OSLO, March 1 (Reuters) – A Brazilian court has ordered Norwegian aluminium maker Norsk Hydro to cut output from its Alunorte alumina refinery by 50 percent and to halt operations at a bauxite residue disposal facility, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The court order adds to Hydro’s woes after environmental agency Ibama on Wednesday fined Alunorte 20 million reais ($6.2 million) and ordered it to halt use of its waste pool and drainage system, which the agency said could halt all work at the plant. The latest order follows recent worries that a rainstorm had led to leakages from Alunorte into a nearby river, Hydro said, and it was not clear when output could be restored. “Hydro is currently reviewing the implications of the court’s decision operationally and financially, as well as for customers and employees of Alunorte,” it added. Alunorte is the world’s largest alumina refinery, with annual production capacity of 6.3 million metric tonnes. It transforms bauxite to alumina, which is turned into aluminium at huge smelters. The Brazilian court ordered that the bauxite waste pool’s integrity must first be verified before an operating licence could be issued, Hydro said, adding that it would consider continued use of an older pool it had planned to decommission. ($1 = 3.2458 reais)
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