Alcoa restores half its Australian aluminium output in wake of blackout

Global aluminium maker Alcoa has restarted half the capacity at its aluminium smelter in Australia's Victoria that was crippled by a state-wide blackout six months ago. The Portland smelter has been running at a third of its 300 000 t/y capacity since a freak storm prompted the power outage in December, causing molten aluminium to solidify in the facility's potlines and freezing production.