Australia's Alumina jumps to near 3-month high on Kwinana refinery closure

Alumina

09/01/2024 02:58

** Shares of Alumina Ltd  AWC.AX  rise as much as 5.2% to
A$0.958, their highest level since Oct 18, 2023
    ** Alumina stock marks its biggest intraday pct jump since
mid-December 
    ** AWC notes Alcoa Corp's  AA.N  announcement on fully
curtailing production at Kwinana Alumina Refinery in Western
Australia starting 2Q24
    ** AWC says it supports Alcoa's decision in response to
losses incurred by Kwinana plus its age, scale, operating costs,
and current bauxite grades
    ** Kwinana refinery logged net loss of about $130 mln in
2023
    ** Curtailment to include phased reduction of workforce from
~800 at 2024-start to ~50 by 3Q25
    ** More than 8 mln shares change hands, more than half of
30-day average of 10.8 mln shares
    ** AWC stock lost 40% value in 2023

 (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru)
 ((Sameer.Manekar@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))