Bluff smelter posts loss for 2011 financial year

Bluff smelter posts loss for 2011 financial year
By Pattrick Smellie July 09 (BusinessDesk) - Rio Tinto's aluminium smelter at Bluff turned in an operating loss before revaluations of financial instruments of $19.56 million for the year to Dec. 31, close to the previous year's losses despite a 7.2 percent lift in total revenues to $704.33 million. That increase wasn't enough to offset $712.34 million of expenses at the Tiwai Point smelter, which is New Zealand's largest single user of electricity and is up for sale by its Canada-based majority owners, Rio Tinto, who are looking to sell a s...