Boyne aluminium smelter

Boyne Smelters Limited (BSL) is Australia's largest aluminium smelter. The smelter produces more than half a million tones of aluminium each year from its three reduction lines. Production activities at the smelter include manufacturing of carbon anodes, aluminium production (smelting) in reduction lines, and casting of molten metal into aluminium products. Aluminium production is supported by numerous other functional areas such as power supply, maintenance, environment, process improvement, procurement, human resources, community relations and shipping and transport.

The expansion of Line 3 at BSL during 1994 to 1997 was one of the State's major private sector investments for the period.

Bauxite is mined at Rio Tinto Aluminium Weipa in Cape York and shipped to Queensland Alumina Limited for refining in Gladstone. Alumina is transported by conveyor to BSL for the third stage of the aluminium production process called smelting.

Location

The Gladstone region of Queensland (encompassing the city of Gladstone and nearby communities of Boyne Island, Tannum Sands, Yarwun, Targinnie and Calliope) is located approximately 550 kilometres north of Brisbane. Gladstone is the location of one of Queensland's major ports, and is the site of existing industry including alumina refining and aluminium smelting, power generation, and various other manufacturing facilities. The Gladstone and Calliope Shires together have an estimated population of around 35,000 people. The Gladstone region has an average minimum temperature of about 18.4 and an average maximum of about 27.5 degrees.

Rio Tinto Aluminium has been involved in the Gladstone region community since 1963, when construction began on Queensland Alumina Limited, the world's largest alumina refinery. Proximity to a power supply (the Gladstone Power Station) and to the Queensland Alumina Limited refinery, prompted Rio Tinto Aluminium to select Boyne Island (20 kilometres south of Gladstone) as the location for its new smelting operation and in 1982 operations began at Boyne Smelters Limited. Existing infrastructure and a supportive community convinced Rio Tinto Aluminium again to choose the Gladstone region as the location for its new refinery project in 2001. The Rio Tinto Aluminium Yarwun refinery was commissioned in late 2004 at its site near Yarwun. Rio Tinto Aluminium purchased a share in the Gladstone Power Station when it was privatised in 1994.

Operation data