US aluminum producer Ormet Corporation announced plans late on July 27th to indefinitely shut up to 6 potlines at its 260,000 tonnes per year aluminum smelter at Hannibal in Ohio.

The Hannibal based company sent a formal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification to Mr Leo Gerard international president of the United Steelworkers union. The USW represents more than 800 hourly workers at the smelter.

Ormet said that in the notice the projected date of the first job reduction is September 26th 2009 with the balance of the cuts occurring by October 11th 2009. It said that "The curtailment of operations will result in the loss of up to approximately 833 hourly positions."

In the notice, signed by Mr Mike Griffin Ormet vice president of operations, the company told Gerard it is prepared to meet "to discuss the curtailment of operations and to determine how best to handle the issues that will arise from this action."

Neither Mr Griffin nor Mr Gerard could be immediately reached for comment.

The notice comes on the heels of an arbitration ruling over alumina shipment dispute with Swiss trader and producer Glencore.

(Sourced from Platts)