Alcoa announces permanent closure of Kwinana refinery

Alcoa has announced it will permanently close its 60-year-old Kwinana refinery in Perth’s southern suburbs, after undertaking “numerous studies and analyses” to determine its future.

The decision comes after the curtailment of production at the site in mid-2024.

Alcoa’s Kwinana alumina refinery south of Perth.Credit: Alcoa

“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”: a statement from the company on Tuesday morning read.

Alcoa executive vice president and chief operations officer Matt Reed said the decision to close down had been a difficult one.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

Reed said Alcoa would work with relevant stakeholders on a safe and responsible closure of the refinery and associated residue storage areas.

The company will also prepare the site for new economic development opportunities, and will work with the state government on potential future land use options.

Alcoa’s port and associated rail facilities at Kwinana will continue to operate.

The Kwinana refinery currently has around 220 employees – a number that will be reduced during 2026 as the closure progresses.

The company has said certain employees will remain beyond 2026 to prepare the site for future redevelopment.

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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.

The company’s outlook for total spend in 2025 for asset retirement obligations and environmental reserves is expected to increase by $20 million to approximately $260 million to include the spend related to the closure of the Kwinana refinery.

Their 2026 asset retirement obligation and environmental total spend is expected to be around $300 million.

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