Dec 5 Aluminium maker Alcoa Corp said on Monday it was assessing the impact of a power outage last week at its Portland smelter in Australia that forced it to halt a potline, adding that it was facing 'substantial challenges'.
The smelter was hit when a power interconnector between the states of Victoria and South Australia went down on Thursday, knocking out power to both of the plant's potlines for about five-and-a-half hours.
"We are now beginning to assess the operational impact of the outage and, given the significance of this event, we have substantial challenges and analysis ahead of us. As that work is completed, we will provide an update," Alcoa said in a statement.