Alumina’s Third-Quarter Costs Boosted by Brazil Plant

Alumina Ltd., partner in the world’s biggest producer of the material used to make aluminum, will book $11 million in costs in the third-quarter from the start up of the venture’s Alumar refinery in Brazil.

“Power outages and equipment commissioning issues were experienced at the Alumar refinery in the first half of 2010,” the Melbourne-based company said today in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. The $11 million in costs after tax will have “minimal impact” on fourth-quarter profit, it said.

Alcoa, the largest U.S. aluminum producer and Alumina’s partner, reported the costs on Sept. 14. The refinery will produce 9,000 metric tons of alumina a day by the end of the year, Alumina said today.

Alumina declined 1.3 percent to A$1.93 at 10:26 a.m. Sydney time on the Australian stock exchange.

Alumina owns 40 percent of the Alcoa World Alumina & Chemical venture and Alcoa the balance. The venture produces one quarter of the world’s alumina, which is refined into aluminum. Alumina is a white powder refined from bauxite. It’s smelted to produce aluminum.