LF FP and Lexi,

The single biggest cost item in producing aluminium is the cost of electricity. For large consumers that bulk buy electricity, the cost is going to nearly double. This was specifically stated by the company as one of the reasons, and all I see is a few Labor die hards with no industrial experience whatsoever making things up.

Even if Aluminium smelting was profitable before, it cannot be now. It will now move to countries with no carbon tax, such as South Africa that also burns huge quantities of coal.

Wounder if the truth will help?
I took over and ran on behalf of my union a 12 months construction project on this site about the time it started.
Another official flicked it to me,he was a failure.
I went to national conference three times with two different site delegates,and a past one who was by then an official.
JOHN appeared on TV news the other day, he was once my official,then my workmate.
My union, by far has the most members.
I know the people and the factory, we intervened many times to keep them going.
Power prices as far back as 2003 have been the problem.
This Norway based form is pro union,very much so,it has union members on its board at home.
It is known to fly delegates from both country's to the other to consolidate friendship.
As Lexi said aged and not cost effective it is to be moth balled.
Probably never to re open.
In time , trust me,as Australia leads not follows in alternative energy we may see a return,but not there,not in the growing Hunter valley.
Shadow Minister,have you and Tony considered how the closure of BHP? a thing that crippled Newcastle in the 90,s can be blamed on the Carbon tax?

can be blamed on the Carbon tax?
Belly,
Right or wrong they'll blame the mining tax. They'll keep blaming to the end of days just as Governments will tax us to the end of days. What the real issue here is that we're all paying a handful of useless bureaucrats very good money but for WHAT ?
No tax will have a positive impact on our environment because the more tax people have to pay the more they need to impose upon the environment to make that tax money. Will environmental taxes stop the morons from destroying everything in wars ? No.
All this tax will achieve is misery & more misery, discontent for many & fat bank accounts for a few. The environment is not going to do what these morons expect it to do. Unlike these morons the environment is following a certain program that none of us understand & therefore none of us can do zilch about it. We don't need to manage the environment. What we should manage is morons, but we don't do we ? On the contrary ! We're so stupid ourselves that we afford these morons the privilege to get into Government instead of preventing them.

<< We all agree we need to get off this oil bizo but no-one knows what to replace it with >>

Indi, I think that is a tad overstated. We have very good ideas of what to replace it with – gas, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and possibly nuclear, along with improved efficiencies, more frugal usage, and an end to the constantly increasing demand for energy.

Yes, it is all a bit difficult at the moment because it is all more expensive than that wondrous energy source; oil. But it won’t be for much longer. So it is essential that we start planning for the time that oil becomes twice or three times as expensive as it now is, let alone when we start having shortages of supply.

A carbon tax is a good thing. But it is totally hypocritical or just plain stupid for our government to be trying to implement incentives to move to renewable energy sources while at the same time imposing record-high immigration – ie: a rapidly increasing demand for energy – upon us.

SM has just falsely claimed that the company has stated that the cost of electricity will "nearly double" for them, as a result of carbon pricing, and they said "that" is the reason for the layoffs. Nice try SM, make up your own little false story, full of lies, and try to present it as fact. Ha ha ha ha, SM is very funny indeed.

For those who want the "facts", excluding SM of course, regarding electricity costs to business after 1st July ... http://www.energyaction.com.au/australian-energy-market/carbon-price/69.html

If only you lot had experience creating an income, rather than being provided with one, you may understand just how this tax will effect profits and tighten cash flows.

You see, for every million dollars in additional costs, those funds have to be borrowed.

So, you then have funding costs, as well as lost opportunity costs that have to be taken into account.

Many businesses are under extreme pressure at the moment as their debtors are out of control, and this effects cash floe, which also effects borrowing capacity.

This tax will hurt.