The Wagerup alumina refinery has been a part of the Western Australian community since it began operations in 1984. Located about 130km south of Perth, on the border of Western Australia’s Peel and South West regions, the refinery is four kilometres north of Yarloop and 13kms south of Waroona.

The refinery is surrounded by private agricultural land, is in close proximity to the Alcoa’s Willowdale bauxite mine in the Darling Range and 70kms from the Bunbury port.

Today the refinery has the capacity to produce 2.6 million tonnes of alumina from bauxite mined at Willowdale. This ore is transported by conveyor and refined to produce smelter grade alumina which in turn is transported by rail to the Bunbury port for export to aluminium smelters around the world.

The Wagerup refinery is the most environmentally advanced alumina refinery in the world, with the application of advanced technology contributing to recent improvements in environmental management.

In 2004 Alcoa announced a proposal to grow the capacity and efficiency of the refinery. This $1.5 billion program would increase production capacity to 4.7 million tonnes per year and increase Alcoa’s contribution to State revenue, and local communities.

Already for every dollar earned by Alcoa, 80 cents stays in Australia, contributing around $1 billion each year to WA’s economy. The Wagerup refinery spends more than $44 million in local communities each year.

Of the approximately 900 people employed at the Wagerup refinery and Willowdale mine more than 30 per cent live in the local shires of Waroona and Harvey.

In addition to investing in the local community through salaries, supply contracts, payments to government and dividends, Alcoa is making an investment in local businesses and training.

Alcoa has trained over 1100 West Australian trades people through its apprentice program. This represents a $200 million investment in apprentice training for WA. Since 1997, Alcoa has trained over 110 local apprentices at Wagerup – 90 at the Wagerup refinery and 20 at the Willowdale mine.

Wagerup is the future for Alcoa’s three-refinery system in Western Australia which is among the most technologically advanced in the world, with annual production of 7.8 million tonnes of alumina.