Alcoa curtails operations at Indiana smelter

Alcoa Corp. has announced it curtailed operations at one of its three smelting lines at the Warrick Operations facility in Indiana on July 1, citing operational challenges.

“Our teams will be focused on ensuring that we bring down this capacity safely while protecting production at the two other operating lines,” said John Slaven, Alcoa executive vice president and chief operations officer.

The Warrick facility has a total nameplate capacity of 269,000 metric tons per year (mtpy) across five potlines.

The three operating potlines have a capacity of 161,000 mtpy. The three smelting lines have approximately 54,000 mtpy capacity.

In its 2020 sustainability report, the company said it wanted to increase its focus on recycled content in the flat-rolled aluminum produced at Warrick.

Compared to 30.4 percent in 2018, Alcoa was able to use 34.5 percent recycled content to make its aluminum in the United States in 2019, according to the report. This increase was attributed to equipment upgrades and initiatives.

Aluminum prices dropped from $2,850 per metric ton in January, peaking at $3,700 in early March to $2,500 in June. The drop is caused by worldwide interest rate increases to combat surging inflation and China’s zero-COVID policy.