Boyne island aluminium smelter

The Boyne Island Aluminium Smelter is located on Boyne Island about 20 kilometres south of the Gladstone port in Queensland. It has the capacity to produce 545,000 tonnes of aluminium a year. It is operated by Boyne Smelters Limited a company that is 59.4 percent owned by Rio Tinto Alcan through Pacific Aluminium. Other shareholders are Sumitomo, Marubeni and Mutsubishi.

The Boyne Island Smelter is the Largest Aluminium Smelter in Australia
The Boyne Island aluminium smelter, the largest aluminium smelter in Australia, produces high quality aluminium billets and ingots. Most of its produce is exported to North America and South East Asia where it is used in the recreation and leisure industry, wind power generation, transmission of electricity, construction of buildings, mass transportation and the aerospace industries.

Boyne Island Smelter Opened in 1982
The Boyne Island aluminium smelter was opened in 1982 and originally produced around 210,000 tonnes of aluminium annually. In 1995 it was decided to increase the smelters production capacity to over 540,000 tonnes a year and this was achieved in 1997 when Reduction Line 3 came on-line.

Upgrades Have Extended the Life of the Boyne Island Smelter
Other upgrades were completed in 2012 that involved the complete re- construction of one if the three existing carbon bake furnaces and the replacement of the other two with a completely new furnace. The new furnaces proved to be far more energy efficient and they considerably reduced site greenhouse gas emissions. Other up-grades at the time included the replacement of all reduction Line one and two cranes as well as rale replacements and crane runway upgrades. At the same time an Automated Alumina Distribution System was installed. The upgrades had become necessary to extend the smelter's life, to increase efficiency and to improve overall environmental preformances.

Boyne Island Smelter Construction Began in 1979
Construction of the Boyne Island aluminium smelter began in 1979 and it was officially opened in 1982.The idea of building an aluminium smelter in Queensland took root in 1957 when the mining of bauxite was approved at Weipa on Cape York Peninsula. The authority for Comalco to mine the Weipa bauxite deposit was given under the condition it refined the bauxite to alumina and to consider the building of an aluminium smelter in Queensland. In 1967 Comalco commenced alumina production at its Queensland Alumina Limited Gladstone refinery.

The discovery of multiple coal fields in the Queensland Bowen Basin Region aroused interest in the viability of building an aluminium smelter in the state and in 1972 Comalco was granted permission by the Queensland government to opt for blocks of power from a power station that was planned to be built at Gladstone. The construction of the power station was partly funded by the Australian Government on the condition that portion of the power to be produced be used to bolster the export industry.

In August 1977 Comalco began clearing land and undertaking preliminary earthworks for the building of an aluminium smelter on 50 hectares of land on Boyne Island. However, it was not until August 1979 when Comalco finally put together a consortium to go ahead with the construction of the project. The first aluminium was produced at the plant in February 1982.

Potline 2 start up occurred in July 1983 and the smelter was officially opened soon after. The Boyne Island aluminium smelter now employs around 1,100 employees and contractors.
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