Rio Tinto Aluminium (previously known as Comalco) is now known as
Rio Tinto Alcan after Rio's takeover of
Alcan. It was the world's eighth largest
aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
company. It mines and manufactures
bauxite
Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO ...
,
alumina and primary aluminium.
Rio Tinto Aluminium is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Rio Tinto Group
Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian multinational company that is the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). The company was founded in 1873 when of a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Rio Tint ...
and provides about 20% of
Australia's total production of bauxite, 8% of its alumina and 24% of its primary aluminium.
In 2002, Rio Tinto Aluminium earned
US$256 million for its shareholder Rio Tinto.
In 2006 Rio Tinto Aluminium was the largest receiver of budgetary assistance from the Australian government, Rio Tinto Aluminium had received over $287 million in assistance from Australian tax dollars.
RTA owns the
Weipa
Weipa () is a coastal mining town in the local government area of Weipa Town in Queensland. It is the largest town on the Cape York Peninsula. It exists because of the enormous bauxite deposits along the coast. The Port of Weipa is mainly involv ...
Bauxite mine,
Yarwun Alumina Refinery, and
Bell Bay aluminium smelter.
It also has interests (manages or joint-venture) in other aluminium related businesses:
*
Boyne Smelters Ltd (aluminium smelter)
*
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited (
Tiwai Point aluminium smelter)
*
Queensland Alumina Limited (alumina refinery)
*
Gladstone Power Station (power station)
*
Anglesey Aluminium (aluminium smelter – closed September 2009)
* Eurallumina SpA (alumina refinery)(Now sold)
Weipa railway fleet
In January 1972, Comalco (as the company was then known) ordered two Clyde GT26C locomotives (equivalent of the
EMD SD40), numbered 1.001 and 1.002. A switcher was also imported from Canada, numbered 1.003. In 1994, 1.002 was sold to Westrail, which operated a fleet of GT26Cs, where it was renumbered as part of that railway's
L class. The railway also acquired a prototype JT42C,
GML10, from BHP, which was renumbered R1004 (1.001 was also renumbered R1001). In 2009, both R1001 and R1004 were sold to railways on the East Coast of Australia (1001 to
El Zorro enumbered L277and 1004 to
Qube Logistics everted to its original GML10 designation, and were replaced by two production-model JT42Cs, R1005 and R1006. 1.003 was scrapped in 2000 after years of disuse.
Litigation
* Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Ltd v Attorney-General of Queensland
976Qd R 231 (Comalco Case)
See also
*
List of alumina refineries
External links
Comalco web siteAP Technology web site
Aluminium companies of Australia
Mining companies of Australia
Mining companies of Guinea
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