Alcoa Anglesea

A Look at the Past

Anglesea, Victoria, is a distinct coastal town with important natural landscapes. We have a proud history in Anglesea and continue to actively contribute to the town’s future.

For 46 years Anglesea was home to Alcoa’s power station and mine. Each year, the power station supplied approximately 40 per cent of the Point Henry smelter’s power requirements, employed hundreds of people and added significant value to the local economy.

In 2015, Alcoa made the difficult decision to permanently cease operations at the Anglesea mine and power station. Since then, Alcoa has been working alongside the community to identify new potential within our landholdings through long-term land use planning.

At the same time, with a strong commitment to community consultation, and health, safety and environmental management, work is underway to rehabilitate and close the mine, and decommission and remediate the power station.

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands where we operate, the Wadawurrung People, and pay respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

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About the Project

Following the permanent shut down of operations in 2015, we began to rehabilitate and close the mine, and decommission and remediate the power station with a view to establish a long-term plan that would release potential within Alcoa landholdings for the benefit of the Anglesea community and wider region.

The complex project is managed by Alcoa’s local team and backed by the company’s global project and asset management group. Together, experts in environmental remediation, facility decommissioning, project management and community engagement work within regulatory frameworks to restore the site to a land use that is safe and stable for future generations.

Our strong commitment to values of health, safety and protection of the environment are key priorities for this project, and community consultation and engagement continue to guide project activities.

Our efforts to rehabilitate the mine site are having a positive impact on the local environment. In addition to the progressive rehabilitation undertaken over 40 years, we have recently established over 50 hectares of native grasslands and 24 hectares of native heathlands, and we are beginning to see the return of native flora and fauna that we expect to continue to thrive in the years ahead.

The Minerals Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 provides the framework for the rehabilitation and closure of the mine site as it applies to the coal mine operations under the Mines (Aluminium Agreement) Act 1961 (MAAA).