Tomago Aluminium: The trump card
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…