Southern Africa is set to increase its annual output of aluminium from 1,1-million tons to 1,384-million tons, or 7% of global output, once the expansion of the Hillside and Mozal smelters is complete in 2004, BHP Billiton Aluminium South Africa president Mahomed Seedat said on Monday.
At present, Southern Africa has three aluminium smelters — the Bayside and Hillside smelters in Richards Bay and the Mozal smelter near Maputo in Mozambique.
A consortium led by French aluminium group Pechiney is looking to build a fourth smelter in the region — at the Coega port in the Eastern Cape.
Bayside was completed in late 1971, Hillside in the 1990s and Mozal was finished in 2000.
BHP Billiton, the world’s largest commodity group, wholly owns Bayside and Hillside, while it has a 47% stake in Mozal along with Japan’s Mitsubishi (25%), the Industrial Development Corporation (24%) and the Mozambican government (4%), Seedat said at the 18th International Aluminium Conference held by Metal Bulletin plc.
The two BHP Billiton smelters in South Africa have provided many socio-economic benefits to South Africa, including job creation, adding $50-million per annum to the local economy and foreign exchange of $375-million per annum, Seedat said.
Seedat said the construction of the Mozal smelter created 9 000 jobs on site, contributed $105-million per annum to the Mozambican economy and foreign exchange earnings of $125-million. Exports tripled to $600-million as a result of the smelter. — I-Net Bridge