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DECEMBER 2015 • E&MJ; 5 www.e-mj.com NEWS-LEADING DEVELOPMENTS [ Editor's note : This report was current as of November 23. Samarco, BHP Billiton and Vale were posting regular updates on develop- ments relating to the spill on their websites: www.samarco.com, www.bhpbilliton.com and www.vale.com. Additional information relat- ing to the environmental and financial impacts of the spill will undoubtedly become available as time goes on.] Alcoa Idling Production at Three US Smelters Alcoa announced on November 2 that it is suspending aluminum production at its Intalco and Wenatchee primary aluminum smelters in Washington state and at its Massena West smelter in New York state. The decision will leave the company with no active smelter production in the United States. The three smelters are all 100% owned by Alcoa. In total, the curtailments will reduce its worldwide primary aluminum smelting capacity by 503,000 mt/y. As of June 30, the company had worldwide attributable smelting capacity about 3.4 million mt/y. The Intalco smelter has nameplate capacity of 279,000 mt/y, of which 49,000 mt/y had previously been idled. The Wenatchee smelter has nameplate capacity of 184,000 mt/y, of which 41,000 mt/y had previously been idled. The Massena West smelter has nameplate capacity of 130,000 mt/y. Alcoa will complete the curtailments by the end of the first quarter of 2016. Once they are complete, Alcoa will have closed, divested or curtailed 45% of its total smelting operating capacity since 2007. Alcoa also announced that it is partial- ly curtailing alumina refining capacity at its Point Comfort, Texas, refinery by about 1.2 million mt/y. The Point Comfort plant has current rated capacity of 2.3 million mt/y, plus 295,000 mt/y of previously idled capacity. Alcoa's decision to curtail uncompeti- tive smelting and refining capacity will ensure its continued competitiveness amid prevailing market conditions, the Alcoa announcement said. Alcoa is cur- rently projecting a 2016 global aluminum deficit of 360,000 mt, down from an esti- mated 551,000-mt surplus in 2015, driv- en by strong aluminum demand, smaller production increases, and smelter curtail- ments. The company is also projecting a 1-million-mt alumina deficit in 2016, down from a 2.2-million-mt surplus in 2015, due to record global alumina de- mand and refinery curtailments. Alcoa's announcement of its production curtailments in the United States followed by about a month earlier an announcement that it is pursuing plans to separate into two independent, publicly traded compa- nies ( E&MJ; , November 2015, p. 4). An upstream company will include the five business units that currently make up Alcoa Global Primary Products: bauxite, alumina, aluminum, casting, and energy. A downstream innovation and technology- driven company will include Alcoa's cur- rent Global Rolled Products, Engineered Products and Solutions, and Transportation and Construction Solutions business units. Regarding the U.S. production cut- backs, Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said, "Alcoa has consistently taken decisive actions to create a com- modity business that is positioned to suc- ceed throughout the cycle. We have closed or curtailed unprofitable capacity, Lucara Diamond Corp. reported in mid- November the recovery of a 1,111-carat, gem-quality diamond at its Karowe mine in Botswana. The stone, which originated from the south lobe of the Karowe mine, is reportedly the world's second-largest gem- quality diamond ever recovered and the largest ever to be recovered through a mod- ern processing facility. It measures 65 mm x 56 mm x 40 mm. The largest diamond ever discovered was the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, found near Pretoria, South Africa, in 1905. The Lucara stone was recovered by one of the company's newly installed, large diamond recovery X-ray transmission (XRT) machines. Lucara President and CEO William Lamb said, "This historic diamond recov- ery puts Lucara and the Karowe mine among a select number of truly exception- al diamond producers. The significance of the recovery of a gem quality stone larger than 1,000 carats, the largest for more than a century, and the continued recovery of high-quality stones from the Karowe south lobe, cannot be overstated. Our focus on mining the south lobe, which is delivering value beyond expectation, has been perfectly timed with the commission- ing of our recent plant modifications, enabling the recovery of these large, high- quality exceptional diamonds." Lucara followed up the announcement of the 1,111-carat stone a day later with an announcement that it had recovered two more exceptional white stones through the XRT recovery units, an 813-carat stone and a 374-carat stone. Lucara CEO William Lamb credits recent plant modifications at its Karowe mine in Botswana for enabling recov- ery of large, high-value diamonds. This 1,1111-carat stone is claimed to be the second- largest gem-grade diamond ever recovered. It meas- ures 65 x 56 x 40 mm. Lucara Mines Historic 1,111-carat Diamond