AUSTRALIA’S largest aluminium smelter, Tomago Aluminium, has been operational in the Hunter Valley region, about 13km north of Newcastle, 24/7 since 1983.
The smelter produces about 550,000t of remelt ingot, T-ingot, extrusion billet and rolling slab per year.
The independently operated Tomago operation is a joint venture between Rio Tinto (51.55pc), Gove Aluminium Finance (36.05pc) and Hydro Aluminium (12.40pc).
Aluminium has had a tough run in 2019, but Australia’s aluminium industry could be one of the few benefactors from the US-China trade wars as it remains exempt from the 10pc tariff that foreign smelters were hit with as the American demand for the metal grows.
The Australian Government has already urged companies such as Alcoa and Tomago to not invoke the ire of Trump officials who could scrap the exemption to the tariff.
Heeding that warning could prove to be the way forward for an energy-intensive commodity that has been long suffering under increasingly volatile and expensive electricity prices.
The power crisis in the Hunter Valley has been an existential threat to Tomago Aluminium for quite some time but the company continues to go from strength to strength.
The company generates about $1.5b annually and produces about 580,000t aluminium every year, providing about 25pc of Australia’s aluminium, and exporting the remaining 90pc to the Asia-Pacific region.
The smelting process is electricity-intensive, with the smelter using about 10pc of NSW power supply.
The company has been instrumental in the Liddell Task Force which has pushed the power station closure out another year as NSW looks to shore up its energy security.
As far back as 2015, Liddell power plant operator AGL announced its plans to close the 50-year-old plant in 2022, but in August 2019 announced its decision to push the closure back to April 2023 to ensure the reliability of power supplies during the 2022-2023 summer months.
Tomago chief executive, Matt Howell, told the Australian Financial Review that while his plant maybe responsible for 10pc of the state’s energy consumption, NSW would be hit with large-scale blackouts if the smelter did not help to control loads over the summer months.
“It’s true that our smelter is a large consumer of power,” he said.
“But far from being a drain on power however, Tomago Aluminium is being increasingly called upon to act as a battery.
“It is the largest interruptible load in the country and precisely the reason the NSW grid can be stabilised in the event of a system security threat.”
And, in fact, Tomago’s role as a stabilising force in the NSW energy market has been an ongoing saga as NSW coal plants continue to age.
In 2017, the company switched off three potlines to ease acute tensions as NSW baked through mid-40 degree heat and pushed power usage to record levels.
In 2018, the smelter was forced to close three pot lines for 45 minutes to one hour due to sky-rocketing electricity prices and poorly performing aluminium market.
A culture of safety
Tomago won the 2019 Hunter Valley Safety Awards’ ‘Golden Helmet’ in the Workplace Health and Safety Business of the Year Awards at a gala event held at Newcastle Ex-Servicemen’s club in March.
Hunter Safety Awards Founder, Sarah-Jane Dunford, said Tomago Aluminium’s ingrained workplace health and safety principles made it a stand-out leader with an enviable record.
“Tomago Aluminium’s key philosophy behind its workplace health and safety program is ‘Mates Looking after Mates’, which encourages employees to speak up if they see a mate at risk,” she said.
“The sense of community and the shared commitment to ensuring every person arrives safely, works in a safe environment, and goes home safely, is testament to the company recently reaching one million working hours without a serious or significant injury on site.”
Tomago Aluminium People, Safety and Environment manager Simon Mitchell said it was a great honour to be recognised as WHS Business of the Year.
“As an employer of more than 1000 staff and contractors, we are constantly looking for ways to improve systems and processes to ensure every person is safe at work,” Mr Mitchell said.
Central to the continued roll-out of the program was the recent development of the ‘Coming Home’ resource, a powerful video featuring current and past Tomago employees who have been involved in workplace incidents.
“The participants were very brave to share their personal experiences and their stories were real and emotional,” Mr Mitchel said.
“We wanted to capture the hearts and minds of our employees and show the physical and mental health impacts a workplace incident has on the lives of employees, their families and friends.
“It was very powerful to watch, and everyone really related to their fellow workmates sharing their emotional stories in the hope that they could prevent this from happening to anyone else in the Tomago workplace.”
