Government welcomes $400million Alcoa Pinjarra upgrade proposal

3/7/03
State Development Minister Clive Brown today welcomed Alcoa's plans to invest $400million in an upgrade of its Pinjarra Alumina Refinery.
The upgrade will increase alumina production at the refinery by 600,000 tonnes per annum, result in an increase in Western Australia's exports of up to $160million per annum and directly create 1,000 jobs during the construction phase.
These jobs will be in addition to the 60 jobs that will be created during the construction of the on-site cogeneration facility, announced recently by Alcoa and Alinta.
Mr Brown said the upgrade would greatly assist the Government to achieve its goal of creating 125,000 jobs over the next five years.
"This investment is a wonderful example of how the contribution value-adding industries make to economic and employment growth in Western Australia," he said.
"Industries that add value to our natural resources are the driving force of the WA economy, creating jobs and generating over $1billion per year in royalty revenues that the Government uses to fund its priority areas of health, education and community safety.
"With growing world demand for steel, alumina, LNG and clean fuels, WA has the opportunity to achieve a sustained period of strong economic and employment growth that will create jobs and opportunities for all Western Australians.
"I applaud Alcoa on the decision to increase its value adding capacity in WA."
Mr Brown acknowledged the project would need to obtain the normal environmental approvals and welcomed Alcoa's commitment to work with local communities to ensure the project was progressed within a sustainable framework.
The Minister said the upgrade and Alcoa's recently signed electricity cogeneration agreement with Alinta would deliver important environmental benefits.
"Alcoa's proposed upgrade and its recently signed $100million cogeneration deal with Alinta will bring greenhouse benefits, resulting in a 10 per cent reduction in greenhouse emissions per tonne of alumina produced at the refinery," he said.
Minister's office: 9222 9699