Alcoa announces the closure of its Indiana aluminum plant

One of the largest aluminum producers, Alcoa, has decided to permanently shut down operations at its Evansville, Indiana smelter. The Warrick plant, with a smelting capacity of 269,000 tonnes, will be closed by the end of March this year, the company said. However, the rolling mill and power plant will continue to operate. The solution is part of a strategy to improve the competitiveness of the company's manufacturing operations.

The closure of some manufacturing operations at the Warrick aluminum smelter is believed to have an impact on 600 jobs. John Martin, vice president of Alcoa in the United States, thanked the employees for their efforts and assured that the company will do all it can to minimize the impact of job cuts. He also noted that the smelting operations at the plant failed to become competitive despite the efforts of the employees, which forced the company to make this tough decision.

In addition, the company also announced that the remaining 810,000 tonnes of refining capacity at its facilities such as Point Comfort in Texas will be downsized by the end of the second quarter of 2016. As a result, the company is moving towards its target of reducing alumina production by 1 million tonnes by the end of June 2016.

Alcoa recently decided to split into two separate publicly traded companies. One company to take care of the company's business related to bauxite mining, processing, manufacturing, casting and energy. The second facility will include global rolling facilities, engineering products and solutions, and transportation and construction operations. Alcoa forecasts an improvement in the supply and demand balance in the alumina and aluminum markets in 2016.