‘I know there's concern' says Alcoa Australia president Elsabe Muller as US miner fights for South West mine
The Pittsburgh-headquartered miner and alumina refiner is fighting to secure two environmental ticks from the State Government to expand its bauxite mine in the South West, and to increase production capacity at the Pinjarra Alumina Refinery.
Asked whether she was confident Alcoa would get the green light for its expansion plans, Ms Muller told a WA Mining Club event the miner was 'putting all effort in to make sure that we're getting the support to get approval.'
Alcoa's existing approvals were locked in under a State agreement in 1961 and therefore have not gone through WA's current environmental assessment regime
to make sure they meet modern standards
.
'For any mining company, you tend to mine where the deposit can be economically extracted. Now, in our case in WA, you find it in the Jarrah Forest,' operations president Ms Muller said on Thursday.
She referenced research from the Global Aluminium Council that claimed demand for the metal would increase between 30 per cent and 40 per cent by 2030. 'It will double by 2050 because you do need it to decarbonise. There's no substitute,' she said.
'We obviously need to enter new mining areas so that our refineries can keep operating for decades to come.'
WA's Environmental Protection Authority launched a
12-week public comment period
for the plans at the end of May, a move Alcoa said earlier this month would mean it was unlikely a Ministerial decision would be made by early 2026, as had been anticipated.
The miner has also faced substantial community concern since
it was served an official notice
by the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation in 2023, after inspectors found Alcoa had built a pipeline and funnelled toxic PFAS-contaminated waste over Samson Brook dam despite a works application still being 'under assessment'.
Asked how it would address these concerns during the public feedback period, Ms Muller said on Thursday that Alcoa had 'never impacted drinking water' and had implemented a reservoir protection zone 'to absolutely make sure we will not'.
'I know that there's concern. We've never impacted drinking water.'
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