Record 59,000 submissions to EPA on Alcoa as US boss flies in
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.
Bauxite is strip-mined in WA's jarrah forest by Alcoa and South32 to feed three alumina refineries that produce the material for aluminium smelters.
The cost of managing water where it stores 140 million tonnes of caustic red mud has doubled.
Alcoa has made last minute changes to its planned expansion of mining in WA's jarrah forest and wants to reenter a previously mined area, potentially triggering a new major federal environmental assessment.
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