MELBOURNE, Mar. 3 -- Alcoa Inc. (AA) and Alumina Ltd. (AWC.AU) said Monday they have signed new long term electricity contracts with Loy Yang Power for their smelters in Australia's Victoria state.
The miners, who are joint venture partners, said the new contracts run until 2036 and come into effect in 2014 for the Point Henry smelter and 2016 for the Portland smelter.
"The new contracts secure supply to Alcoa of Australia's Victorian smelters and allow the smelters to respond to market conditions," Alumina Chief Executive John Bevan said in a statement.
Alcoa said the contracts are for about 820 megawatts of load and, with future expansion options, could account for more than half of Loy Yang Power's generation output.