Federal Court lifts one of two embargos on Alunorte’s deposit area DRS2
The Federal Court of Pará has lifted the embargo on Alunorte’s new bauxite residue disposal (DRS2) under the civil lawsuit. Alunorte is still subject to an embargo on DRS2 imposed by the same court in a parallel criminal lawsuit, but Alunorte is expecting an extension of the civil decision to the criminal case shortly.
Alunorte will continue utilizing the old bauxite residue disposal area (DRS1) until the DRS2 embargo under the criminal case is lifted. “This is an important step towards resuming installation and commissioning activities of the solid residue deposit DRS2. It is a state-of-art deposit system, the only sustainable and long-term solution for Alunorte’s operations”, says John Thuestad, head of Hydro’s Bauxite and Alumina business area.
The Federal Court lifted Alunorte’s production embargo on 20 May this year, allowing the alumina refinery to ramp up its production from 50% to normal levels.
Hydro stresses that internal and external reviews, including inspections by authorities, confirmed that there was no overflow of Alunorte’s bauxite residue deposits from the February 2018 rainfall.
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