-08-21. Retrieved 2020-08-20.
  11. ^ Harding, Evan (1 September 2020). "Tiwai aluminium smelter proves to be a political hot potato". Stuff. Archived from the original on 2020-09-01. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  12. ^ Harding, Evan. "Tiwai aluminium smelter to stay open until end of 2024". Stuff. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  13. ^ "Tiwai Point aluminium smelter to keep operating until end of 2024". Radio New Zealand. 14 January 2021. Archived from the original on 14 January 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference Stuff0722 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Pennington, Phil. "Smelter stockpiles 100,000 tonnes of hazardous waste near beach". Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2021.