San Ciprián aluminium smelter ramp up reaches 90% of its capacity
The ramp up of Alcoa’s San Ciprián aluminium smelter has reached 90% of capacity, investors were told recently. The smelter in Spain is scheduled to reach full capacity by the middle of this year after it was curtailed
Production at the smelter was curtailed in 2021 due to high power prices, while a national power outage in Spain in April last year disrupted overall operations in the adjacent smelter and refinery. Before the curtailment, the facility held the total production capacity of 228,000 tonnes a year.
Molly Beerman, Alcoa’s Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, told investors last week: “We’ve got a great workforce, a really knowledgeable team there. The assets were well maintained during their curtailment. So, that is progressing very well.
“All we need now for San Ciprián is a long-term power contract. We’re hedged through 2027, but we’ll be looking at power options for that facility for the longer-term.”
She added: “We would hope that by 2027, the smelter is operating profitably, so much so that it’s generating sufficient cash to cover the losses from the refinery.”
The facility’s refinery, which supplies alumina to the smelter, is ‘very challenged’, and is currently running at half capacity, with a limited service life.
Investment work is taking place on a residue storage area at the site, with capacity anticipated to be filled by the early 2030s.
“We have a goal in the near-term for cash neutrality. We really want the San Ciprián operations to not be consuming cash that we want to put into our other capital allocation priorities.
