Rio Tinto's aluminium smelter at Bluff turned in an operating loss before revaluations of financial instruments of $19.56 million for the year to December 31, close to the previous year's losses despite a 7.2 per cent lift in total revenues to $704.33 million.
That increase wasn't enough to offset $712.34 million of expenses at the Tiwai Point smelter, which is New Zealand's largest single user of electricity and is up for sale by its Canada-based majority owners, Rio Tinto, who are looking to sell a suite of 13 older refineries in Australasia, the US, and Europe.
The company also confirmed it stopped production at its fourth pot-line in April, reflecting the strong New Zealand dollar, volatile wholesale electricity prices, and the downturn in global metal prices.
The fourth pot-line accounts for about 15 per cent of the smelter's annual production capacity, and opportunities to restart it were constantly being assessed, said acting general manager Paula Checketts.
The accounts filed with the New Zealand Companies Office show New Zealand Aluminium Smelters declared a tax-paid profit of $46.33 million for the year to December 31, compared with a loss of $22.11 million in the previous year.