South32 to Take $554 Million Worley Alumina Impairment

By Stuart Condie

South32 will impair the value of its majority owned Worsley Alumina business by US$554 million and cut the unit's fiscal 2025 guidance after Australian environmental regulators recommended imposing additional conditions on the project.

The Australia-based metals and coal miner on Monday said that it would record the pretax impairment in its fiscal 2024 results. The impairment will reduce the unit's carrying value to US$2.03 billion, reflecting what South32 said was increased uncertainty created by the recommendations and associated challenging operating conditions.

South32 said it produced less copper and steelmaking coal over the past year, with aluminum volumes flat. Total alumina production fell 1% to 5.06 million metric tons and South32 cut its fiscal 2025 guidance for volumes at Worsley Alumina by 6% to 3.75 million tons.

The Australia-based metals and coal miner said production of its various commodities was impacted by planned operational work, including maintenance at its alumina refinery in western Australia and a project to make a copper plant in northern Chile more efficient. Some operations experienced headwinds from heavy rainfall.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 21, 2024 19:13 ET (23:13 GMT)

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