Shannon refinery plunges into the red

The largest alumina refinery in Europe, Rusal Aughinish on the Shannon estuary, last year plunged into the red to record pre-tax losses of $10.4m (€7.68m).

According to a report filed to the Companies Office, the business recorded the loss as revenues dipped 2.5%, from $610.57m to $586m, in the 12 months to the end of December last.

The company focuses on the production and sale of alumina, which is extracted from bauxite. Separate figures provided by Aughinish Alumina to the Environmental Protection Agency confirm that its output last year was 1.924m tonnes of alumina hydrate — a 0.1% increase on 2011 levels.