Årdal smelter: an aluminum operation in Norway
Årdal smelter is an aluminum smelter producing aluminum in Årdal, Norway, operated by Hydro. The sources report 205 '000 tonnes (kt) of primary aluminum ('Primary aluminium production (kmt)') for CY2025; the basis is 100%, wholly owned by Hydro. Measured as primary aluminum, whole-operation output for CY2025 is 205,000 tonnes: about 0.3% of world aluminum output in 2025 and about 16% of Norway's; it is one of 28 operations on this site whose output can be stated in primary aluminum.
Who owns and operates it?
| Owner | Interest | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Hydro | 100% | 31 December 2025 |
How much does it produce?
| Period | Output | Basis | Where in the source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CY2025 | 205 '000 tonnes (kt) of primary aluminum ('Primary aluminium production (kmt)') | 100%, wholly owned by Hydro | PDF p.302 (printed p.302), table 'Production capacity Hydro Aluminium Metal', row 'Årdal', column 'Primary aluminium production (kmt)' · Norsk Hydro ASA |
How the primary-aluminum figure is worked out. Hydro prints 205 thousand tonnes of primary aluminum production for the smelter in 2025. Hydro owns 100% of it, so the figure covers the whole smelter. World smelter production of primary aluminum in 2025 was 74,000,000 tonnes (USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026); Norway produced 1,300,000 tonnes.
Status: operating, as of 30 September 2026.
- Hydro's table separates primary aluminum production from casthouse production, which includes recycled and remelted metal; only the primary figure is used.
How does it compare?
Other aluminum operations on this site: Alma smelter, Alouette smelter, Bécancour smelter, Boyne Island smelter, Tomago smelter, Kitimat smelter, Tiwai Point smelter, Sohar smelter, Laterrière smelter, Grande-Baie smelter, ISAL smelter, Bell Bay smelter. In Norway: Sunndal smelter, Karmøy smelter, Husnes smelter. See where aluminum comes from for the country totals, the country page for Norway, and Hydro for its other operations here.
Sources
- Norsk Hydro ASA: Integrated Annual Report 2025 (annual report, CY2025). Opened 4 November 2026; used: PDF pp.37, 146, 155, 168, 251, 302 (printed page equals PDF page).
- Norsk Hydro ASA: Third Quarter Report 2026 (quarterly report, Q3 2026 and nine months to 30 September 2026). Opened 4 November 2026; used: PDF pp.3, 28.
- U.S. Geological Survey: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Aluminum (government statistical summary, 2025 (world and country smelter production)). Opened 3 November 2026; used: world smelter production and capacity table.
Method and limits
- Reported, not estimated. Output is the figure the operator or owner published, in the unit it used. This site does not estimate output where none is published.
- Shares. A share divides output in primary aluminum by the USGS world or country total for 2025. Where the operator's year is a fiscal year or the unit is a concentrate or a carbonate equivalent, the share is approximate or not given.
- What is compared. The figure is tonnes of primary aluminum metal produced by the whole smelter, compared with USGS smelter production of primary aluminum. Remelted and recycled metal is not primary production.
- Whole operation or owner's share. The basis column says which. A joint venture's output is never counted twice.
- Partial list. Only operations with a published figure are listed, so the rank is among those on this site, not among every aluminum mine. Shares of a country's output mix periods and bases, so treat them as indicative.
- Made with AI assistance, checked against sources. The facts were gathered from the documents above by AI-assisted research and re-checked against those documents by a second, independent pass; the page text is generated from the data. No professional review took place. How the site is made. To report an error, contact us; fixes are logged on the corrections page.