A power of strife for jobs at Boyne
HUNDREDS of jobs at one of Queensland’s biggest manufacturers are under threat if surging power prices are not brought under control.
Gladstone’s Boyne Island aluminium smelter, which is majority owned by mining giant Rio Tinto, is one of only four smelters left in Australia, all of which are facing unsustainable power costs.
Rio earlier this month announced the closure of its New Zealand smelter, blaming high energy costs.
Rio chief executive JeanSebastien Jacques said earlier this year that Australian smelters such as Boyne Island were on “thin ice” due to the high electricity costs and low aluminium prices.
“The ice is actually becoming slightly thinner,” he said. The mining giant will release its half yearly results on Wednesday and provide an update on its loss-making Pacific Aluminium business.
The company is in discussions with state and federal governments and energy providers about the issue.
But the Boyne smelter, which employs close to 1000 people in the Gladstone region, operates under a longterm power contract that runs to 2029, making it difficult to negotiate lower energy prices.
Australian Aluminium Council executive director Marghanita Johnson said the closure of the New Zealand smelter put the focus on the sustainability of Boyne and other Australian smelters that faced similar issues around high power prices.
Ms Johnson said electricity prices in Australia were among the most expensive in the world for electricity-intensive manufacturing such as aluminium smelting.
The Boyne smelter consumes 10 per cent of the state’s electricity output. She said internationally competitive electricity prices would drive growth in the electricity-intense sector and protect good quality manufacturing jobs.
“This would move Australia’s electricity-intensive industries facing the question of survival, to being facilities able to attract capital investment,” she said.