Australia-based South32 and US' Alcoa Corporation will totally spend around US$175 million to restart the production at their jointly owned Alumar aluminum smelter in Brazil using renewable energy only.

South32 will invest US$70 million for this restart activity during the fiscal years 2022 and 2023. The restart project was scheduled to start production in the June quarter this year.

The Alumar aluminum smelter was expected to reach a full production capacity of 465,000 tons per year in early 2023.

Due to low aluminum prices and increased electricity costs, this Brazilian smelter has stopped production and do maintenance since 2015.

A 60% share of the Alumar aluminum smelter is owned by Alcoa, and the remaining 40% is held by South32.