Anglesey Aluminium

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Anglesey Aluminium Metal Ltd
Type	joint venture
Founded
Headquarters
Key people	Managing director: David Bloor, Organisational Support Manager: Colin Webb, Business support manager: Steven Duggan
Products	Aluminium
Owner	Rio Tinto Group and Kaiser Aluminium & Chemical Corporation
Website	http://www.comalco.com/freedom.aspx?pid=442

Anglesey Aluminium Metal Ltd. is a joint venture between Rio Tinto Group, Kaiser Aluminium and Chemical Corporation.

Its corporate motto is If it's not safe, don't do it that way.

Its aluminium smelter, located on the outskirts of Holyhead, is one of the largest employers in North Wales, with 540 staff members, and began to produce aluminium in 1971. It currently produces up to 142,000 tonnes of aluminium every year and is the biggest single user of electricity in the United Kingdom^[1].

Alumina and coke ships from Jamaica and Australia berth at the company's private jetty in Holyhead harbour. This jetty is linked by a series of conveyor belts passing through tunnels to the plant. A spur rail link from the main Holyhead to London rail line runs into the plant and is used for both receipt of raw materials and despatch of aluminium.

The plant is powered from the National Grid and receives most of its electricity from Wylfa Nuclear Power Station 15 miles away. AA is used as a base load for Wylfa and saves the grid the cost of keeping a power station on standby. It is anticipated that the Wylfa reactors will be shut down in 2010 and after this the smelter will have to look for other sources of power or shut down. It has therefore aimed for the development of a gas-fired power station at a disused oil terminal on Anglesey.

Near the smelter the Aluminium Powder Company (ALPOCO) produces aluminium powder, which is used in pastes, pigments, chemicals, metallurgy, refractory, propulsion, pyrotechnics, spray deposition and powder metallurgy.