The Australian aluminum industry has been operating in Australia for over 50 years, and throughout that time has been a significant contributor to the Australian economy. The industry currently consists of:

• 5 Bauxite mines
• 7 Alumina refineries
• 6 Aluminium smelters
• 12 Extrusion mills (19 presses)
• 2 Rolled product plants

Australia is the world’s leading producer of bauxite. In 2009 Australian bauxite production was 69.5 million tonnes – slightly down from the 70.8 million tonnes recorded for 2008.

Australian alumina production in 2009 was 20.2 million tonnes, the majority of which was metallurgical or smelter-grade alumina, plus around 0.3 million tonnes of chemical grade alumina. Australia is the second largest producer of alumina in the world with 26 per cent of global production.

Australian primary aluminium metal production was lower in 2009 at 1.95 million tonnes (down 0.03 Mt from 2008) – due to the difficult economic conditions stemming from the GFC. Despite the slight drop in production Australia moved up one position to become the fourth largest producer of primary aluminium in the world, having suffered smaller production cuts than other aluminium producing countries.

As can be seen in the accompanying map most Australian aluminium operations are located in regional areas, thus providing substantial economic benefits to these areas and to the economy in general.

Employment in the bauxite, alumina and aluminium sectors of the industry is centred on regional areas reflecting the location of the main production facilities. In 2009 the bauxite, alumina and aluminium operations employed around 17,100 employees, of which 12,700 were directly employed (13,900 in 2008) and around 4,400 were contractors (2,900 in 2008).

Aluminium use in Australia is mainly in building and construction, transport and packaging applications, and is estimated to be around 450,000 t. The estimated capital replacement cost of Australian production capacity is over AUD$50 billion.