Liberty House to invest £120m in Scottish aluminium smelter

Britain's last aluminium smelter has been bought in a deal that will see at least 300 jobs created as part of a £120m investment.

Steel company Liberty House and its partner SIMEC bought the Fort William smelter in Scotland's Highlands for £330m from mining giant Rio Tinto.

Liberty and Simec are operating through their GFG Alliance partnership.

In a statement, Liberty House said the £120m would be used to upgrade equipment and establish an aluminium wheel manufacturing facility at the site, creating up to 300 jobs directly and “hundreds more” in the supply-chain.

Liberty said it aimed to protect the existing 170 jobs at the site in Lochaber and progressively expand metal manufacturing and downstream engineering there.

It added that the plan would eventually bringing up to 2,000 direct and supply-chain jobs to the heart of the Highlands and adding around £1bn to the local economy over the next decade.

The acquisition includes the hydro-electric station and aluminium smelter at Fort William, the neighbouring hydro-plant at Kinlochleven and over 100,000 acres of estate land which hosts the water catchment area, including the foothills of Ben Nevis, Britain’s highest mountain.

SIMEC will operate the hydro plants as part of its growing UK portfolio of renewable power assets, Liberty said adding that the smelter would be a “key” customer.

“This is one of the largest single investments yet made by the global GFG Alliance businesses. The acquisition marks a major step towards the delivery of GFG’s plan to forge a competitive and sustainable metals and engineering sector in the UK by integrating the supply chain and particularly by powering these industries with SIMEC’s renewable energy production,” Liberty said.

It added that the Lochaber aluminium operation would now be a strong fit for Liberty’s growing automotive industry focus as a vehicle component maker.

The Scottish government is supporting the deal by guaranteeing the power purchases of the aluminium smelter for the next 25 years, Liberty said.