Sustaining capital of alumina refinery projects

摘要

Sustaining capital cost (or expenditure), abbreviated as sustaining capex or Su-sex, is a project cost item which is easily overlooked and sometimes ignored. To many it is unknown and it may be (partly) hidden in other operating cost items. The relationship - and the difference - with repair and maintenance costs is not always clear and may inadvertently lead to incomplete cost estimates. This article is based on a paper presented at the TMS Light Metals 2016 conference. It explores several facets of sustaining capital and aims at clarifying some of these Su-sex issues for alumina refinery projects.