A look back at Alcoa Warrick Operations
In 1957, construction began on the 150,000 ton-per-year smelter in Warrick County. Here, employees are paving the courtyard between two potlines. Today, Warrick Operations has five operating potlines with an annual capacity of 270 metric tons per year.
Workers in the smelting room in an undated photo.
On June 10, 1960, the first smelting pot at Alcoa Warrick Operations was tapped and molten aluminum was poured into pig-style ingots. Today, the smelter produces about 1.6 million pounds of molten metal each month, which is cast into ingots that are as long as a school bus and weigh more than 40,000 pounds.
Virgil Butrum, conversion supervisor in the recycling department watches hot meal cool near the Melting furnace in December 1984.
A photo from the melting room at Alcoa Warrick Operations in December 1984.
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