Venezuelan govt commits to investment in Alcasa

The Venezuelan government will invest almost $400m in technical upgrades at the Alcasa smelter, the company told local media. The investment will be spread across the company's activities from its alumina refinery to its rolling plant. Alcasa has a nameplate capacity of 210,000tpy of metal but has under-performed in recent years. Actual output last year was 169,000t. The company has also re-started work on its Potline V expansion programme, which had been stalled due to a lack of investment. Once completed, or maybe that should read "if completed", the fifth line would lift production capacity to 450,000tpy.