Supporters of Australian Manufacturing
Boyne Smelters Limited (BSL) has been operating since 1982 and is Australia’s second-largest aluminium smelter. The operation is located at Boyne Island in Central Queensland, and activities include manufacturing carbon anodes in the carbon plant, aluminium production (smelting) in reduction lines, and casting of molten metal into aluminium products ready to ship. They employ over 900 employees locally in the Gladstone area.
Boyne Smelters’ preference is to buy local products and engage local services. They have spent $12.3 billion in a given year with more than 37,000 suppliers in more than 120 locations. In areas where needed skills, goods and standards are not available, they invest in developing that capacity, thereby establishing support for local economic development across the country.
Keeping to their philosophy of supporting local manufacturing, Boyne Smelter uses White Industries to manufacture siphon pipes. These siphon pipes are made of specialist cast material and have unusual properties as a requirement due to the heat they encounter in use. White’s technical team work closely with BSL staff to produce this component used for the pouring of Aluminium in the smelting and refining process. The work that you don’t see is in specialist material analysis, pattern work, methoding and moulding to produce a quality casting ready for improved use at Boyne Smelter. Essential feedback from Boyne Smelters’ staff is then used to refine the product in a continual cycle of improvement.
The White Industries facilities at Dalby and the imminent acquisition of the Ipswich facility give White’s unique capacities in Queensland, and we look forward to working with our friends at Rio Tinto and their subsidiaries as they grow Australian manufacturing into the future.
White Industries would like to thank all the staff at Rio Tinto and Boyne Smelters for their continued business as supporters of Australian Manufacturing.
