Century Aluminum posts closure notice

Wednesday February 4, 2009
BREAKING NEWS: Century Aluminum posts closure notice for Ravenswood


by George Hohmann
Daily Mail Business Editor


RAVENSWOOD, W.Va. -- Century Aluminum announced it will immediately begin shutting down its Ravenswood smelter, with the layoff of the majority of the plant's remaining 651 employees to be completed by Feb. 20.

http://www.dailymail.com/News/200902041384

I guess AEP couldn't go any lower.

Unfortunately, as is supposed to in a free market society which we are, this plant shutdown will play a role in doing what Century and state politicians want it to do and that is help stabilize the aluminum industry.

This is how supply and demand is supposed to work.

"This is how supply and demand is supposed to work."

Yeah right.

The Power company is guaranteed a profit in any event.

What incentive do they have to lower the cost of electricity?

AEP was making very little, if any profit from Century. Regardless of what you think, they are entitled to that. Hell, their bottom line is dictated by the state government as it is.

What did you do, expect them to give away power to ensure Century stayed in business?

The bottom line is, every person in the look kept saying the same thing. "Until the aluminum market stabilizes..."

Yes, it is all about supply and demand and this plants production put too much supply in the aluminum market. Because of this plant shutting down, there will be less supply so the market will stabilize somewhat and other plants can remain open.

It’s how we as a nation are supposed to operate. Had democrats allowed that to happen on Wall Street, perhaps we wouldn’t be wasting the second trillion they are throwing away.

"What did you do, expect them to give away power to ensure Century stayed in business?"

Actually I think that would be a reasonable course.

Give it to them at cost for a few months until we work through this economic crisis.

And if that did not make it doable I would not object to a short term state subsidy.

It would be cheaper in the long run than losing 650 of the best jobs around.

And how long is short term and how much is subsidizing those good Jackson County jobs going to cost Putnam and Braxton and Ohio county citizens?

And why not jobs in Putnam and Braxton and Ohio counties? Toyota laid off 120 workers. Should we be subsidizing them as well?

Of course I got that right. I, along with a couple of others, have been dead set against the first bailouts democrats and Bush thrust on America.

I did believe the should have eliminated arcane and idiotic accounting rules and had they done that, the vast majority wouldn't have failed and they wouldn't have needed a bailout money.

They would have lost a ton of money for their bad investments, which is what should have happened, but they wouldn’t have sucked us dry of nearly a trillion dollars and counting.

Well you guys keep on saying supply, demand, yada yada.

At the same time Century is closing here they are building an even bigger plant in Iceland.

Also so is rio Tinto Alcan, the sister plant in ravenswood to Century.

They were both originally Kaiser.

The steel industry is also expanding in Iceland too.

But the hitch is the people there are fed up with them and dont want any more heavy industry.

Lots of opposition has developed, and they are getting more militant.

They dont want to ruin what they have there and get swallowed up by the ratrace.

The industry also has a less than stellar reputation in procuring the bauxite used to make aluminum.

In places like Jamaica and the Congo region of Africa.

So Century (and possibly rio tinto alcan) abandon hundreds of wv workers rather than pay AEP's price for power and move those jobs to Iceland.

But their political situation is changing in Iceland and the social democrats and the Greens are taking over and dont want them.

Maybe if the people there let them know they dont want to be walked on they will decide WV was not such a bad place afterall.

But we will have to do something about power.

Maybe like the state building their own ?

"GRUNDARTANGI – Today 20 activists from Saving Iceland blockaded the single supply road to Century Aluminum’s smelter on Hvalfjordur and Elkem – Icelandic Alloys steel factory. They have chained themselves to each other using arm tubes to form a human blockade as well as using tripod for the first time in Icelandic history.

The action went on for three hours and nobody was arrested. “We protest the environmental and human health hazards Century’s bauxite mining and refining activities in Jamaica, their plans for a new smelter and refinery in West Congo. Both Century’s and Elkem’s expansion plans will also mean destruction of unique geothermal areas in Iceland and produce large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions,” says Miriam Rose of Saving Iceland (1).

Century in West-Congo: Century Aluminum Company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Republic of the Congo (ROC) for the exclusive right to develop an aluminium smelter, alumina refinery and a bauxite mine (2). It specifies a minimum commitment of 500 megawatts of gas-generated electrical energy. Century is surveying where to mine the bauxite and will start building the smelter as soon as possible (3).

“We believe that the Republic of the Congo has all of the ingredients necessary to sustain a profitable aluminum industry,” said Century CEO Logan W. Kruger (2).
“Kruger is right,” says Snorri Páll Jónsson Úlfhildarson of Saving Iceland. “Transparency International rated the ROC as one of the most corrupt regimes in the world. Exactly the kind of regimes aluminium corporations like to deal with…” (4)

“It’s very unlikely the poor will have any benefit from this development but they will pay the price of the environmental impact. Oil revenue in the country has never reached them, why would it be different for bauxite?” Úlfhildarson continues.
“Considering the bauxite reserves in West Congo, it is clear that Century is planning large scale open cast mining there, in the same way other corporations are attempting in Orissa and what has also happened in Jamaica, Guyana and Guinea,” says Indian aluminium expert and author Samarendra Das who will be talking on this topic at Reykjavik Academia on Wednesday (see note a.).

“All over the world, where bauxite is mined the environment is being destroyed and people’s livelihoods and health taken away from them. People in Iceland need to know where the bauxite that is refined and then smelted into aluminium comes from,” says Das.
Century in Jamaica: environmental and health hazards
Century-owned St Ann Bauxite, it’s predecessor Kaiser as well as the ALCOA, RioTinto-Alcan and Rusal (which owns 1/3 of Century), are also active in Jamaica, have been held responsible for rainforest being destroyed and toxic pollution of drinking water (5,6,7). Century want to open up a second mine and refinery in a joint venture with Chinese Minmetals. That company is associated with prison labour factories and gross human rights abuses in China and elsewhere (see note b.)....

And just where did Ravenswood get its bauxite from ..... and just how much did it cost to ship it from there to Ravenswood?

And just where did Ravenswood ship their finished product to and how much did that shipping cost?

When it comes to aluminum, ..... supply and demand is not a problem.

It is the co$t of supplying that demand that has become the major problem.



.

And just where did Ravenswood get its bauxite from ..... and just how much did it cost to ship it from there to Ravenswood?

And just where did Ravenswood ship their finished product to and how much did that shipping cost?

When it comes to aluminum, ..... supply and demand is not a problem.

It is the co$t of supplying that demand that has become the major problem.

Neither the previous owners Kaiser and RAC, nor Century Aluminum made any public issue of costs of transportation. Their cost issues were mostly the costs of electricity- and to a lesser extent the costs of labor. Compared to electricity and labor, transportation was a minor cost for Century.

Well it is disingenius to argue they are moving these jobs from Ravenswood to Iceland and Congo because of the business formula of supply and demand.

If it was supply and demand at work, they would be reducing production capacity, not increasing.

Where is the spoonfed media?

AEP should give power away? How will they stay in business? How will they pay the folks who run the power stations?

No one said give it away.

AEP should give power away? How will they stay in business? How will they pay the folks who run the power stations?

OC, I am not suggesting that AEP should give power away. I just said that power and labor, not transportation, were Century's biggest production expenses at Ravenswood.

I want to make sure I understand you guys.

Sherm & Ziggy believe Century Aluminum is moving jobs to Iceland simply because of the price of electricity? Have I got that right?

That is part of it.

Judging from what I am reading they probably got the promise of other goodies.

But the gvt. there is changing and a big part of the reason is that a lot of people are opposed to all these aluminum smelters and power plants.

They are also closing plants in the Pacific NW and moving there.

Just google around a little with century aluminum, iceland, alcoa, etc.

It is real interesting.

They are also building a power plant, smelter, etc in Congo.

So this is not just supply/demand.

And dont be surprised if Mark Rich has his fingers in it.

You mean the guy that Clinton pardoned?

I don't suppose you'll concede things like labor costs and business taxes and the like have anything to do with it will you?

Of course they do.

So do gvt subsidies.

"In 2001, the Icelandic Planning Agency rejected the Karahnjukar plan, ruling that any economic benefits would not compensate for the potential environmental harm. But Iceland's environment minister at the time overturned the decision, setsome new conditions and allowed the project to go ahead.

Opponents now say that many Icelanders did not appreciate its scale or potential impact.

''People were kind of misled, and I don't think even the politicians really understood what was going on,'' said Andri Snaer Magnason, a poet, playwright and novelist. Last year, Mr. Magnason, 31, published ''Dreamland,'' a devastating polemic that puts Iceland's environmental issues into a global perspective. The book has sold 18,000 copies -- the equivalent, in percentage terms, of 18 million copies in the United States.

In September, Omar Ragnarsson, one of the country's most respected television reporters, announced that he could no longer cover the Karahnjukar project with a journalist's impartiality and would campaign against it. In a country where public demonstrations are rare, he led an antidam rally in Reykjavik, attended by 8,000 to 13,000 people."

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14463

But when it is mentioned here that we should help hold down the price of electricity people go spastic.

So how do you want to "hold down" the price of electricity. Like me, you oppose MTR, but that is the cheapest way to mine the coal.

Most Americans are NIMBY types. We can't have nuclear power because of 3 Mile Island. We can't have wind power because it kills bats and because Uncle Teddy will have his view from the Kennedy compound "obstructed". We can't build more refineries. We can't have off-shore drilling.

Ziggy wants the price to go higher and higher for consumers so we'll use less energy. For him maybe the aluminum plant picking up shop and moving to Iceland is a good thing.

Well believe it or not ziggie and I dont always agree on everything.

And we dont have to wait on our daily briefing on our talking points.

For my part, if Iceland is gonna subsidize electricity to steal our jobs then wv should just build our own plant and subsidize too.

We have room right here to not only keep our 650 jobs but even build 2 or 3 more smelters.

For my part, if Iceland is gonna subsidize electricity to steal our jobs then wv should just build our own plant and subsidize too.

So what is WV going to fuel that power plant with?

MTR coal? If so, you are correct- we won't agree on doing that.

Now if the legal authority for the state to operate a power plant had iron clad provision that required that it be fueled by underground mined coal or some other fuel, we could talk about it. But if it's to be fueled with MTR coal, then, as far as I'm concerned, there is nothing to talk about.

Stephanie wrote:I want to make sure I understand you guys.

Sherm & Ziggy believe Century Aluminum is moving jobs to Iceland simply because of the price of electricity? Have I got that right?

Well, that is what the company said, Stephanie.

And Gov. Manchin told some of us a few weeks ago that Century was paying 2.7 cents / KWH for electricity, and was about to shut down. He also told us that if we could figure a way for Century to buy power for 1.5 cents / KWH, that he believed it would remain open.

In the aluminum smelter business the biggest cost is electricity. It is even more than their cost of labor.

[quote="sodbuster"]For my part, if Iceland is gonna subsidize electricity to steal our jobs then wv should just build our own plant and subsidize too.quote]

You are really funny, ya know that Shermmy.

Ain't no way in hell WV can compete with Iceland when it comes to subsidizing electricity. Geeze, even if Iceland gave WV bunches of "Carbon Credits" for free.

Basically, in Iceland, electricity is dirt cheap ....... and you can't get any cheaper that that.

The aluminum company could build/buy their own generators for that matter and thus their electricity would be free.

Ya just punch a couple pipes into the ground and hook them up to turn those turbines.

.

Well zig coincidentally 1.5 is the rate cited in a couple of the references I have posted.

Well zig let the record show I am opposed to strip mining and especially mtr under any circumstances.

I am surprised and disappointed that you would insinuate that I support stripmining mtr or otherwise.

Also for anyone interested in truth as opposed to b.s. and insults from Stephanie's teacher pet, just google iceland, electricity, aluminum smelters and you will see sticking a pipe in the ground is just more sam b.s.