A big Western Australian alumina refinery is shutting down after almost 60 years, which will see at least 750 company employees and 250 contractors lose their jobs. The Alcoa plant south of Perth will stop producing alumina (the main component of aluminium) by September and will keep a small team after that. The refinery made a loss of nearly $200 million last year and has blamed the closure on the age of the plant plus rising production costs. Note: it takes a lot of energy to produce alumni… Premier Roger Cook says it’s a “disappointing” decision, and he expects Alcoa to do “everything it can to support its workforce through this transition”. Alcoa employs nearly 5,000 people in Australia – most in Western Oz. The company’s Mike Reed says the closure won’t impact its other refineries in the state.