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September 2, 2009
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Century Aluminum Co. (CENX) recently sold its 50% joint venture interest in Gramercy Alumina LLC and St. Ann Bauxite Ltd. to Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp.
In 2004, Century and Noranda formed a 50-50 partnership while acquiring Gramercy and St. Ann from Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corp. Noranda will now assume total control of these assets.
Gramercy owns and operates a 1.2 million metric ton alumina per year at the Louisiana refinery, while St. Ann owns and operates a 4.8 million metric ton annual capacity bauxite mining operation in Jamaica.
Century's primary aluminum smelter in Hawesville, Kentucky, receives all of its supplies from Gramercy. The company said that the current alumina supply agreement with Gramercy will be terminated as part of this deal and Century will enter into a new alumina supply contract with Noranda.
The total reduction of the Ravenswood smelter and partial curtailment of the Hawesville smelter have reduced Century’s alumina requirements. Moreover, it has other contracts in place to meet its alumina needs over the next several years. With this divestment, Century now plans to primarily focus on its core aluminum smelting business.
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