The troubled $6 billion flagship will be out of action "for a number of weeks," just as Santos' customers are desperate for gas to replace supply from the Middle East.
The shutdown of the Yara Pilbara plant comes as a quarter of global trade in ammonia, used for urea fertiliser and mining explosives, is blocked by war.
US company Alcoa mines bauxite in WA's south west, where it risks Perth's water supply and struggles to rehabilitate the jarrah forest. Two refineries produce alumina for export.
NYSE:AA, ASX:AAI
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.
If the US miner is found to have mined too close to a large jarrah tree, it would trigger an automatic cancellation of its right to mine much of its lease.
The US miner's extraction of bauxite near Perth is facing significant public scrutiny for the first time, and many are resisting what is happening to their beloved jarrah forest.
Alcoa chief executive Bill Oplinger will look to shore up state government support for his vital WA mining that is facing public scrutiny for the first time.
Bill Oplinger reassured investors that a 15-month delay would not affect operating rates at its Pinjarra alumina refinery but misled them about Alcoa's record of rehabilitating the jarrah forest.
