Smelting

At the smelter, alumina is fed into a reduction cell at high temperatures along with a flux of sodium aluminium fluoride, known as cryolite. An electric current is passed through the cryolite, which splits the oxygen from the alumina leaving the remaining molten aluminium metal to be poured off.

Alumina is transported by Alcoa World Alumina - Australia from Western Australia to smelters in Victoria: Point Henry (in Geelong) and Portland.

Alumina produced by other Australian aluminium companies is likewise transported to smelters around Australia for refining.