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Alcoa World Alumina Australia operates a three-refinery system in Western Australia between the capital city, Perth, and the port of Bunbury 200 km to the south. Alumina is a white granular material, a little less coarse than table salt, and is properly called aluminium oxide. Aluminium does not occur as a metal, but must first be refined from bauxite in its oxide form. The Bayer refining process used by alumina refineries worldwide involves four steps - digestion, clarification, precipitation and calcination.
Alcoa's Kwinana refinery, which began operating in 1963, has a current rated capacity of 1.9 million tonnes a year. The Pinjarra refinery is one of the world's biggest with a capacity of 3.2 million tonnes, and Wagerup has a capacity of 2.2 million tonnes. Alcoa's current WA capacity of 7.3 million tonnes a year makes its system the biggest single source of alumina in the world, able to supply 15 percent of an international market that consumed 48.1 million tonnes (smelter grade plus chemicals feedstock) in 2000. The Alcoa World Alumina system, of which Western Australian operations is a part, produced 13.9 million tonnes (29 percent of the international market) in 2000.
In 1992 Kwinana became the first alumina refinery in the world to achieve an ISO-9002 Quality Accreditation. Pinjarra and Wagerup, and the bauxite mining operations, achieved this standard in 1994. Similarly Kwinana refinery led the way in 1997 in achieving ISO-14001 Environmental management certification.
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