Yarwun 2 Refinery Stage 2

Work is more than 50 percent complete on an expansion that will more than double the capacity of the Yarwun 2 Alumina Refinery in Queensland, Australia.

Bechtel completed the first stage of the refinery in 2004, and is providing engineering, procurement, and construction management on Stage 2, which will increase capacity from 1.5 million to 3.7 million tons (1.4 million to 3.4 million metric tons) per year of alumina, the raw material for making aluminum.

Construction of Stage 2 passed the halfway mark in mid-2010. The project also celebrated completion of a160-megawatt gas-fired cogeneration plant that will produce steam and power for the refinery—while emitting less greenhouse gas than a comparable coal-fired plant.

The project has been in slow-down mode since April 2009, when customer Rio Tinto Alcan decided to scale back activity due to fall¬ing demand for alumina during the recession. Project completion is now set for late 2012, about two years behind the original schedule. Despite the slowdown, the team has made steady progress, channeling much of the structural, mechanical, and piping work previ¬ously performed by contractors to a direct-hire labor force.