Alcoa permanently closed its Poços de Caldas primary aluminium smelter in Brazil on 30 June.
The smelter has been furloughed since May 2014 and the underlying market conditions that led to that move have not improved.
“The closure of [Poços] permanently removes a high cost smelting facility from the Alcoa system and is another step in creating a more profitable primary metals business,” said the supplier’s global primary products president Bob Wilt.
Total global smelting capacity has been reduced by 96,000 metric tonnes, to 3.4m. The Poços mine, refinery, aluminium powder plant and casthouse remain in operation.
Alcoa expects to book restructuring-related charges in second quarter 2015 of between US$100m and $110m after tax, or $.08 to $.09 per share, of which approximately 60% is non cash.