"The government is allowing Alcoa to do whatever they friggin want," according to a long-term campaigner for better regulation of WA's alumina refineries.
The cost to clean up Alcoa's Kwinana alumina refinery and its toxic tailings has driven the aluminium specialist's Australian operation to a $592 million loss in 2025.
The US company booked a $1.245 billion restructuring charge, predominantly driven by the closure of the refinery south of Perth, according to the 2025 accounts of Alcoa of Australia Limited, filed with corporate regulator ASIC.
The charge included $614 million to cover future costs to close facilities and rehabilitate the environment, indicating that Alcoa significantly underestimated these costs in prior accounts.
Alcoa's $592 million loss in Australia in 2025 followed an $818 million profit in 2024.
Alcoa's operations in Australia are its strip mining of bauxite in the jarrah forest water catchments along the Darling Scarp, alumina refineries in Pinjarra and Wagerup, and a 55 per cent stake in the Portland aluminium smelter in Victoria.
It received $6.1 billion from alumina and aluminium sales last year, paid $4.9 billion to employees and suppliers, and sent $636 million of dividends to its owners.
The Kwinana-related restructuring charge is a one-off, suggesting Alcoa's Australian operation will likely return to profitability in 2026.
Alcoa's bauxite residue dump at Kwinana spans about 2km by 2km. Image: Google Maps
A contaminated mist to dispose of toxic water
Alcoa has a stockpile of 141 million cubic metres of toxic red mud, accumulated over six decades of alumina refining at Kwinana, that is proving difficult to manage.
In 2009, Alcoa's Kwinana bauxite residue area was classified as a contaminated site requiring remediation due to alkali groundwater contamination within and beyond its boundaries.
In 2025, Alcoa increased the funds set aside for rehabilitating Kwinana by $614 million to cover the costs of water management and new designs for long-term landforms. The move follows a $341 million charge in 2024 for managing water at Kwinana.
The company is required under the Contaminated Sites Act to continually extract contaminated groundwater beneath the bauxite tailings to prevent the contamination from spreading.
This water was disposed of by using it in the refinery, where it evaporated.
With the refinery shut down, Alcoa now has permission to operate 37 giant sprinklers to spray thousands of tonnes of contaminated water an hour in a fine mist over the tailings, allowing some of it to evaporate.
The sprays are an interim measure until Alcoa can construct a wastewater treatment plant that received regulatory approval in February.
Approval delays and low-grade bauxite
The $23 billion company is also facing problems in the jarrah forests of WA, where it sources three quarters of its bauxite - the ore that aluminium is extracted from.
The WA and Federal regulators are assessing Alcoa's planned expansion into the Myara North and Holyoake areas. Source: Alcoa
The US miner anticipates it will start mining the Myara North and Holyoake regions of its mine "no earlier than 2029." The target, in its 2024 report, was "no earlier than 2027."
Alcoa has been mining lower-grade bauxite in WA since 2023, when approvals to access new areas slowed and came with greater restrictions due to concerns that its deforestation risked contaminating dams vital to Perth's water supply.
For five consecutive years, annual bauxite production has declined.
However, the alumina Alcoa shipped from WA was still among the cheapest 25 per cent of global production, according to the report to the SEC, but WA production could slip into the second quartile of costs until Alcoa gains access to new mining areas.
Boiling Cold reporting featured in Juice Media's recent take on Alcoa in WA.
I worked in oil & gas in commercial and engineering roles for 20 years. Since 2016, I have written for The West Australian, WAtoday, The Guardian and Boiling Cold, winning five WA Media Awards.
"The government is allowing Alcoa to do whatever they friggin want," according to a long-term campaigner for better regulation of WA's alumina refineries.
Chief executive Bill Oplinger told Wall Street the miner had responded to all 60,000 comments on its WA expansion plans—in fact, it responded to fewer than 10, and some were unacceptable.
Alcoa chief executive Bill Oplinger told Wall Street the US aluminium specialist could take strong action to boost profits from alumina, most of which it refines in Western Australia.
Peter Milne
