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 (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...
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 (), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)), and diaspore (α-AlO(OH) ...
,
alumina
Aluminium oxide (or aluminium(III) oxide) is a chemical compound of aluminium and oxygen with the chemical formula . It is the most commonly occurring of several aluminium oxides, and specifically identified as aluminium oxide. It is commonly ...
and primary aluminium.
Rio Tinto Aluminium is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Rio Tinto Group
Rio Tinto Group is a British-Australian multinational company that is the world's second largest metals and mining corporation (behind BHP). It was founded in 1873 when a group of investors purchased a mine complex on the Río Tinto, in Hu ...
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$
The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
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 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 GT26C locomotives to the same design as the
Western Australian Government Railways L class (albeit without dynamic brakes), numbered 1.001 and 1.002. A switcher was also imported from Canada, numbered 1.003. In 1994, 1.002 was sold to
Westrail and renumbered L276, and would later go on to have dynamic brakes retrofitted, also being renumbered LZ3120. 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 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.
[Forgotten Railway of Queensland: Comalco Rail Operations Weipa '' Motive Power'' issue 62 February 2009 page 74]
R1006 was withdrawn and scrapped following a collision in September 2019.
Litigation
* Commonwealth Aluminium Corporation Ltd v Attorney-General of Queensland
976Qd R 231 (Comalco Case)
See also
*
List of alumina refineries
References
External links
Comalco web siteAP Technology web site
Aluminium companies of Australia
Mining companies of Australia
Mining companies of Guinea
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