Hydro’s Alunorte alumina refinery in Barcarena, Brazil, has cut production to balance bauxite inventories at the plant. Hydro’s bauxite production at Paragominas mine in north Brazil is temporarily shut due to a power outage. The mine delivers bauxite to the Alunorte plant.
Three transmission towers supplying power to Hydro’s Paragominas mine overturned on June 20, halting production. Local authorities are trying to determine the cause of the incident, in which no damage to life or assets was reported.
Repair work of the power transmission towers has started and power supply is expected to resume in 2-3 weeks. Hydro has temporarily reduced production at Alunorte refinery to 50-70pc of installed capacity to conserve bauxite inventories.
The company does not expect any significant impact of the outage on customer deliveries.
In April-May, Hydro’s bauxite and alumina production had surged 82pc from a year ago due to increased output at Paragominas mine and Alunorte refinery.