Point Henry emerges

easy ... it’s a very complex process.”

The first 18 months of the works focused on stripping equipment, including the 300odd pots, out of the huge pot rooms.

Since then, all of the storage tanks have been removed, with levelling of the last of the six pot rooms and the ingot mill beginning this week.

Both will be largely gone by Christmas, leaving just the long bake buildings to be flattened next year.

“We’re probably about 80 per cent of the way through the physical demolition,” Mr Sharp said.

Early in the New Year, attention will turn to implementing the clean-up.

The enormous project will begin by tackling the hydrocarbon-impacted soil, which has been affected by oils and petroleum.

Besides the obvious aluminium and aluminium fluoride issues, there is also spent pot liner, salt dross, sewage waste, cyanide, carbon and chromium-hydroxide sludge to manage. Mr Sharp said the remediation process would likely take more than two years.

“Right now, we would say 2020, 2021 is a pretty realistic target to get the bulk of the works done,” he said.

Two major connections to the company’s 55-year association with the land will be retained.

An Alcoa-branded water tower will serve as either a lookout, landmark or signifier of the site’s industrial history.

One of the waterfront bake buildings — which is about 200m long, 35m wide and 10m high — will also be kept.

Mr Sharp suggested it could host anything from a brewery to a tourist centre, art gallery or events complex.

“We don’t know — any of those things are possible,” he said.

the large buildings down is one thing. Dealing with the resultant mess brings further complications.

About 70,000 tonnes of steel, copper, aluminium and other materials have been recycled, with 30 per cent of concrete pulled up and crushed.

By mid-2019, all but two structures will be gone.

The materials that can’t be recycled will be stored in the existing landfills.

While there are now three dumps across the property — including one from the 1960s — Mr Sharp said Alcoa would likely consolidate two of those.

“It would cost a lot of money to do it, but it would leave only two areas that have to be managed in the future,” he said.

Mr Sharp said Alcoa would prepare the land for the next generation but would not be walking away from its responsibilities.

“Our view is we’ll always be managing (the landfills) — we created the issue, they will always be our issues,” he said.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has been monitoring the project. EPA south west region manager Carolyn Francis said significant works had been completed and the watchdog was satisfied that Alcoa was on track.

“The independent environmental auditor overseeing the site assessment works has not identified any unacceptable risks to human health or the environment,” she said.

According to the timeline, the 575 hectares will be ready to be turned over for future uses within three years.

While Alcoa has released its own $3.5 billion vision, the State Government has stalled on finalising its long-term plan for the wider Moolap precinct.

Alcoa believes a mix of housing, tourism, commercial and recreational ventures are viable over the next three decades, while large amounts of open space and wetlands are retained.

The company’s vision is to be incorporated into the Government’s Moolap Plan, which covers about 1300 hectares.

That blueprint remains under wraps, with the Andrews Government failing to release it after more than 18 months of deliberations.