The federal court in Belem, Brazil, lifted the production embargo on the
Alunorte alumina refinery under the criminal lawsuit on Monday, May 20, allowing
Alunorte to ramp up towards normal production after running at half capacity for
more than a year. No decision has been taken on the embargos on the new bauxite
residue disposal area (DRS2).
Production at Hydro's Paragominas bauxite mine will be increased in line with
the ramp-up speed at Alunorte. A decision to also increase production at Hydro's
part-owned Albras primary aluminium plant is expected shortly.
"I am pleased and encouraged to see the great efforts by our people at Alunorte,
Albras and Paragominas, in cooperation with local communities and authorities.
Resuming production at Alunorte is an important step towards normal production
at our strategically important operations in Para and a foundation for our
agenda to strengthen the robustness and profitability across the value chain,"
says President and CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim.
The decision by the federal court to lift the production embargo under the
criminal lawsuit came after a decision on Wednesday, May 15, to lift the
production embargo under the civil lawsuit.
"This decision is very important to our employees, local communities,
contractors and customers. It is the final confirmation that Alunorte can
operate safely and means we will restart the full aluminium value chain, which
is positive both for us and the state of Pará. We will focus on ramping up in a
safe manner, following several months of disrupted operations, as well as
continue working to also lift the embargos on the new, state-of-art bauxite
residue deposit area," says John Thuestad, EVP of the Bauxite & Alumina business
area.
Alunorte, with an annual production capacity of 6.3 million tonnes, is expected
to reach 75-85% percent utilization within two months. An additional press
filter is expected to be operational in Q3 2019, further increasing the
capacity.
As the federal court's embargo preventing Alunorte from using its new DRS2
bauxite residue deposit area remains in force, Alunorte continues to utilize the
DRS1 depository based on state-of-the-art press filter technology.
Investor contact
Stian Hasle
+47 97736022
Stian.Hasle@hydro.com
Press contact
Bjørn Skaar
+47 48171141
Bjorn.Skaar@hydro.com
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section
5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act