Century Aluminum of South Carolina, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, has issued a notice to employees at its Mt Holly South Carolina aluminum smelter of its intent to curtail plant operations if the smelter is unable to secure a competitively priced power arrangement to deliver energy to the plant. The announcement was made pursuant to the federal Working Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

If a competitively priced power arrangement cannot be secured, Century Aluminum of South Carolina will curtail 100% of smelter operations by no later than December 31, 2020, when its current power contract with the South Carolina Public Service Authority (also known as Santee Cooper) expires. Santee Cooper’s rates are the highest offered to any US smelter and nearly twice as high as Century would be able to obtain on the open market.

The closure of Mt Holly would be a distressing and totally unnecessary tragedy for 295 employees, their families and the broader community in South Carolina. With competitively priced power, Mt. Holly would return to full capacity, employing 600 persons, supporting over 2,000 total jobs and creating $1 billion in economic activity."