Alcoa Earnings 2018-12-31

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For The Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2018

OR

Commission File Number 1-37816

ALCOA CORPORATION

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

412-315-2900

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of Class)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  
Yes  ✓   No __.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act.  Yes __  No   ✓ .

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months, and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes  ✓   No __.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes   ✓    No __.

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. [✓]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer [✓]       Accelerated filer [    ]       Non-accelerated filer [    ]       Smaller reporting company [    ]

Emerging growth company [    ]

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. [    ]

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).   Yes __  No   ✓ .

As of February 18, 2019, there were 185,498,424 shares of the registrant’s common stock, par value $0.01 per share, outstanding.

The aggregate market value of the Registrant’s voting stock held by non-affiliates at June 29, 2018 was approximately $8.7 billion, based on the closing price per share of Common Stock on June 29, 2018 of $46.88 as reported on the New York Stock Exchange.

Documents incorporated by reference.

Part III of this Form 10-K incorporates by reference certain information from the registrant’s Definitive Proxy Statement for its 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be filed pursuant to Regulation 14A.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Note on Incorporation by Reference

In this Form 10-K, selected items of information and data are incorporated by reference to portions of Alcoa Corporation’s Definitive Proxy Statement for its 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (“Proxy Statement”), which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of Alcoa Corporation’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. Unless otherwise provided herein, any reference in this Form 10-K to disclosures in the Proxy Statement shall constitute incorporation by reference of only that specific disclosure into this Form 10-K.

Forward-Looking Statements

This report contains statements that relate to future events and expectations and, as such, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include those containing such words as “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” ”goal,” “intends,” “may,” “outlook,” “plans,” “projects,” “seeks,” “sees,” “should,” “targets,” “will,” “would,” or other words of similar meaning. All statements by Alcoa Corporation that reflect expectations, assumptions or projections about the future, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These statements reflect beliefs and assumptions that are based on Alcoa Corporation’s perception of historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments, as well as other factors that management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Although Alcoa Corporation believes that expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that these expectations will be attained and it is possible that actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties.

For a discussion of some of the specific factors that may cause Alcoa’s actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements, see the following sections of this report: Part I, Item 1A. (Risk Factors), Part II, Item 7. (Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations), including the disclosures under Segment Information and Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates, and the Derivatives Section of Note O to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8. (Financial Statements and Supplementary Data). Alcoa Corporation disclaims any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether in response to new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Market projections are subject to the risks discussed above and other risks in the market.

General

Alcoa Corporation, a Delaware corporation, became an independent, publicly traded company on November 1, 2016, following its separation from its former parent company, Alcoa Inc. (“ParentCo” or “Arconic”) (described below).  “Regular-way” trading of Alcoa Corporation’s common stock began with the opening of the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) on November 1, 2016 under the ticker symbol “AA.” Alcoa Corporation’s common stock has a par value of $0.01 per share. Alcoa Corporation has its principal office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In this report, unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Alcoa” or the “Company,” “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Alcoa Corporation and all subsidiaries consolidated for the purposes of its financial statements.

Alcoa is a global industry leader in bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products. The Company is built on a foundation of strong values and operating excellence dating back 130 years to the world-changing discovery that made aluminum an affordable and vital part of modern life.  Since developing the aluminum industry, and throughout our history, our talented Alcoans have followed on with breakthrough innovations and best practices that have led to efficiency, safety, sustainability, and stronger communities wherever we operate.

Alcoa is a global company with more than 40 operating locations across 10 countries. The Company’s operations consist of three reportable business segments: Bauxite, Alumina, and Aluminum. The Bauxite and Alumina segments primarily consist of a series of affiliated operating entities held in Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals, a global, unincorporated joint venture between Alcoa and Alumina Limited (described below). The Aluminum segment consists of the Company’s aluminum smelting, casting, and rolling businesses, along with the majority of the energy business.

Aluminum, as an element, is abundant in the earth’s crust but a multi-step process is required to make aluminum metal.  Aluminum metal is produced by refining alumina oxide from bauxite into alumina, which is then smelted into aluminum and can be cast and rolled into many shapes and forms. Aluminum is a commodity traded on the London Metal Exchange (“LME”) and priced daily. Alumina, an intermediary product, is subject to market pricing against the Alumina Price Index (“API”). As a result, the prices of both aluminum and alumina are subject to significant volatility and, therefore, influence the operating results of Alcoa.

The Company’s internet address is http://www.alcoa.com. Alcoa makes available free of charge on or through its website its annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) as soon as reasonably practicable after the Company electronically files such material with, or furnishes it to, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The information on the Company’s internet site is not a part of, or incorporated by reference in, this annual report on Form 10-K. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains these reports at http://www.sec.gov.

Separation Transaction in 2016

On September 28, 2015, ParentCo announced its intention to separate ParentCo into two standalone, publicly traded companies (the “Separation Transaction”). Alcoa Upstream Corporation was formed in Delaware in March 2016 for the purpose of holding ParentCo’s Alcoa Corporation Business (as defined below) and was renamed Alcoa Corporation in connection with the Separation Transaction.  

Alcoa Corporation was formed to hold ParentCo’s Bauxite, Alumina, Aluminum, Cast Products and Energy businesses, as well as ParentCo’s rolling mill operations in Warrick, Indiana, and ParentCo’s 25.1% interest in the Ma’aden Rolling Company in Saudi Arabia (collectively, the “Alcoa Corporation Business”). Following the Separation Transaction, Alcoa Corporation holds the assets and liabilities of ParentCo relating to those businesses and the direct and indirect subsidiary entities that operated the Alcoa Corporation Business, subject to certain exceptions. Upon completion of the Separation Transaction, ParentCo was renamed Arconic Inc. (“Arconic”) and now holds ParentCo’s Engineered Products and Solutions, Global Rolled Products (other than the rolling mill operations in Warrick, Indiana, and the 25.1% interest in the Ma’aden Rolling Company in Saudi Arabia) and Transportation and Construction Solutions businesses (the “Arconic Business”), including those assets and liabilities of ParentCo and its direct and indirect subsidiary entities that operated the Arconic Business, subject to certain exceptions.

In connection with the Separation Transaction, as of October 31, 2016, Alcoa Corporation entered into certain agreements with Arconic to implement the legal and structural separation between the two companies to govern the relationship between Alcoa Corporation and Arconic after the completion of the Separation Transaction and allocate between Alcoa Corporation and Arconic various assets, liabilities and obligations, including, among other things, employee benefits, environmental liabilities, intellectual property, and tax-related assets and liabilities. These agreements included a Separation and

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Distribution Agreement, Tax Matters Agreement, Employee Matters Agreement, Transition Services Agreement, Stockholder and Registration Rights Agreement, and certain Patent, Know-How, Trade Secret License, and Trademark License Agreements.

Joint Ventures

AWAC

Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals (“AWAC”) is an unincorporated global joint venture between Alcoa Corporation and Alumina Limited, a company incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. AWAC consists of a number of affiliated entities that own, operate or have an interest in bauxite mines and alumina refineries, as well as certain aluminum smelters, in seven countries. Alcoa Corporation owns 60% and Alumina Limited owns 40% of these entities, directly or indirectly, with such entities being consolidated by Alcoa Corporation for financial reporting purposes.

The scope of AWAC generally includes:

Alcoa is the industrial leader of AWAC and provides the operating management for all of the operating entities forming AWAC. The operating management is subject to direction provided by the Strategic Council of AWAC, which is the principal forum for Alcoa and Alumina Limited to provide direction and counsel to the AWAC companies regarding strategic and policy matters. The Strategic Council consists of five members, three of whom are appointed by Alcoa (of which one is the Chairman of the Strategic Council), and two of whom are appointed by Alumina Limited (of which one is the Deputy Chairman of the Strategic Council).

All matters before the Strategic Council are decided by a majority vote of the members. Certain matters require approval by at least 80% of the members, including: changes to the scope of AWAC; changes in the dividend policy; equity calls in aggregate greater than $1 billion in any year; sales of all or a majority of the AWAC assets; loans from AWAC companies to Alcoa or Alumina Limited; certain acquisitions, divestitures, expansions, curtailments or closures; certain related-party transactions; financial derivatives, hedges or swap transactions; a decision by AWAC companies to file for insolvency; and changes to pricing formula in certain offtake agreements which may be entered into between AWAC companies and Alcoa or Alumina Limited.

AWAC Operations

AWAC entities’ assets include the following interests:

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Exclusivity

Under the terms of their joint venture agreements, Alcoa and Alumina Limited have agreed that, subject to certain exceptions, AWAC is their exclusive vehicle for their investments, operations or participation in the bauxite and alumina business, and they will not compete with AWAC in those businesses. In the event of a change of control of either Alcoa or Alumina Limited, this exclusivity and non-compete restriction will terminate, and the partners will then have opportunities to unilaterally pursue bauxite or alumina projects outside of or within AWAC, subject to certain conditions provided in the Amended and Restated Charter of the Strategic Council.

Equity Calls

The cash flow of AWAC and borrowings are the preferred sources of funding for the needs of AWAC. An equity call can be made on 30 days’ notice, subject to certain limitations, in the event the aggregate annual capital budget of AWAC requires an equity contribution from Alcoa and Alumina Limited.

Dividend Policy

AWAC will generally be required to distribute at least 50% of the prior calendar quarter’s net income of each AWAC company, and certain AWAC companies will also be required to pay a distribution every three months equal to the amount of available cash above specified thresholds and subject to the forecast cash needs of the company. Alcoa will obtain a limited amount of debt funding for the AWAC companies to fund growth projects, subject to certain restrictions.

Leveraging Policy

Debt of AWAC is subject to a limit of 30% of total capital (defined as the sum of debt (net of cash) plus any minority interest plus shareholder equity). The AWAC joint venture has raised a limited amount of debt to fund growth projects as permitted under Alcoa’s revolving credit line, in accordance with the joint venture partnership agreements.

Saudi Arabia Joint Venture

In December 2009, Alcoa entered into a joint venture with the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (“Ma’aden”), which was formed by the government of Saudi Arabia to develop its mineral resources and create a fully integrated aluminum complex in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  Ma’aden is listed on the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul). This project is one of the most efficient integrated aluminum production complexes within the worldwide Alcoa system. The complex includes a bauxite mine with a capacity of 4 million bone dry metric tons per year; an alumina refinery with a capacity of 1.8 million metric tons per year (“mtpy”); an aluminum smelter with a capacity of ingot, slab and billet of 740,000 mtpy; and a rolling mill with a capacity of 380,000 mtpy.

The joint venture is comprised of three entities: the Ma’aden Bauxite and Alumina Company (“MBAC”), the Ma’aden Aluminum Company (“MAC”), and the Ma’aden Rolling Company (“MRC”) (collectively, the “Ma’aden Joint Venture”). Ma’aden owns a 74.9% interest in the joint venture. Alcoa owns a 25.1% interest in MAC, which holds the smelter, and in MRC, which holds the rolling mill; AWAC holds a 25.1% interest in MBAC, which holds  the mine and refinery. The refinery, smelter and rolling mill are located within the Ras Al Khair industrial zone on the east coast of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Other

The Company is party to several other joint ventures and consortia. See details within each business segment discussion under “Description of the Business” below.  

The Aluminerie de Bécancour Inc. (“ABI”) smelter is a joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. (“Rio Tinto”) located in Bécancour, Quebec. Alcoa is the operating partner and owns 74.95% of the joint venture.

Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (“CBG”) is a joint venture between Boké Investment Company (51%) and the Government of Guinea (49%) for the operation of a bauxite mine in the Boké region of Guinea. Boké Investment Company is owned 100% by Halco (Mining) Inc.; AWA LLC holds a 45% interest in Halco.

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Mineração Rio do Norte (“MRN”) is a joint venture between Alcoa Alumínio (8.58%), AWA Brasil (4.62%) and AWA LLC (5%), each a subsidiary of Alcoa, and affiliates of Rio Tinto (12%), Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio (10%), Vale S.A. (“Vale”) (40%), South32 (14.8%), and Norsk Hydro (5%) for the operation of a bauxite mine in Porto Trombetas in the state of Pará in Brazil.

Alumar is a joint venture for the operation of a refinery, smelter, and casthouse in Brazil.  The refinery is owned by AWA Brasil (39%), Rio Tinto (10%), Alcoa Alumínio (15%), and South32 (36%). AWA Brasil is part of the AWAC group of companies and is ultimately owned 60% by Alcoa and 40% by Alumina Limited. With respect to Rio Tinto and South32, the named company or an affiliate thereof holds the interest. The smelter and casthouse are owned by Alcoa Alumínio (60%) and South32 (40%).

Elysis is a joint venture between the wholly-owned subsidiaries of Alcoa (48.235%) and Rio Tinto (48.235%), respectively, and Investissement Québec (3.53%), a company wholly-owned by the Government of Québec. The purpose of Elysis is to advance larger scale development and commercialization of the Company’s patent-protected technology that produces oxygen and eliminates all direct greenhouse gas emissions from the traditional aluminum smelting process.  

Strathcona calciner is a joint venture between Alcoa and Rio Tinto. The calciner purchases green coke from the petroleum industry and converts it into calcined coke. The calcined coke is then used as a raw material in an aluminum smelter. Alcoa owns 39% of the joint venture.

Hydropower

Machadinho Hydro Power Plant (“HPP”) is a consortium between Alcoa Alumínio (25.8%), Votorantim Energia (33.1%), Tractebel (19.3%), Vale (8.3%) and other partners (CEEE, InterCement and DME Energetica) located in the Pelotas River, southern Brazil.

Barra Grande HPP is a joint venture between Alcoa Alumínio (42.2%), CPFL Energia (25%), Votorantim Energia (15%), InterCement (9%) and DME Energetica (8.8%) located in the Pelotas River, southern Brazil.

Estreito HPP is a consortium between Alcoa Alumínio (25.5%), Tractebel (40.1%), Vale (30%) and InterCement (4.4%) located in the Tocantins River, northern Brazil.

Serra do Facão HPP is a consortium between Alcoa Alumínio (34.9%), Furnas (49.4%), DME Energetica (10%) and Camargo Correa Energia (5.4%) located in the Sao Marcos River, central Brazil.

Manicouagan Power Limited Partnership (“Manicouagan”) is a joint venture between Alcoa Corporation and Hydro-Québec. Manicouagan owns and operates the 335 megawatt McCormick hydroelectric project, which is located on the Manicouagan River in the Province of Quebec. Manicouagan supplies approximately 27% of the electricity requirements of Alcoa’s Baie-Comeau, Quebec, smelter. Alcoa owns 40% of the joint venture.

Bauxite

This segment consists of the Company’s global bauxite mining operations. Bauxite is the principal raw material used to produce alumina and contains various aluminum hydroxide minerals, the most important of which are gibbsite and boehmite. Bauxite is refined using the Bayer process, the principal industrial chemical process for refining bauxite to produce alumina, a compound of aluminum and oxygen that is the raw material used by smelters to produce aluminum metal. Bauxite is Alcoa’s basic raw material input for its alumina refining process. The Company obtains bauxite from its own resources and from those belonging to AWAC, located in the countries listed in the table below, as well as pursuant to both long-term and short-term contracts and mining leases. Tons of bauxite are reported on a zero-moisture basis as dry metric tons (“dmt”) unless otherwise stated.

Alcoa processes most of the bauxite that it mines into alumina and sells the remainder to third parties. In 2018, Alcoa-operated mines produced 39.6 million dmt and mines operated by partnerships in which Alcoa and AWAC have equity interests produced 6.2 million dmt on a proportional equity basis, for a total Company bauxite production of 45.8 million dmt.

Based on the terms of its bauxite supply contracts, the amount of bauxite AWAC purchases from its minority-owned joint ventures Mineração Rio do Norte S.A. (“MRN”) and Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (“CBG”) differ from its proportional equity in those mines. Therefore, in 2018, AWAC had access to 46.9 million dmt of production from its portfolio of bauxite interests and sold 5.7 million dmt of bauxite to third parties; 41.2 million dmt of bauxite was delivered to Alcoa and AWAC refineries.

The Company is committed to growing its third-party bauxite sales business. In December 2016, the Government of Western Australia granted permission to Alcoa’s majority-owned subsidiary, Alcoa of Australia, (“AofA”), to export up to 2.5 million dmt per year of bauxite for five years to third-party customers. In addition, the Company is currently pursuing long-term

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contracts with potential customers. Contracts for bauxite have generally been short-term contracts (two years or less in duration) with spot pricing and adjustments for quality and logistics. The primary customer base for third-party bauxite is located in Asia, particularly in China.

Bauxite Resource and Reserve Development Guidelines

The Company has access to large bauxite deposit areas with mining rights that extend in most cases more than 20 years from the date of this report. For purposes of evaluating the amount of bauxite that will be available to supply its refineries, the Company considers both estimates of bauxite resources as well as calculated bauxite reserves. “Bauxite resources” are deposits for which tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence (based on the amount of exploration sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes), such that they are acceptable prospects for economic extraction. “Bauxite reserves” represent the part of resource deposits that can be economically mined to supply alumina refineries, and include diluting materials and allowances for losses, which may occur when the material is mined. Appropriate assessments and studies have been carried out to define the reserves, and include consideration of and modification by realistically assumed mining, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors. Alcoa employs a conventional approach (including additional drilling with successive tightening of the drilling grid) with customized techniques to define and characterize its various bauxite deposit types allowing us to confidently establish the extent of its bauxite resources and their ultimate conversion to reserves.

Alcoa has adopted best practice guidelines for bauxite reserve and resource classification at its operating bauxite mines. The Alcoa Ore Reserves Committee (“AORC”) is an internal group comprised of geologists and engineers that issues and administers the AORC Guidelines, which are used by all Alcoa-managed mines to classify bauxite reserves and resources. Alcoa’s reserves are declared in accordance with the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (“JORC”) code guidelines. The reported ore reserves set forth in the table below are those that we estimated could be extracted economically with current technology and in current market conditions. We do not use a price for bauxite, alumina or aluminum to determine our bauxite reserves. The primary criteria for determining bauxite reserves are the feed specifications required by the receiving alumina refinery. More specifically, reserves are set based on the chemical composition of the bauxite in order to minimize bauxite processing cost and maximize refinery economics for each individual refinery. The primary specifications that are important to this analysis are the “available alumina” content of the bauxite, which is the amount of alumina extractable from bauxite using the Bayer process, and “reactive silica” content of the bauxite, which is the amount of silica that is reactive within the Bayer process. Each alumina refinery will have a target specification for these parameters, but may receive bauxite within a range that allows blending in stockpiles to achieve the receiving refinery’s target.

In addition to these chemical specifications, a number of other ore reserve design factors have been applied to differentiate bauxite reserves from other mineralized material. The contours of the bauxite reserves are designed using parameters such as available alumina content cutoff grade, reactive silica cutoff grade, ore density, overburden thickness, ore thickness and mine access considerations. These parameters are generally determined by using infill drilling or geological modeling. Further, our mining locations utilize annual in-fill drilling or geological modeling programs designed to progressively upgrade the reserve and resource classification of their bauxite based on the above-described factors.

The following table only includes the amount of proven and probable reserves controlled by the Company. While the level of reserves may appear low in relation to annual production levels, they are consistent with historical levels of reserves for the Company’s mining locations and consistent with the Company reserves strategy. Given the Company’s extensive bauxite resources, the abundant supply of bauxite globally, and the length of the Company’s rights to bauxite, it is not cost-effective to establish bauxite reserves that reflect the total size of the bauxite resources available to the Company. Rather, bauxite resources are upgraded annually to reserves as needed by the location. Detailed assessments are progressively undertaken within a proposed mining area and mine activity is then planned to achieve a uniform quality in the supply of blended feedstock to the relevant refinery. Alcoa believes its present sources of bauxite on a global basis are sufficient to meet the forecasted requirements of its alumina refining operations for the foreseeable future.

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Bauxite Interests, Share of Reserves and Annual Production¹

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Qualifying statements relating to the table above:

Australia—Darling Range Mines: Huntly and Willowdale are the two active AWAC mines in the Darling Range of Western Australia that supply bauxite to three local AWAC alumina refineries.  They operate within ML1SA, the mineral lease issued by the State of Western Australia to Alcoa’s majority-owned subsidiary, AofA. The ML1SA lease encompasses a gross area of 712,881 hectares (including private land holdings, state forests, national parks and conservation areas) in the Darling Range and extends from east of Perth to east of Bunbury (“ML1SA Area”). The ML1SA lease provides AofA with various rights, including certain exclusivity rights to explore for and mine bauxite, rights to deny third party mining tenements in limited circumstances, rights to mining leases for other minerals in the ML1SA Area, and the right to prevent certain governmental actions from interfering with or prejudicially affecting the rights of AofA. The ML1SA lease term extends to 2024 and can be renewed for an additional 21-year period to 2045. The above-declared reserves are current as of December 31, 2018. The amount of reserves reflects the total AWAC share. Additional resources are routinely upgraded by additional exploration and development drilling to reserve status.

Brazil—Poços de Caldas: The above-declared reserves are current as of December 31, 2018. Tonnage is total Alcoa share. Additional resources are being upgraded to reserves as needed.

Brazil—Juruti RN101, RN102, RN103, RN104, #34: The above-declared reserves are current as of December 31, 2018. All reserves are on Capiranga Plateau in mineral claim areas RN101, RN102, RN103, RN104, #34, within which Alcoa has operating licenses issued by the state. Declared reserves are total AWAC share. Declared reserve tonnages and the annual production tonnage are washed and unwashed product tonnages. The Juruti mine’s operating licenses are periodically renewed.

Brazil—Trombetas-MRN: The above-declared reserves are as of December 31, 2018. Declared and annual production tonnages reflect the total for Alumínio and AWAC shares (18.2%). Declared tonnages are washed product tonnages.

Guinea—Boké-CBG: The above-declared reserves are based on export quality bauxite reserves and are current as of December 31, 2018. Declared tonnages reflect only the AWAC share of CBG’s reserves. Annual production tonnage is reported based on AWAC’s 22.95% share. Declared reserves quality is reported based on total alumina content (“TAl 2 O 3”) and total silica (“TSiO 2”) because CBG export bauxite is sold on this basis. Additional resources are being routinely drilled and modeled to upgrade to reserves as needed.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—Al Ba’itha: The Al Ba’itha Mine began production during 2014 and production was increased in 2016. Declared reserves are as of November 30, 2018. The declared reserves are located in the South Zone of the Az Zabirah Bauxite Deposit. The reserve tonnage in this declaration is AWAC share only (25.1%).

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The following table provides additional information regarding the Company’s bauxite mines, all of which are open-cut mines. Excavation is done at the surface of open-cut mines to extract mineral ore (such as bauxite). Open-cut mines are not underground and the sky is viewable from the mine floor:

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Joint Venture

MBAC includes a bauxite mine with an initial capacity of 4 million dmt per year. For additional information regarding the joint venture, see Joint Ventures under the “General” and the Equity Investments section of Note H to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8. (Financial Statements and Supplementary Data). Financial results for the Saudi Arabian mine are discussed below in “Alumina”.

Alumina

This segment consists of the Company’s worldwide refining system, which processes bauxite into alumina. Alcoa’s largest customer for smelter grade alumina is its own aluminum smelters, which in 2018 accounted for approximately 29% of its total alumina sales. A portion of the alumina is sold to third-party customers who process it into industrial chemical products. Remaining sales are made to customers all over the world and are typically priced by reference to published spot market prices.

This segment also includes AWAC’s 25.1% share of MBAC.

In 2010, a number of key commodity information service providers began publishing daily and weekly alumina (spot) pricing assessments or indices rather than calculating alumina price as a percentage of the LME aluminum price, as had been done historically. Since that time, Alcoa has been systematically moving its third-party alumina sales contracts away from LME aluminum-based pricing to published alumina spot or index pricing, thus de-linking the price for alumina from the aluminum price to better reflect alumina’s distinct fundamentals. Contracts for smelter grade alumina are often multi-year, although contract structures have evolved from primarily long-term contracts with fixed or LME-based pricing to shorter-term contracts with more frequent pricing adjustment to reflect this change in pricing structure. In 2018, approximately 95% of Alcoa Corporation’s smelter grade alumina shipments to third parties were sold at published spot/index prices.

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Alcoa’s alumina refining facilities and its worldwide alumina capacity are shown in the following table:

As of December 31, 2018, Alcoa had approximately 2,305,000 mtpy of idle capacity relative to total Alcoa consolidated capacity of 15,064,000 mtpy. As noted above, Alcoa and Ma’aden developed an alumina refinery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Initial capacity of the refinery is 1,800,000 mtpy, and it produced approximately 1,774,000 metric tons (mt) in 2018. For additional information regarding the joint venture, see Note H to the Consolidated Financial Statements under the caption “Investments—Equity Investments.”

In March 2015, ParentCo initiated a 12-month review of 2,800,000 mtpy in refining capacity for possible curtailment (partial or full), permanent closure or divestiture, as part of an effort to lower the position of the Company’s refining operations on the global alumina cost curve. The review resulted in the curtailment of the remaining capacity at the Suralco refinery (1,330,000 mtpy) in 2015 and the commencement of the curtailment of the remaining capacity of the Point Comfort, TX refinery (2,010,000 mtpy), which curtailment was completed in the first half of 2016. In the fourth quarter of 2016, Alcoa determined to close the Suralco alumina refinery and bauxite mines in Suriname, which have been fully curtailed since November 2015. For additional information regarding the curtailments, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Segment Information—Alumina.”

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Aluminum

This segment consists of (i) the Company’s worldwide smelting and casthouse system, (ii) a rolling mill in the United States, and (iii) a portfolio of energy assets in Brazil, Canada, and the United States. The smelting operations produce molten primary aluminum, which is then formed by the casting operations into either common alloy ingot (e.g., t-bar, sow, standard ingot) or into value-add ingot products (e.g., foundry, billet, rod, and slab). The rolling mill produces aluminum sheet primarily for the production of aluminum cans. The energy assets supply power to external customers in Brazil, and, to a lesser extent, in the United States, and internal customers within the Aluminum segment (Canadian smelters and Warrick (Indiana) smelter and rolling mill) and the Alumina segment (Brazilian refineries). This segment also includes Alcoa’s 25.1% share of MAC and MRC, the smelting and rolling mill joint venture companies in Saudi Arabia.

Smelting and Casting Operations

Contracts for primary aluminum vary widely in duration, from multi-year supply contracts to monthly or weekly spot purchases. Pricing for primary aluminum products is typically comprised of three components: (i) the published LME aluminum price for commodity grade P1020 aluminum, (ii) the published regional premium applicable to the delivery locale and (iii) a negotiated product premium which accounts for factors such as shape and alloy. In recent years, the Company has experienced increasing trade flows of commodity and higher value-added products between regions, with surplus regions supplying missing volumes to deficit regions. The flow patterns consider shipping costs, import duties, and premiums in the importing regions.

Alcoa’s primary aluminum facilities and its global smelting capacity are shown in the following table:

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As of December 31, 2018, the Company had approximately 916,000 mtpy of idle smelting capacity relative to total Alcoa consolidated capacity of 3,173,000 mtpy.

In July 2017, Alcoa announced plans to restart three (approximately 161,000 mtpy of capacity) of the five potlines (269,000 mtpy of capacity) at the Warrick smelter (previously permanently closed in March 2016 by ParentCo). The capacity identified for restart directly supplies the existing rolling mill at the Warrick location, improves efficiency of the integrated site and provides an additional source of metal to help meet production volumes. Alcoa completed the restart of two potlines (approximately 108,000 mtpy of capacity) in mid-2018 and a third potline in December 2018 (approximately 53,000 mtpy of capacity).

In January 2018, a lockout of the bargained hourly employees commenced at the Bécancour smelter (see Employees below). Accordingly, management initiated a curtailment of two (approximately 207,000 mtpy (Alcoa’s share) of capacity) of the three potlines at the smelter. Additionally, in December 2018, half (approximately 52,000 mtpy (Alcoa’s share) of capacity) of the one operating potline at the Bécancour smelter was curtailed. This additional curtailment was deemed necessary to ensure continued safety and maintenance due to recent retirements and departures among the salaried workforce.

In January 2019, Alcoa reached an agreement with workers’ representatives at the Avilés and La Coruña facilities as part of a collective dismissal process initiated in October 2018 (see Employees below). The plan calls for the curtailment of the remaining smelting capacity (approximately 124,000 mtpy combined) of the two smelters. The casthouse at each plant and the paste plant at La Coruña will remain in operation while the Company participates in a Spanish government-led process for the potential sale of the Avilés and La Coruña facilities. In accordance with the ratified agreement, the Company will maintain the smelters in the restart condition in the event an agreement to sell the plants can be reached by June 30, 2019.

For additional information regarding the curtailments and closures, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Restructuring and Other Charges.”

Rolling Operations

The Aluminum segment’s rolled products business consists of the Company’s rolling mill in Warrick, Indiana, which produces aluminum sheet primarily sold directly to customers in the packaging end market for the production of aluminum cans (beverage and food) and Alcoa’s investment in a rolling mill in Saudi Arabia through the Ma’aden Rolling Company. For additional information about the Ma’aden Joint Venture, see Joint Ventures under “General” and the Equity Investments section of Note H to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8. (Financial Statements and Supplementary Data).

Alcoa’s rolled products business has the capability of participating in several market segments, including beverage can sheet, food can sheet, lithographic sheet, and industrial products. The term “RCS” or Rigid Container Sheet is commonly used for both beverage and food can sheet. This includes the material used to produce the body of beverage containers (body stock), the lid of beverage containers (end stock and tab stock), the material to produce food can body and lids (food stock), and the material to produce aluminum bottles (bottle stock) and bottle closures (closure sheet). Alcoa suspended production of lithographic sheet in the second quarter of 2018.

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In 2018, our Warrick facility produced and sold 334.4 kilo metric tons (kMT) of RCS, lithographic sheet, and industrial products, of which over 99% was sold to customers in North America. The majority of its sales were coated RCS products (food stock, beverage end and tab stock). Following the Separation Transaction, both Warrick and the Ma’aden Rolling Company supply body stock material, temporarily supplemented by Arconic’s Tennessee Operations under a transition supply agreement that expired on December 31, 2018. Seasonal increases in can sheet sales are generally expected in the second and third quarters of the year.

Can sheet demand is a function of consumer demand for beverages in aluminum packaging. Aluminum cans have a number of functional advantages for beverage companies, including product shelf life, carbonation retention, and logistics/distribution efficiency. Demand is mostly affected by overall demand for carbonated soft drinks and beer, which comprise approximately 60% and 40%, respectively, of overall aluminum can demand. In 2018, the U.S./Canada aluminum can shipments reached 94.0 billion cans, an increase of 0.6% over 2017. Alcoholic can shipments reached 35.6 billion cans, declining 2.4% year over year, while non-alcoholic can shipments were 58.4 billion, growing 2.5% year over year.

Energy Facilities and Sources

Employing the Bayer process, Alcoa refines alumina from bauxite ore. The Company’s smelters then produce aluminum from the alumina by an electrolytic process requiring substantial amounts of electric power. Energy accounts for approximately 20% of the Company’s total alumina refining production costs. Electric power accounts for approximately 24% of the Company’s primary aluminum production costs.

Electricity markets are regional. They are limited in size by physical and regulatory constraints, including the physical inability to transport electricity efficiently over long distances, the design of the electric grid, including interconnections, and by the regulatory structure imposed by various federal and state entities.

Electricity contracts may be short term (real-time or day ahead) or years in duration, and contracts can be executed for immediate delivery or years in advance. Pricing may be fixed, indexed to an underlying fuel source or other index such as LME, cost-based or based on regional market pricing. Pricing may be all inclusive on a per energy unit delivered basis (e.g., dollars per megawatt hour) or the components may be separated and include a demand or capacity charge, an energy charge, an ancillary services charge and a transmission charge to make the delivered energy conform to customer requirements. In 2018, Alcoa generated approximately 9% of the power used at its smelters worldwide and generally purchased the remainder under long-term arrangements.

The following table sets forth the electricity generation capacity and 2018 generation of facilities in which Alcoa Corporation has an ownership interest:

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The sections below provide an overview of our external energy for our smelters and refineries.

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Other

The Company has a calciner facility located in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This facility converts green coke into calcined coke, which is used as a raw material for the anode formation process at an aluminum smelter. The Lake Charles facility was curtailed in December 2015 due to an equipment failure and restarted again in July 2017.

The Company’s Gum Springs, Arkansas facility processes spent potlining and other hazardous wastes.

Sources and Availability of Raw Materials

Generally, materials are purchased from third-party suppliers under competitively priced supply contracts or bidding arrangements. The Company believes that the raw materials necessary to its business are and will continue to be available.

For each metric ton of alumina produced, Alcoa consumes the following amounts of the identified raw material inputs (approximate range across relevant facilities):

For each metric ton of aluminum produced, Alcoa consumes the following amounts of the identified raw material inputs (approximate range across relevant facilities):

Certain aluminum we produce includes alloying materials. Because of the number of different types of elements that can be used to produce our various alloys, providing a range of such elements would not be meaningful. With the exception of a very small number of internally used products, Alcoa produces its alloys in adherence to an Aluminum Association (of which Alcoa is an active member) standard, which uses a specific designation system to identify alloy types.  In general, each alloy type has a major alloying element other than aluminum but will also have other constituents as well, but of lesser amounts.

Competition

Alcoa is subject to highly competitive conditions in all aspects of the aluminum supply chain in which it competes. Competitors include a variety of both U.S. and non-U.S. companies in all major markets. Brand name recognition and loyalty also play a role.  Alcoa’s competitive position depends, in part, on the Company’s access to an economical power supply to sustain its operations in various countries.

In each of our business segments, we enjoy several competitive advantages. We are among the world’s largest bauxite miners, with best practices in efficient mining operations and sustainability. We are the world’s largest alumina producer outside of China and operate competitive, efficient assets across our refining, aluminum smelting, and casting portfolios.  Our business segments operate in close proximity to our broad, worldwide customer base, enabling us to meet customer demand in key markets in North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and China.  Competitive advantages specific to each business segment are detailed below.

Bauxite:

The third-party market for metallurgical grade bauxite is relatively new and growing quickly as global demand for bauxite increases—particularly in China. The majority of bauxite mined globally is converted to alumina for the production of aluminum. While Alcoa has historically mined bauxite for internal consumption in our alumina refineries, we are committed to expanding our third-party bauxite business to meet growing demand.

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Our principal competitors in the third-party bauxite market include Rio Tinto, Norsk Hydro and multiple suppliers from Guinea, India and other countries. We compete largely based on bauxite quality, price and proximity to customers. In addition to the competitive advantages described above, Alcoa has a strong competitive position in this market due to its reliable, long-term bauxite resources in strategic bauxite mine locations, including Australia, Brazil, and Guinea, which is home to the world’s largest reserves of high-quality metallurgical grade bauxite. Alcoa has a long history of stable operations in these countries and has access to large bauxite deposits with mining rights that extend in most cases more than 20 years from the date of this report.

Alumina:

The alumina market is global and highly competitive, with many active suppliers, producers, and commodity traders. Alcoa faces competition from a number of companies, including Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, China Hongqiao Group Limited, Hindalco Industries Ltd., Hangzhou Jinjiang Group, National Aluminium Company Limited (“NALCO”), Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation, Norsk Hydro ASA, Rio Tinto, South32 Limited, State Power Investment Corporation, United Company RUSAL Plc, and Chiping Xinfa Alumina Product Co., Ltd. In recent years, there has been significant growth in alumina refining in China and India. The majority of our product is sold in the form of smelter grade alumina, with 5% to 10% of total global alumina production being produced for non-metallurgical applications.

Key factors influencing competition in the alumina market include: cost position, price, reliability of bauxite supply, quality and proximity to customers and end markets. While we face competition from many industry players, we had an average cost position in the first quartile of global alumina production in 2018, in part attributable to our experienced workforce and sophistication in refining technology and process automation.  Also, our refineries are strategically located next to low cost bauxite mines, and our alumina refineries are tuned to maximize efficiency with the exact bauxite qualities from these internal mines. In addition to these refining efficiencies, vertical integration affords a stable and consistent long-term supply of bauxite to our refining portfolio.

Aluminum:

In our Aluminum segment, competition is dependent upon the type of product we are selling.

The market for primary aluminum is global, and demand for aluminum varies widely from region to region. We compete with commodity traders and aluminum producers such as Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, China Hongqiao Group Limited, East Hope Group Co. Ltd., Emirates Global Aluminum, Norsk Hydro, Rio Tinto, Shandong Xinfa Aluminum & Power Group, State Power Investment Co. (“SPIC”), and United Company RUSAL Plc, as well as with alternative materials such as steel, titanium, copper, carbon fiber, composites, plastic and glass, each of which may be substituted for aluminum in certain applications.

The aluminum industry itself is highly competitive; some of the most critical competitive factors in our industry are product quality, production costs (including source and cost of energy), price, proximity to raw materials, customers and end markets, timeliness of delivery, customer service (including technical support), product innovation, and breadth of offerings. Where aluminum products compete with other materials, the diverse characteristics of aluminum are also a significant factor, particularly its light weight, strength and recyclability.

In addition, in some end-use markets, competition is also affected by customer requirements that suppliers complete a qualification process to supply their plants. This process can be rigorous and may take many months to complete. However, the ability to obtain and maintain these qualifications can represent a competitive advantage.

The strength of our position in the primary aluminum market is largely attributable to the following factors:

Alcoa owns generation and transmission assets that produce and sell electric energy and ancillary services in the United States and Brazilian wholesale energy markets. Our competitors include integrated electric utilities that may be owned by

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governments (either fully or partially), cooperatives or investors, independent power producers and energy brokers and traders.

Competition factors in open power markets include fuel supply, production costs, operational reliability, access to the power grid, and environmental attributes (e.g., green power and renewable energy credits). As electricity is difficult and cost prohibitive to store, there are no electricity inventories to cushion the impact of supply and demand factors and the resultant pricing in electricity markets may be volatile. Demand for power varies greatly both seasonally and by time of day. Supply may be impacted in the short term by unplanned generator outages or transmission congestion and longer term by planned generator outages, droughts, high precipitation levels and fuel pricing (coal and/or natural gas).

Alcoa’s energy assets enjoy several competitive advantages, when compared to other power suppliers:

Our rolled products business has the capability of participating in various market segments, including beverage can sheet, food can sheet, lithographic sheet, aluminum bottle sheet, and industrial products and in the U.S. competes with other North American producers of RCS products, namely Novelis Corp, Tri-Arrows Aluminum, and Constellium NV. There is also import supply of RCS from China (Nanshan) and Western Europe (Hydro and Eval) mainly for the beverage market.

We also compete against package types made of other materials including polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) bottles, glass bottles, steel tin plate and other materials. 

We compete on cost, quality, and service. The Company intends to continue to improve our cost position by increasing recycled aluminum content in our metal feedstock as well as continuing to focus on capacity utilization. We believe our team of technical and operational resources provides distinctive quality and customer service.

Patents, Trade Secrets and Trademarks

The Company believes that its domestic and international patent, trade secret and trademark assets provide it with a significant competitive advantage. The Company’s rights under its intellectual property, as well as the products made and sold under them, are important to the Company as a whole and, to varying degrees, important to each business segment. Alcoa’s business as a whole is not, however, materially dependent on any single patent, trade secret or trademark. As a result of product development and technological advancement, the Company continues to pursue patent protection in jurisdictions throughout the world. As of December 31, 2018, Alcoa’s worldwide patent portfolio consisted of approximately 720 granted patents and 300 pending patent applications. The Company also has a number of domestic and international registered trademarks that have significant recognition within the markets that are served, including the name “Alcoa” and the Alcoa symbol.

As part of the Separation Transaction, Alcoa Corporation and Arconic entered into certain intellection property license agreements between them. These agreements, as amended, provide for a license of certain patents, trademarks and know-how from Arconic or Alcoa Corporation, as applicable, to the other, on a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive basis, subject to certain exceptions.

Environmental Matters

Alcoa is subject to extensive federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to the release or discharge of materials into the air, water and soil, waste management, pollution prevention measures, the generation, storage, handling, use, transportation and disposal of hazardous materials, the exposure of persons to hazardous materials, greenhouse gas emissions, and the health and safety of our employees. We participate in environmental assessments and cleanups at approximately 60 locations. These include owned or operating facilities and adjoining properties, previously owned or operating facilities and adjoining properties, and waste sites, including Superfund (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”)) sites. In 2018, capital expenditures for new or expanded facilities for environmental control were approximately $145 million and approximately $75 million is expected in 2019. Additional information relating to environmental matters is included in Note R to the Consolidated Financial Statements under the caption “Contingencies and Commitments—Environmental Matters.”

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Employees

At the end of 2018, Alcoa had approximately 14,000 employees in 15 countries. Approximately 10,700 of these employees are represented by labor unions. In the U.S., approximately 2,400 employees are represented by various labor unions. The largest collective bargaining agreement in the U.S. is the master collective bargaining agreement with the United Steelworkers (“USW”), which covers approximately 1,600 employees at five U.S. locations. There are three additional collective bargaining agreements at three U.S. locations with the USW, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers (IBEW), with varying expiration dates. On a regional basis, collective bargaining agreements with varying expiration dates cover approximately 2,200 employees in Europe, 1,600 employees in Canada, 1,800 employees in Central and South America, and 2,700 employees in Australia.

The Company’s master agreement with the USW is set to expire on May 15, 2019, and Alcoa is currently negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement with the union.  

The collective bargaining agreement with CSN (Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux) representing about 600 hourly employees at its Baie Comeau smelter in Canada expires on May 31, 2019.  Alcoa is preparing to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement.

On January 11, 2018, a lockout of the bargained hourly employees commenced at the Bécancour smelter in Québec, impacting approximately 1,000 employees at this facility. The Bécancour facility is owned by Alcoa (74.95%) and Rio Tinto (25.05%). For additional information, see footnote 10 to the table in “Smelting Operations” under the Aluminum segment above.

On August 8, 2018, the Company’s bauxite mines and alumina refineries in Australia experienced a nearly eight-week strike by the unionized labor force who are represented by the Australian Workers’ Union (AUW). These two mines continued to operate during the strike with minimal disruption. The labor force has returned to work while negotiations between the Company and the union continue.

On October 17, 2018, the Company announced its intention to begin a formal consultation process for collective dismissals that would affect all employees at its Avilés and La Coruña smelters in Spain.  A total of almost 700 employees will be impacted. In January 2019, Alcoa reached an agreement with workers’ representatives at these facilities ). Under this agreement, the remaining smelting capacity (approximately 124,000 mtpy combined) of the two smelters will be curtailed by the end of February 2019. The casthouse at each plant and the paste plant at La Coruña will remain in operation while the Company participates in a Spanish government-led process for the potential sale of the Avilés and La Coruña facilities. A social plan included in the agreement preserves a portion of the jobs at the two facilities and includes retirement packages and potential relocation to the Company’s San Ciprián facility. In accordance with the ratified agreement, the Company will maintain the smelters in the restart condition in the event an agreement to sell the plants can be reached by June 30, 2019.

Executive Officers of the Registrant

The names, ages, positions and areas of responsibility of the executive officers of the Company as of February 15, 2019 are listed below.

Roy C. Harvey, 45, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcoa Corporation. He became Chief Executive Officer in November 2016 and assumed the role of President in May 2017. Mr. Harvey served as Executive Vice President of ParentCo and President of ParentCo’s Global Primary Products (“GPP”) division from October 2015 to November 2016. From June 2014 to October 2015, he was Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Environment, Health, Safety and Sustainability at ParentCo. Prior to that time, Mr. Harvey was Chief Operating Officer for GPP at ParentCo from July 2013 to June 2014 and was Chief Financial Officer for GPP from December 2011 to July 2013. In addition to these roles, Mr. Harvey served as Director of Investor Relations at ParentCo from September 2010 through November 2011 and was Director of Corporate Treasury from January 2010 to September 2010. Mr. Harvey joined ParentCo in 2002 as a business analyst for GPP in Knoxville, Tennessee.

William F. Oplinger, 52, has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Alcoa Corporation since November 2016. Mr. Oplinger served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ParentCo from April 1, 2013 to November 2016. Mr. Oplinger joined ParentCo in 2000, and through 2013 held key corporate positions in financial analysis and planning and also served as Director of Investor Relations. Mr. Oplinger also held principal positions in the ParentCo’s GPP division, including as Controller, Operational Excellence Director, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer.

Leigh Ann Fisher, 52, has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer since November 2016. She has responsibility for the Human Resources, Shared Services, Procurement and Information Technology functions of Alcoa Corporation. Ms. Fisher served as Chief Financial Officer of ParentCo’s GPP division from July 2013 to November 2016.

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Ms. Fisher was Group Controller for GPP at ParentCo from 2011 to July 2013. From 2008 to 2011, Ms. Fisher was Group Controller for ParentCo’s Engineered Products and Solutions division.  Ms. Fisher joined ParentCo in 1989.  

Jeffrey D. Heeter, 53, has served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Alcoa Corporation since November 2016. Mr. Heeter served as Assistant General Counsel of ParentCo from 2014 to November 2016. Mr. Heeter was Group Counsel for GPP at ParentCo from 2010 to 2014. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Heeter was General Counsel of Alcoa of Australia in Perth, Australia.  Mr. Heeter joined ParentCo in 1998.

John D. Slaven, 57, has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Alcoa Corporation, responsible for the Strategy, Corporate and Business Development functions and Supply Chain group, since he joined Alcoa on February 4, 2019.  From 2006 until 2019, Mr. Slaven was Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group, where he most recently led the North American Metals and Mining; Infrastructure and Public Transport practices.  Prior to this time, from 2002 through early 2006, Mr. Slaven worked for ParentCo, where he implemented its Asia growth strategy, revitalized the Latin America business, and led ParentCo’s sales and marketing growth in Asia before returning to New York to lead the corporate strategy, financial planning, and analysis functions.    

Garret J. Dixon, 60, has served as President of Alcoa Corporation’s Bauxite business unit since November 2016 and is responsible for the Company’s global bauxite operations.  Mr. Dixon served as President Alcoa Bauxite of ParentCo from February 2013, when he joined ParentCo, to November 2016 and as President of ParentCo’s Mining business from 2015 until November 2016.  From July 2011 until February 2013, Mr. Dixon served as the Vice President Business Development at Aurizon (previously QR National Ltd), a publicly-listed rail freight company in Australia.  Prior to this time, Mr. Dixon served as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Gindalbie Metals Ltd., an Australian resources company based in Perth.

Michael A. Parker, 47, has served as President of Alcoa Corporation’s Alumina business unit since November 2016, responsible for the Company’s global alumina portfolio.  He also serves as the Chairman and Managing Director of Alcoa of Australia.  Mr. Parker served as Vice President Commercial for ParentCo’s global alumina refining business from September 2015 until November 2016.  From January 2010 through August 2015, Mr. Parker was Director, Business Development and Marketing for Alcoa of Australia, responsible for sales, marketing, business development, and energy strategy for the Australian operations. Mr. Parker joined ParentCo in 1994.   

Timothy D. Reyes, 52, has served as President of Alcoa Corporation’s Aluminum business unit since March 2017. Mr. Reyes was President, Alcoa Cast Products from November 2016 until March 2017, when the aluminum smelting, cast products and rolled products businesses, along with the majority of the energy segment assets, were combined into a new Aluminum business unit.  From January 2015 to November 2016, he served as President, Alcoa Cast Products of ParentCo.  Prior to this time, Mr. Reyes was President of Alcoa Materials Management, a subsidiary of ParentCo, from September 2009 until December 2014, responsible for the commercial activities related to primary metals, alumina, and bauxite within ParentCo’s GPP group, and commodity price risk management and global transportation services for ParentCo.

Alcoa’s business, financial condition and results of operations may be impacted by a number of factors. In addition to the factors discussed elsewhere in this report, the following risks and uncertainties could materially harm its business, financial condition or results of operations, including causing Alcoa’s actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statements. The following list of significant risk factors is not all-inclusive or necessarily in order of importance. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to Alcoa or that Alcoa currently deems immaterial also may materially adversely affect us in future periods. See the discussion under “Forward-Looking Statements” in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Risks Related to Our Company

Global Operational Risks

Our global operations expose us to risks that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flows.

We have operations or activities in numerous countries and regions outside the United States, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Guinea, Suriname, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The risks associated with the Company’s global operations include:

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While the impact of any of the foregoing factors is difficult to predict, any one or more of them could adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flows. Existing insurance arrangements may not provide protection for the costs that may arise from such events.

Our global operations expose us to risks related to economic and political conditions, including the impact of tariffs and sanctions, which may negatively impact our business.

We are subject to risks associated with doing business internationally, including the effects of foreign and domestic laws and regulations, foreign or domestic government fiscal and political crises, and political and economic disputes and sanctions. These factors, among others, bring uncertainty to the markets in which we compete, and may adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flows. For example, in April 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) implemented sanctions against several Russian government officials and companies, including United Company RUSAL Plc (“Rusal”). The prospect of sanctions contributed to significant volatility in the market for aluminum and alumina, as companies, including Alcoa, take action in order to comply with the OFAC sanctions. While OFAC has since removed Rusal from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN), these external events created uncertainty and therefore, volatility in the markets in which we operate. Similarly, government enforcement in Brazil that resulted in disruptions in the alumina supply, as well as the impact of environmental and supply management regulatory reforms in China, could adversely impact our business and results of operations.

In the United States, the current administration has publicly supported, and in some instances has already proposed or taken action with respect to, significant changes to certain trade policies, including import tariffs and quotas, modifications to international trade policy, the withdrawal from or renegotiation of certain trade agreements, including the North American Free Trade Agreement, and other changes that may affect U.S. trade relations with other countries, any of which may require us to significantly modify our current business practices or may otherwise materially and adversely affect our business. Such changes could also result in retaliatory actions by United States’ trade partners. For example, in 2018, the United States imposed tariffs and proposed quotas on aluminum imports to the United States. These actions and the possibility of trade conflicts stemming from these actions could negatively impact global trade and economic conditions in many of the regions where we do business. For example, certain foreign governments, including China, have proposed the imposition of additional tariffs on certain exports from the United States. This could further exacerbate aluminum and alumina price increases and overall market uncertainty.

Our global operations expose us to various legal and regulatory systems, and changes in conditions beyond our control in foreign countries.

In addition to the business risks inherent in operating outside the United States, legal and regulatory systems may be less developed and predictable and the possibility of various types of adverse governmental action more pronounced. Unexpected or uncontrollable events or circumstances in any of these foreign markets, including actions by foreign governments such as changes in fiscal regimes, termination of our agreements with such foreign governments, increased government regulation, or forced curtailment of operations could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

Weakness in global economic conditions or in any of the industries or geographic regions in which we or our customers operate, or the cyclical nature of their businesses, could adversely impact our revenues and profitability by reducing demand and margins.

Our results of operations may be materially affected by the conditions in the global economy generally and in global capital markets. There has been extreme volatility in the capital markets and in the end markets and geographic regions in which we or our customers operate, which has negatively affected our revenues. Many of the markets in which our customers participate are also cyclical in nature and experience significant fluctuations in demand for our products based on economic conditions, consumer demand, raw material and energy costs, and government actions. Many of these factors are beyond our control.

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A decline in consumer and business confidence and spending, severe reductions in the availability and cost of credit, and volatility in the capital and credit markets, could adversely affect the business and economic environment in which we operate and the profitability of our business. We are also exposed to risks associated with the creditworthiness of our suppliers and customers. If the availability of credit to fund or support the continuation and expansion of our customers’ business operations is curtailed or if the cost of that credit is increased, the resulting inability of our customers or of their customers to either access credit or absorb the increased cost of that credit could adversely affect our business by reducing our sales or by increasing our exposure to losses from uncollectible customer accounts. These conditions and a disruption of the credit markets could also result in financial instability of some of our suppliers and customers. The consequences of such adverse effects could include the interruption of production at the facilities of our customers, the reduction, delay or cancellation of customer orders, delays or interruptions of the supply of raw materials we purchase, and bankruptcy of customers, suppliers or other creditors. Any of these events could adversely affect our profitability, cash flow and financial condition.

Unanticipated changes in tax laws or exposure to additional tax liabilities could affect our future profitability.

We are subject to income taxes in both the United States and various non-U.S. jurisdictions. Unanticipated changes in tax laws or regulations or exposure to additional tax liabilities could affect our future profitability. Our domestic and international tax liabilities are dependent upon the distribution of income among these different jurisdictions. Changes in applicable domestic or foreign tax laws and regulations, or their interpretation and application, including the possibility of retroactive effect, could affect the Company’s tax expense and profitability. Our tax expense includes estimates of additional tax that may be incurred for tax exposures and reflects various estimates and assumptions. The assumptions include assessments of future earnings of the Company that could impact the valuation of our deferred tax assets. Our future results of operations could be adversely affected by changes in the effective tax rate as a result of a change in the mix of earnings in countries with differing statutory tax rates, changes in the overall profitability of the Company, changes in tax legislation and rates, changes in generally accepted accounting principles, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, the results of tax audits and examinations of previously filed tax returns or related litigation and continuing assessments of our tax exposures. Significant changes to tax laws or regulations could have a substantial impact, positive or negative, on our effective tax rate, cash tax expenditures and deferred tax assets and liabilities. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was enacted in the United States on December 22, 2017, reduces the U.S. corporate statutory tax rate, eliminates or limits tax deductions for several expenses that previously were deductible, imposes a mandatory deemed repatriation tax on undistributed historic earnings of foreign subsidiaries, requires a minimum tax on earnings generated by foreign subsidiaries and permits a tax-free repatriation of foreign earnings through a dividends received deduction. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Conditions and Results of Operations” and the Company’s financial statements for management’s assessment of the overall impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on our effective tax rate and balance sheet.

We may be exposed to significant legal proceedings, investigations or changes in foreign and/or U.S. federal, state, or local laws, regulations or policies.

Our results of operations or liquidity in a particular period could be affected by new or increasingly stringent laws, regulatory requirements or interpretations, or outcomes of significant legal proceedings or investigations adverse to the Company. We may become subject to unexpected or rising costs associated with business operations or provision of health or welfare benefits to employees due to changes in laws, regulations or policies. We are also subject to a variety of legal compliance risks. These risks include, among other things, potential claims relating to health and safety, environmental matters, intellectual property rights, product liability, taxes and compliance with U.S. and foreign export laws, anti-bribery laws, competition laws and sales and trading practices. We could be subject to fines, penalties or damages (in certain cases, treble damages). In addition, if we violate the terms of our agreements with governmental authorities, we may face additional monetary sanctions and such other remedies as a court deems appropriate.

While we believe we have adopted appropriate risk management and compliance programs to address and reduce these risks, the global and diverse nature of our operations means that these risks will continue to exist, and additional legal proceedings and contingencies may arise from time to time. In addition, various factors or developments can lead the Company to change current estimates of liabilities or make such estimates for matters previously not susceptible of reasonable estimates, such as a significant judicial ruling or judgment, a significant settlement, significant regulatory developments or changes in applicable law. A future adverse ruling or settlement or unfavorable changes in laws, regulations or policies, or other contingencies that the company cannot predict with certainty could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or cash flows in a particular period. See “Item 3, Legal Proceedings” and Note R under the caption “Contingencies and Commitments—Contingencies—Litigation” to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

We are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates, as well as inflation, and other economic factors in the countries in which we operate.

Economic factors, including inflation and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates, competitive factors in the countries in which we operate, and continued volatility or deterioration in the global economic and financial

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environment could affect our revenues, expenses and results of operations. Changes in the valuation of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, particularly the Australian dollar, Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Euro, and Norwegian kroner, may affect our profitability as some important inputs are purchased in other currencies, while our products are generally sold in U.S. dollars. In addition, although a strong U.S. dollar generally has a positive impact on our near-term profitability, over a longer term, a strong U.S. dollar may have an unfavorable impact on our position on the global aluminum cost curve due to the company’s U.S. smelting portfolio. As the U.S. dollar strengthens, the cost curve shifts down for smelters outside the United States but costs for our U.S. smelting portfolio may not decline.

We are subject to a broad range of health, safety and environmental laws, regulations and other requirements in the jurisdictions in which we operate that expose us to substantial costs and liabilities.

Our operations worldwide are subject to numerous complex and increasingly stringent federal, state, local and foreign laws, regulations, policies, and other requirements, including those related to health, safety, environmental, and waste management and disposal matters, and may expose us to substantial costs and liabilities associated with such laws, regulations, policies, and other requirements. These laws, regulations, policies, and other requirements could change or be applied or interpreted in ways that could (i) require us to enjoin, curtail, close or otherwise modify our operations, including the implementation of corrective measures, the installation of additional equipment, or the undertaking of other remedial actions, or (ii) subject us to enforcement risk or impose on or require us to incur additional capital expenditures, compliance or other costs, fines, or penalties, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations, cash flows and financial condition, and the trading price of our common stock.  

The costs of complying with such laws, regulations, policies and other requirements, including participation in assessments, remediation activities, and cleanups of sites, as well as internal voluntary programs, are significant and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Environmental laws may impose cleanup liability on owners and occupiers of contaminated property, including past or divested properties, regardless of whether the owners and occupiers caused the contamination or whether the activity that caused the contamination was lawful at the time it was conducted. Environmental matters for which we may be liable may arise in the future at our present sites, where no problem is currently known, at previously owned sites, at sites previously operated by the Company, at sites owned by our predecessors or at sites that we may acquire in the future. 

In addition, because environmental laws, regulations, policies and other requirements are constantly evolving, we will continue to incur costs to maintain compliance and such costs could increase materially.  Evolving standards and expectations can result in increased litigation and/or increased costs, all of which can have a material and adverse effect on our earnings and cash flows. Future compliance with environmental, health and safety legislation and other regulatory requirements may prove to be more limiting and costly than we anticipate, and may disrupt our business operations and require significant expenditures. Our results of operations or liquidity in a particular period could be materially affected by certain health, safety or environmental matters, including remediation costs and damages related to certain sites.

Our operations may impact the environment or cause exposure to hazardous substances, and our properties may have environmental contamination or other damage, which could result in material liabilities to us.

We could be subject to claims for environmental contamination and associated liability, including fines and penalties under federal and state statutes and/or common law toxic tort doctrines and other damages, such as natural resource damages and the costs associated with the investigation and cleanup of soil, surface water, groundwater, and other media under laws such as the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liabilities Act (“CERCLA”, commonly known as “Superfund”) or similar foreign regulations. Such claims may arise, for example, out of current or former conditions at sites that we own or operate currently, as well as at sites that we and companies we acquired owned or operated in the past, and at contaminated sites that have always been owned or operated by third parties. Liability may be without regard to fault and may be joint and several, so that we may be held responsible for more than our share of the contamination or other damages, or even for the entire share.

In addition, our operations generate hazardous waste. Some of the hazardous waste and other byproducts from our operations we contain in tailing facilities, residue storage areas, and other structural impoundments that are subject to extensive regulation. Overtopping of storage areas caused by extreme weather events or unanticipated structural failure of impoundments could result in damage to the environment, natural resources, or property, or personal injury. These and other similar impacts that our operations may have on the environment, as well as exposures to hazardous substances or wastes associated with our operations, could result in civil or criminal fines or penalties and enforcement actions issued by regulatory or judicial authorities enjoining, curtailing or closing operations or requiring corrective measures, any of which could materially and adversely affect us.

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Climate change, climate change legislation or regulations, extreme weather conditions, and greenhouse effects may adversely impact our operations and markets.

Energy is a significant input in a number of our operations. There is growing recognition that consumption of energy derived from fossil fuels is a contributor to global warming.

A number of governments or governmental bodies in areas of the world where we operate have introduced or are contemplating legislative and regulatory change in response to the potential impacts of climate change. We will likely see changes in the margins of greenhouse gas-intensive assets and energy-intensive assets as a result of regulatory impacts in the countries in which we operate. These regulatory mechanisms may be either voluntary or legislated and may impact our operations directly or indirectly through customers or our supply chain. Inconsistency of regulations may also change the attractiveness of the locations of some of the Company’s assets. Assessments of the potential impact of future climate change legislation, regulation and international treaties and accords are uncertain, given the wide scope of potential regulatory change in countries in which we operate. We may realize increased capital expenditures resulting from required compliance with revised or new legislation or regulations, costs to purchase or profits from sales of, allowances or credits under a “cap and trade” system, increased insurance premiums and deductibles as new actuarial tables are developed to reshape coverage, a change in competitive position relative to industry peers and changes to profit or loss arising from increased or decreased demand for goods produced by the Company and, indirectly, from changes in costs of goods sold.

The potential physical impacts of climate change or extreme weather conditions on the Company’s operations are highly uncertain, and will be particular to the geographic circumstances. These may include changes in rainfall patterns, shortages of water or other natural resources, changing sea levels, changing storm patterns, increased frequency and intensities of storms, and changing temperature levels. For example, in 2017, our Trombetas mine experienced disruption to its normal operations due to separate weather events that impacted the tailing ponds (bauxite waste storage areas) and the washing plant in the first half (heavy rain) and the second half (drought conditions) of the year, respectively. Effects such as these may adversely impact the cost, production and financial performance of our operations.

Available Capital and Credit-Related Risks

Our business and growth prospects may be negatively impacted by limits in our ability to fund capital expenditures.

We require substantial capital to invest in growth opportunities and to maintain and prolong the life and capacity of our existing facilities. Insufficient cash generation or capital project overruns may negatively impact our ability to fund as planned our sustaining and return-seeking capital projects, and such postponement in funding capital expenditures or inadequate funding to complete projects could result in operational issues. We may also need to address commercial and political issues in relation to reductions in capital expenditures in certain of the jurisdictions in which we operate. If our interest in our joint ventures is diluted or we lose key concessions, our growth could be constrained. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects.

Our capital resources may not be adequate to provide for all of our cash requirements, and we are exposed to risks associated with financial, credit, capital, and banking markets.

In the ordinary course of business, we seek to access competitive financial, credit, capital and/or banking markets. Currently, we believe we have adequate access to these markets to meet our reasonably anticipated business needs based on our historic financial performance and strong financial position. To the extent our access to competitive financial, credit, capital and/or banking markets was to be impaired, our operations, financial results and cash flows could be adversely impacted.

Deterioration in our credit profile or increases in interest rates could increase our costs of borrowing money and limit our access to the capital markets and commercial credit.

The major credit rating agencies evaluate our creditworthiness and give us specified credit ratings. These ratings are based on a number of factors, including our financial strength and financial policies as well as our strategies, operations and execution. These credit ratings are limited in scope, and do not address all material risks related to investment in us, but rather reflect only the view of each rating agency at the time the rating is issued. Nonetheless, the credit ratings we receive impact our borrowing costs as well as our access to sources of capital on terms that will be advantageous to our business. Failure to obtain sufficiently high credit ratings could adversely affect the interest rate in future financings, our liquidity or our competitive position and could also restrict our access to capital markets. In addition, our credit ratings could be lowered or withdrawn entirely by a rating agency if, in its judgment, the circumstances warrant. If a rating agency were to downgrade our rating, our borrowing costs would increase, and our funding sources could decrease. As a result of these factors, a downgrade of our credit ratings could have a materially adverse impact on our future operations and financial position.

In addition, our variable rate indebtedness may use London Interbank Offering Rate (“LIBOR”) as a benchmark for establishing the rate.  LIBOR is the subject of recent national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals for

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reform.  These reforms and other pressures may cause LIBOR to disappear entirely or to perform differently than in the past.  The consequences of these developments cannot be entirely predicted, but could include an increase in the cost of our variable rate indebtedness.  

Our indebtedness restricts our current and future operations, which could adversely affect our ability to respond to changes in our business and manage our operations.

Alcoa and Alcoa Nederland Holding B.V. (“ANHBV”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alcoa, are party to a revolving credit agreement with a syndicate of lenders and issuers named therein (as subsequently amended, the “Revolving Credit Agreement”). The terms of the Revolving Credit Agreement and the indentures governing our notes contain covenants that impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us, including on our ability to, among other things:

The Revolving Credit Agreement requires us to comply with financial covenants. We must maintain an interest expense coverage ratio of not less than 5.00 to 1.00, and a leverage ratio for any period of four consecutive fiscal quarters that is not greater than 2.50 to 1.00.

In addition, all obligations of Alcoa Corporation or a domestic entity under the Revolving Credit Agreement are secured by, subject to certain exceptions, a first priority lien on substantially all assets of Alcoa Corporation and the material domestic wholly-owned subsidiaries of Alcoa Corporation and certain equity interests of specified non-U.S. subsidiaries. All other obligations under the Revolving Credit Facility are secured by, subject to certain exceptions, a first priority security interest in substantially all assets of Alcoa Corporation, ANHBV, the material domestic wholly-owned subsidiaries of Alcoa Corporation, and the material foreign wholly-owned subsidiaries of Alcoa Corporation located in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Norway, including equity interests of certain subsidiaries that directly hold equity interests in AWAC entities. Our ability to comply with these agreements may be affected by events beyond our control, including prevailing economic, financial and industry conditions. These covenants could have an adverse effect on our business by limiting our ability to take advantage of financing, merger and acquisition or other opportunities. The breach of any of these covenants or restrictions could result in a default under the Revolving Credit Agreement or the indenture governing our notes.

For more information on the restrictive covenants in the Revolving Credit Agreement, see Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Financing Activities.”

Our failure to comply with the agreements relating to our outstanding indebtedness, including as a result of events beyond our control, could result in an event of default that could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

If there were an event of default under any of the agreements relating to our outstanding indebtedness, including the Revolving Credit Agreement and the indenture governing our notes, we may not be able to incur additional indebtedness under the Revolving Credit Agreement and the holders of the defaulted debt could cause all amounts outstanding with respect to that debt to be due and payable immediately. We cannot assure that our assets or cash flow would be sufficient to fully repay borrowings under our outstanding debt instruments if accelerated upon an event of default, which could have a material

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adverse effect on our ability to continue to operate as a going concern. Further, if we are unable to repay, refinance or restructure our secured indebtedness, the holders of such indebtedness could proceed against the collateral securing that indebtedness. In addition, any event of default or declaration of acceleration under one debt instrument also could result in an event of default under one or more of our other debt instruments.

Cybersecurity Risks

Cyber-attacks and security breaches may threaten the integrity of our intellectual property and other sensitive information, disrupt our business operations, expose us to potential liability, and result in reputational harm and other negative consequences that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We face global cybersecurity threats, which may range from uncoordinated individual attempts to sophisticated and targeted measures, known as advanced persistent threats, directed at the Company. Cyber-attacks and other cyber incidents are occurring more frequently, are constantly evolving in nature, are becoming more sophisticated, and are being made by groups and individuals with a wide range of expertise and motives. Cyber-attacks and security breaches may include, but are not limited to, attempts to access information or digital infrastructure, computer viruses, denial of service and other electronic security breaches.

We believe that we face a heightened threat of cyber-attacks due to the industries we serve and the locations of our operations. Due to the evolving nature of cybersecurity threats, the scope and impact of any incident cannot be predicted. While the Company continually works to safeguard our systems and mitigate potential risks, there is no assurance that such actions will be sufficient to prevent cyber-attacks or security breaches that manipulate or improperly use our systems or networks, compromise confidential or otherwise protected information, destroy or corrupt data, or otherwise disrupt our operations. The occurrence of such events could negatively impact our reputation and our competitive position and could result in litigation with third parties, regulatory action, loss of business, potential liability and increased remediation costs, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Such security breaches could also result in a violation of applicable U.S. and international privacy and other laws, and subject us to private consumer, business partner, or securities litigation and governmental investigations and proceedings, any of which could result in our exposure to material civil or criminal liability. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) became effective in the European Union in May 2018 and subjects companies to a range of new compliance obligations regarding the handling of personal data.  In the event our operations are found to be in violation of the GDPR’s requirements, we may be subject to significant civil penalties, business disruption and reputational harm, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business.  

In addition, cyber-attacks or breaches could require significant management attention and resources, and result in the diminution of the value of our investment in research and development. Furthermore, while we have disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place, if our information technology systems are damaged, breached or cease to function properly for any reason, including the poor performance of, failure of or cyber-attack on third-party service providers, catastrophic events, power outages, cyber-security breaches, network outages, failed upgrades or other similar events and, if the disaster recovery and business continuity plans do not effectively resolve such issues on a timely basis, we may suffer interruptions in our ability to manage or conduct business as well as reputational harm, and may be subject to governmental investigations and litigation, any of which may adversely impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Employee- and Pension-Related Risks

Loss of key personnel may adversely affect our business.

Our success greatly depends on the performance of our executive management team. The loss of the services of any member of our executive management team or other key persons could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Union disputes and other employee relations issues could adversely affect our financial results.

A significant portion of our employees are represented by labor unions in a number of countries under various collective bargaining agreements with varying durations and expiration dates. See “Business—Employees.” Union disputes and other employee relations issues could adversely affect our financial results. We may not be able to satisfactorily renegotiate collective bargaining agreements when they expire. In addition, existing collective bargaining agreements may not prevent a strike or work stoppage at our facilities in the future. We may also be subject to general country strikes or work stoppages unrelated to our business or collective bargaining agreements. A labor dispute or work stoppage of employees covered by collective bargaining agreements could have a material adverse effect on production at one or more of our facilities, and depending on the length of work stoppage, on our financial results.

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An adverse decline in the liability discount rate, lower-than-expected investment return on pension assets and other factors could affect our results of operations or amount of pension funding contributions in future periods.

Our results of operations may be negatively affected by the amount of expense we record for our pension and other post-retirement benefit plans, reductions in the fair value of plan assets, and other factors. We calculate income or expense for our plans using actuarial valuations in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”).

These valuations reflect assumptions about financial market and other economic conditions, which may change based on changes in key economic indicators. The most significant year-end assumptions used by the Company to estimate pension or other postretirement benefit income or expense for the following year are the discount rate applied to plan liabilities and the expected long-term rate of return on plan assets. In addition, the Company is required to make an annual measurement of plan assets and liabilities, which may result in a significant charge to stockholders’ equity. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates—Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits” and Note N to the Consolidated Financial Statements under the caption “Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits.” Although GAAP expense and pension funding contributions are impacted by different regulations and requirements, the key economic factors that affect GAAP expense would also likely affect the amount of cash or securities we would contribute to the pension plans.

Potential pension contributions include both mandatory amounts required under federal law and discretionary contributions to improve the plans’ funded status. Higher than expected pension contributions due to a decline in the plans’ funded status as a result of declines in the discount rate or lower-than-expected investment returns on plan assets could have a material negative effect on our cash flows. Adverse capital market conditions could result in reductions in the fair value of plan assets and increase our liabilities related to such plans, adversely affecting our liquidity and results of operations.

Limited Operating History Risks

We have only operated as an independent company since November 1, 2016, and our historical financial information may not be a reliable indicator of our future results.

The historical information about Alcoa Corporation in this report refers to Alcoa Corporation’s businesses as operated by and integrated with ParentCo prior to November 1, 2016. Some of the historical financial information included in this report is derived from the consolidated financial statements and accounting records of ParentCo. Accordingly, the historical financial information relating to 2016 and earlier years included in this report does not necessarily reflect the financial condition, results of operations or cash flows that we would have achieved as a separate, publicly traded company during those particular periods presented or those that we will achieve in the future primarily as a result of significant changes in our cost structure, management, financing and business operations as a result of operating as a company separate from ParentCo. For additional information about the past financial performance of our business and the basis of presentation of the historical consolidated financial statements, see “Selected Financial Data of Alcoa Corporation,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and the historical financial statements and accompanying notes included elsewhere in this report.

In connection with our Separation Transaction from ParentCo, Arconic agreed to indemnify us for certain liabilities and we agreed to indemnify Arconic for certain liabilities which could negatively impact financial results if indemnity liabilities arise in the future.

In connection with the Separation Transaction, Arconic agreed to indemnify us for certain liabilities, and we agreed to indemnify Arconic for certain liabilities, in each case for uncapped amounts. Indemnities that we may be required to provide Arconic are not subject to any cap, may be significant and could negatively impact our business. Third parties could also seek to hold us responsible for any of the liabilities that Arconic has agreed to retain. Any amounts we are required to pay pursuant to these indemnification obligations and other liabilities could require us to divert cash that would otherwise have been used in furtherance of our operating business. Further, the indemnity from Arconic may not be sufficient to protect us against the full amount of such liabilities, and Arconic may not be able to fully satisfy its indemnification obligations. Moreover, even if we ultimately succeed in recovering from Arconic any amounts for which we are held liable, we may be temporarily required to bear these losses ourselves. Each of these risks could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Business Strategy Risks

We may not be able to realize the expected benefits from our strategy of creating a lower cost, competitive commodity business by optimizing our portfolio.

We are continuing to execute a strategy of creating a lower cost, competitive integrated aluminum production business by implementing productivity and cost-reduction initiatives, and optimizing our portfolio of assets. We are taking decisive

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actions to lower the cost base of our operations, including through procurement strategies for raw materials, labor productivity, improving operating performance, deploying Company-wide business process models, reducing overhead costs, closing, selling or curtailing high-cost global smelting capacity, optimizing alumina refining capacity, and pursuing the sale of our interest in certain other operations. We may not be able to realize the expected benefits or cost savings from this strategy.

We have made, and may continue to plan and execute, acquisitions and divestitures and take other actions to grow or streamline our portfolio. There is no assurance that anticipated benefits of our strategic actions will be realized. With respect to portfolio optimization actions such as divestitures, curtailments and closures, we may face barriers to exit from unprofitable businesses or operations, including high exit costs or objections from various stakeholders. In addition, we may incur unforeseen liabilities for divested entities if a buyer fails to honor all commitments. Our business operations are capital intensive, and curtailment or closure of operations or facilities may include significant charges, including asset impairment charges and other measures. There can be no assurance that divestitures or closures will be undertaken or completed in their entirety as planned at the anticipated cost, or that such actions will be beneficial to the Company.

Joint ventures and other strategic alliances may not be successful.

We participate in joint ventures and have formed strategic alliances and may enter into other similar arrangements in the future. For example, AWAC is an unincorporated global joint venture between Alcoa and Alumina Limited. AWAC consists of a number of affiliated entities, which own, operate or have an interest in, bauxite mines and alumina refineries, as well as an aluminum smelter, in seven countries. In addition, Alcoa is party to a joint venture with Ma’aden, the Saudi Arabian Mining Company, to develop a fully integrated aluminum complex (including a bauxite mine, alumina refinery, aluminum smelter and rolling mill) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Although the Company has, in connection with these and our other existing joint ventures and strategic alliances, sought to protect our interests, joint ventures and strategic alliances inherently involve special risks. Whether or not the Company holds majority interests or maintains operational control in such arrangements, our partners may:

There can be no assurance that our joint ventures or strategic alliances will be beneficial to us, whether due to the above-described risks, unfavorable global economic conditions, increases in construction costs, currency fluctuations, political risks, or other factors.

We could be adversely affected by changes in the business or financial condition of a significant customer or joint venture partner.

A significant downturn or deterioration in the business or financial condition of a key customer or joint venture partner could affect our results of operations in a particular period. Our customers may experience delays in the launch of new products, labor strikes, diminished liquidity or credit unavailability, weak demand for their products, or other difficulties in their businesses. If we are not successful in replacing business lost from such customers, profitability may be adversely affected. Our joint venture partners could be rendered unable to contribute their share of operating or capital costs, having an adverse impact on our business.

Risks Related to Our Industry

Competition Risks

We face significant competition, which may have an adverse effect on profitability.

We compete with a variety of both U.S. and non-U.S. aluminum industry competitors as well as with producers of other materials, such as steel, titanium, plastics, composites, ceramics, and glass, among others. Technological advancements or other developments by or affecting Alcoa’s competitors or customers could affect our results of operations. In addition, our competitive position depends, in part, on our ability to leverage innovation expertise across businesses and key end markets and us having access to an economical power supply to sustain our operations in various countries. See “Business—Competition.”

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Our business is capital intensive, and if there are downturns in the industries that we serve, we may be forced to significantly curtail or suspend operations with respect to those industries, which could result in our recording asset impairment charges or taking other measures that may adversely affect our results of operations and profitability.

Our business operations are capital intensive. If there are downturns in the industries that we serve, we may be forced to significantly curtail or suspend our operations with respect to those industries, including laying-off employees, recording asset impairment charges and other measures. In addition, we may not realize the benefits or expected returns from announced plans, programs, initiatives and capital investments. Any of these events could adversely affect our results of operations and profitability.

Commodity Risks

The aluminum industry and aluminum end-use markets are highly cyclical and are influenced by a number of factors, including global economic conditions.

The nature of the industries in which our customers operate causes demand for our products to be cyclical, creating potential uncertainty regarding future profitability. The demand for aluminum is sensitive to, and quickly impacted by, demand for the finished goods manufactured by our customers in industries, such as the commercial construction, transportation, and automotive industries, which may change as a result of changes in the global economy, currency exchange rates, energy prices or other factors beyond our control. Various changes in general economic conditions may affect the industries in which our customers operate. The demand for aluminum is highly correlated to economic growth. The Chinese market is a significant source of global demand for, and supply of, commodities, including aluminum. A sustained slowdown in Chinese aluminum demand due to slower economic growth or change in government policies, or a significant slowdown in other markets, that is not offset by decreases in supply of aluminum or increased aluminum demand in emerging economies, such as India, Brazil, and several Southeast Asian countries, could have an adverse effect on the global supply and demand for aluminum and aluminum prices. As a result of these factors, our profitability is subject to significant fluctuation.

While we believe the long-term prospects for aluminum and aluminum products are positive, we are unable to predict the future course of industry variables or the strength of the global economy and the effects of government intervention. Negative economic conditions, such as a major economic downturn, a prolonged recovery period, a downturn in the commodity sector, or disruptions in the financial markets, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.

While the aluminum market is often the leading cause of changes in the alumina and bauxite markets, those markets also have industry-specific risks including, but not limited to, global freight markets, energy markets, and regional supply-demand imbalances. Aluminum industry specific risks can have a material effect on profitability for the alumina and bauxite markets.

We could be materially adversely affected by declines in aluminum and alumina prices, including global, regional and product-specific prices.

The overall price of primary aluminum consists of several components: (i) the underlying base metal component, which is typically based on quoted prices from the LME; (ii) the regional premium, which comprises the incremental price over the base LME component that is associated with the physical delivery of metal to a particular region (e.g., the Midwest premium for metal sold in the United States); and (iii) the product premium, which represents the incremental price for receiving physical metal in a particular shape (e.g., coil, billet, slab, rod, etc.) or alloy. Each of the above three components has its own drivers of variability. 

The LME price is typically driven by macroeconomic factors, global supply and demand of aluminum (including expectations for growth and contraction and the level of global inventories), and trading activity of financial investors. Furthermore, an imbalance in global supply and demand of aluminum, such as decreasing demand without corresponding supply declines, could have a negative impact on aluminum pricing. In 2018, cash LME pricing for aluminum experienced a significant amount of volatility, reaching a high of $2,602 per metric ton in April and a low of $1,869 per metric ton in December. High LME inventories could lead to a reduction in the price of aluminum and declines in the LME price have had a negative impact on our results of operations.  Further, in recent years, LME policies have undergone rule changes that resulted in an increased minimum daily load-out rate and caps on warehouse charges. These rule changes, and any subsequent changes the exchange chooses to make, could impact the supply/demand balance in the primary aluminum physical market and may impact regional delivery premiums and LME aluminum prices. Product premiums generally are a function of supply and demand for a given primary aluminum shape and alloy combination in a particular region. Periods of industry overcapacity may also result in a weak aluminum pricing environment. Regional premiums tend to vary based on the supply of and demand for metal in a particular region and associated transportation costs.

A sustained weak LME aluminum pricing environment, deterioration in LME aluminum prices, or a decrease in regional premiums or product premiums could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations or cash flow.  Most of our alumina contracts contain two pricing components: (1) the API price basis, and (2) a

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negotiated adjustment basis that takes into account various factors, including freight, quality, customer location and market conditions. Because the API component can exhibit significant volatility due to market exposure, revenue associated with our alumina operations are exposed to market pricing. Our bauxite-related contracts are typically one to two-year contracts with very little, if any, market exposure; however, we intend to enter into long-term bauxite contracts and therefore, our revenue associated with our bauxite operations may become further exposed to market pricing.

Our profitability could be adversely affected by increases in the cost of raw materials, by significant lag effects of decreases in commodity or LME-linked costs or by large or sudden shifts in the global inventory of aluminum and the resulting market price impacts.

Our results of operations are affected by changes in the cost of raw materials, including energy, carbon products, caustic soda and other key inputs, as well as freight costs associated with transportation of raw materials to refining and smelting locations. We may not be able to fully offset the effects of higher raw material costs or energy costs through price increases, productivity improvements or cost reduction programs. Similarly, our operating results are affected by significant lag effects of declines in key costs of production that are commodity or LME-linked. For example, declines in the costs of alumina and power during a particular period may not be adequate to offset sharp declines in metal price in that period. We could also be adversely affected by large or sudden shifts in the global inventory of aluminum and the resulting market price impacts. Increases in the cost of raw materials or decreases in input costs that are disproportionate to concurrent sharper decreases in the price of aluminum, or shifts in global inventory of aluminum that result in changes to market prices, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

Market-driven balancing of global aluminum supply and demand may be disrupted by non-market forces.

In response to market-driven factors relating to the global supply and demand of aluminum and alumina, we have curtailed or closed portions of our aluminum and alumina production capacity. Certain other industry producers have independently undertaken to reduce production as well. Reductions in production may be delayed or impaired by the terms of long-term contracts to buy power or raw materials.

The existence of non-market forces on global aluminum industry capacity, such as political pressures in certain countries to keep jobs or to maintain or further develop industry self-sufficiency, may prevent or delay the closure or curtailment of certain producers’ smelters, irrespective of their position on the industry cost curve. For example, Chinese excess capacity and increased exports from China of heavily subsidized aluminum products could materially disrupt world aluminum markets causing pricing deterioration. If industry overcapacity exists due to the disruption by such non-market forces on the market-driven balancing of the global supply and demand of aluminum, a resulting weak pricing environment and margin compression may adversely affect the operating results of the Company.

Our operations consume substantial amounts of energy; profitability may decline if energy costs rise or if energy supplies are interrupted.

Although we generally expect to meet the energy requirements for our alumina refineries and primary aluminum smelters from internal sources or from long-term contracts, certain conditions could negatively affect our results of operations, including the following:

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If events such as those listed above were to occur, the resulting high energy costs, the disruption of an energy source, the requirement to repay all or a portion of the benefit we received under a power supply interruptibility regime, or the requirement to remedy any non-compliance of an energy framework to comply with applicable laws, could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Risks Related to Stock Ownership in the Company

Actions of activist stockholders of Alcoa could be disruptive and potentially costly, and the possibility that activist stockholders may contest, or seek changes that conflict with, our strategic direction could cause uncertainty about the strategic direction of our business

Activist stockholders may from time to time attempt to effect changes in our strategic direction and, in furtherance thereof, may seek changes in how Alcoa is governed. While our Board of Directors and management team strive to maintain constructive, ongoing communications with Alcoa stockholders, including activist stockholders, and welcome their views and opinions with the goal of working together constructively to enhance value for all stockholders, activist campaigns that contest, or conflict with, our strategic direction could have an adverse effect on us because: (i) responding to actions by activist stockholders can disrupt our operations, be costly and time-consuming, and divert the attention of our Board and senior management from the pursuit of business strategies, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition; (ii) perceived uncertainties as to our future direction may cause stock price decline and lead to the perception of a change in the direction of the business, instability or lack of continuity which may be exploited by our competitors, cause concern to our current or potential customers, may result in the loss of potential business opportunities and make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel and business partners; and (iii) these types of actions could cause significant fluctuations in our stock price based on temporary or speculative market perceptions or other factors that do not necessarily reflect the underlying fundamentals and prospects of our business.

Anti-takeover provisions could enable our management to resist a takeover attempt by a third party and limit the power of our stockholders, which could decrease the trading price of our common stock.

Alcoa’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended bylaws contain, and Delaware law contains, provisions that are intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive to the bidder and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with Alcoa’s Board of Directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. These provisions include, among others:

In addition, we are subject to Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”), which provides that, subject to limited exceptions, persons that acquire, or are affiliated with persons that acquire, more than 15% of the outstanding voting stock of a Delaware corporation may not engage in a business combination with that corporation, including by merger, consolidation or acquisitions of additional shares, for a three-year period following the date on which that person or any of its affiliates becomes the holder of more than 15% of the corporation’s outstanding voting stock.

We believe these provisions protect our stockholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our Board of Directors and by providing our Board of Directors with more time to assess any acquisition proposal. These provisions are not intended to make Alcoa immune from takeovers; however, these provisions will apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some stockholders and could delay or prevent an acquisition that our Board of Directors determines is not in the best interests of Alcoa and our stockholders. These provisions may also prevent or discourage attempts to remove and replace incumbent directors. These provisions of our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, and Delaware law, that have the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control of the Company could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares and could affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for Alcoa stock.

None.

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Alcoa Corporation’s principal executive offices, located at 201 Isabella Street, Suite 500, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15212-5858, are leased.

In addition, Alcoa leases some of its facilities; however, it is the opinion of management that the leases do not materially affect the continued use of the properties or the properties’ values.

Although our facilities vary in terms of age and condition, Alcoa believes that its facilities are suitable and adequate for its operations. See Notes B and J to the financial statements for information on properties, plants and equipment.

Alcoa has active plants and holdings under Bauxite, Alumina, and Aluminum segments. Please see the tables and related text in the relevant sections of this report.

In the ordinary course of its business, Alcoa is involved in a number of lawsuits and claims, both actual and potential.

Litigation

Italy 148. Beginning in 2006, ParentCo and the Italian Energy Authority (Autorità di Regolazione per Energia Reti e Ambiente, formerly l’Autorità per l’Energia Elettrica, il Gas e il Sistema Idrico, the “Energy Authority”) had been in a dispute regarding the calculation of a drawback applied to a portion of the price of power under a special tariff received by Alcoa Trasformazioni S.r.l. (“Trasformazioni,” previously a subsidiary of ParentCo; now a subsidiary of Alcoa Corporation). This dispute arose as a result of a resolution (148/2004) issued in 2004 by the Energy Authority that changed the method for calculating the drawback. Through 2009, Trasformazioni continued to receive the power price drawback for its Portovesme and Fusina smelters in accordance with the original resolution (204/1999), at which time the European Commission declared all such special tariffs to be impermissible “state aid.” Between 2006 and 2014, several judicial hearings occurred related to continuous appeals filed by both ParentCo and the Energy Authority regarding the dispute on the calculation of the drawback; a hearing on the latest appeal was scheduled for May 2018 (see below). Additionally, between 2012 and 2013, Trasformazioni received multiple letters from the agency responsible for making and collecting payments on behalf of the Energy Authority demanding payment for the difference in the drawback calculation between the two resolutions. The latest such demand was for $97 million (€76 million), including interest, and allegedly included consideration of a third resolution (44/2012) issued in 2012 on the calculation of the drawback; Trasformazioni rejected this demand.

In the meantime, as a result of the conclusion of the European Commission Matter in January 2016 (see Note R to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II Item 8 of Alcoa Corporation’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017), ParentCo’s management modified its outlook with respect to a portion of the then-pending legal proceedings related to the drawback dispute. As such, a charge of $37 million (€34 million) was recorded in Restructuring and other charges on the Company’s Statement of Consolidated Operations for the year ended December 31, 2015 to establish a partial reserve for this matter.

In December 2017, through an agreement with the Energy Authority, Alcoa Corporation settled this matter for $18 million (€15 million) (paid in January 2018). Accordingly, the Company recorded a reduction of $22 million (€19 million) (the U.S. dollar amount reflects the effects of foreign currency movements since 2015) to its previously established reserve in Restructuring and other charges on Alcoa Corporation’s Statement of Consolidated Operations.   In January 2018, subsequent to making the previously referenced payment, Alcoa Corporation and the respective state attorney in Italy filed a joint request with the Regional Administrative Court for Lombardy to have this matter formally dismissed.  On October 9, 2018, the court formally dismissed the case and this matter is now closed.  

Environmental Matters

Alcoa is involved in proceedings under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, also known as Superfund (CERCLA) and analogous state provisions regarding the usage, disposal, storage or treatment of hazardous substances at a number of sites in the U.S. The Company has committed to participate, or is engaged in negotiations with, federal or state authorities relative to its alleged liability for participation, in clean-up efforts at several such sites. The most significant of these matters are discussed in Note R to the Consolidated Financial Statements under the caption “Contingencies and Commitments—Environmental Matters.”

The Separation and Distribution Agreement between Alcoa Corporation and Arconic includes provisions for the assignment or allocation of environmental liabilities between Alcoa Corporation and Arconic, including certain remediation obligations associated with environmental matters. In general, the respective parties will be responsible for the environmental matters associated with their operations, and with the properties and other assets assigned to each. Additionally, the Separation and Distribution Agreement lists environmental matters with a shared responsibility between the two companies with an

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allocation of responsibility and the lead party responsible for management of each matter. For matters assigned to Alcoa Corporation under the Separation and Distribution Agreement, Alcoa Corporation has agreed to indemnify Arconic in whole or in part for environmental liabilities arising from operations prior to the Separation Date. The following discussion provides details regarding the current status of certain matters related to current or former Alcoa Corporation sites. With the exception of the Fusina, Italy matter, Alcoa Corporation assumed full responsibility of the matters described below.

In August 2005, Dany Lavoie, a resident of Baie Comeau in the Canadian Province of Québec, filed a Motion for Authorization to Institute a Class Action and for Designation of a Class Representative against Alcoa Canada Ltd., Alcoa Limitée, Société Canadienne de Metaux Reynolds Limitée and Canadian British Aluminum in the Superior Court of Québec in the District of Baie Comeau, alleging that defendants, as the present and past owners and operators of an aluminum smelter in Baie Comeau, had negligently allowed the emission of certain contaminants from the smelter on the lands and houses of the St. Georges neighborhood and its environs causing property damage and health concerns. In May 2007, the court authorized a class action suit on behalf of all people who suffered property or personal injury damages caused by the emission of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, or “PAHs” from the Company’s aluminum smelter in Baie Comeau. In September 2007, plaintiffs filed the claim against the original defendants. The Soderberg smelting process that plaintiffs allege to be the source of emissions of concern has ceased operations and has been dismantled. The court has identified a sampling expert and the parties are advising the expert on their respective views on the appropriate sampling protocol. Further proceedings in the case will await the independent expert’s report. At this stage of the proceeding, we are unable to reasonably predict an outcome or to estimate a range of reasonably possible loss.

In 1996, ParentCo acquired the Fusina, Italy smelter and rolling operations and the Portovesme, Italy smelter (both of which are owned by Alcoa’s subsidiary, Alcoa Trasformazioni S.r.l. (“Trasformazioni”)) from Alumix, an entity owned by the Italian Government. ParentCo also acquired the extrusion plants located in Feltre and Bolzano, Italy. At the time of the acquisition, Alumix indemnified ParentCo for pre-existing environmental contamination at the sites. In 2004, the Italian Ministry of Environment (MOE) issued orders to Trasformazioni and Alumix for the development of a clean-up plan related to soil contamination in excess of allowable limits under legislative decree and to institute emergency actions and pay natural resource damages. In April 2006, Trasformazioni’s Fusina site was also sued by the MOE and Minister of Public Works (MOPW) in the Civil Court of Venice for alleged environmental damages, in parallel with the orders already issued by the MOE. Most, if not all, of the underlying activities occurred during the ownership of Alumix, the governmental entity that sold the Italian plants to ParentCo.

In January 2014, Trasformazioni and Ligestra S.r.l. (“Ligestra”), the successor to Alumix, signed a final settlement agreement with respect to all environmental issues at the Fusina site, whereby the parties share all remediation costs and environmental damages claimed by the MOE and the MOPW; Ligestra assumed 50% to 80% of all payments and remediation costs.   The remediation project filed by ParentCo and Ligestra has been approved by the MOE. See Note R to the Consolidated Financial Statements under the caption “Fusina and Portovesme, Italy.” In April 2016, the settlement was ratified by the Ministers and the court case has been finally dismissed.

ParentCo and Ligestra have signed a similar agreement relating to the Portovesme site that is contingent upon final acceptance of the proposed soil remediation project for Portovesme. The MOE issued a Ministerial Decree approving the final project in October 2015. In December 2017, a framework for the future settlement of the groundwater remediation project was included within an agreement to transfer the ownership of the Portovesme smelter to an Italian government agency. The MOE has confirmed its acceptance of the proposal set out in the framework; however, the total cost of the groundwater remediation project will not be determined until the final remedial design is completed in 2019.

On November 30, 2010, Alcoa World Alumina Brasil Ltda. (“AWAB”) received notice of a lawsuit that had been filed by the public prosecutors of the State of Pará in Brazil in November 2009 regarding the impact of the new bauxite mine in Juruti, alleging that certain conditions of the original installation license were not met by AWAB, a subsidiary of Alcoa. The suit additionally names the State of Pará, which, through its Environmental Agency, had issued the operating license for ParentCo’s new bauxite mine in Juruti. Our position is that any impact from the project had been fully repaired when the suit was filed. We believe that Jará Lake has not been affected by any project activity and any evidence of pollution from the project would be unreliable. Given that this proceeding is in its preliminary stage and the current uncertainty in this case, we are unable to reasonably predict an outcome or to estimate a range of reasonably possible loss.

St. Croix Proceedings - Abednego and Abraham cases. On January 14, 2010, ParentCo was served with a multi-plaintiff action complaint involving several thousand individual persons claiming to be residents of St. Croix alleging personal injury or property damage from Hurricane Georges or winds blowing material from the St. Croix Alumina, L.L.C. (“SCA”) facility on the island of St. Croix (U.S. Virgin Islands) since the time of the hurricane. This complaint, Abednego, et al. v. Alcoa, et al. was filed in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix Division. The complaint names as defendants the same entities that were sued in a February 1999 action arising out of the impact of Hurricane Georges on the island and added as a defendant the current owner of the alumina facility property.

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On March 1, 2012, ParentCo was served with a separate multi-plaintiff action complaint involving approximately 200 individual persons alleging claims essentially identical to those set forth in the Abednego v. Alcoa complaint. This complaint, Abraham, et al. v. Alcoa, et al., was filed on behalf of plaintiffs previously dismissed in the federal court proceeding involving the original litigation over Hurricane Georges impacts. The matter was originally filed in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, St. Croix Division, on March 30, 2011.

By order dated August 10, 2015, the Superior Court dismissed plaintiffs’ complaints without prejudice to re-file the complaints individually, rather than as a multi-plaintiff filing. The order also preserves the defendants’ grounds for dismissal if new, individual complaints are filed.  In July 2017, the court issued an order that accepted as timely all complaints that had already been filed or would be filed by the end of the month and consolidated all such complaints into the Red Dust Claims docket (Master Case No.: SX-15-CV-620). Following this order, a total of 430 complaints were filed and accepted by the court by the deadline, which included claims of approximately 1,360 individuals. On November 15, 2018, the Red Dust Claims docket was transferred to the Complex Litigation Division within the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands.  We are unable to reasonably predict an outcome or to estimate a range of reasonably possible loss.

Asbestos Litigation

Some of our subsidiaries as premises owners are defendants in active lawsuits filed on behalf of persons alleging injury as a result of occupational exposure to asbestos at various facilities. A former affiliate of a subsidiary has been named, along with a large common group of industrial companies, in a pattern complaint where our involvement is not evident. Since 1999, several thousand such complaints have been filed. To date, the former affiliate has been dismissed from almost every case that was actually placed in line for trial. Our subsidiaries and acquired companies all have had numerous insurance policies over the years that provide coverage for asbestos based claims. Many of these policies provide layers of coverage for varying periods of time and for varying locations. We have significant insurance coverage and believe that our reserves are adequate for known asbestos exposure related liabilities. The costs of defense and settlement have not been and are not expected to be material to the results of operations, cash flows, and financial position of Alcoa Corporation.

Tax

Spain. In July 2013, following a corporate income tax audit covering the 2006 through 2009 tax years, an assessment was received as a result of Spain’s tax authorities disallowing certain interest deductions claimed by a former Spanish consolidated tax group previously owned by ParentCo. The following month, ParentCo filed an appeal of this assessment in Spain’s Central Tax Administrative Court.  In conjunction with this appeal, as required under Spanish tax law, ParentCo provided financial assurance in this matter in the form of both a bank guarantee (Arconic) and a lien secured with the San Ciprian smelter (Alcoa Corporation) to Spain’s tax authorities.  In January 2015, Spain’s Central Tax Administrative Court denied ParentCo’s appeal of this assessment.  Two months later, ParentCo filed an appeal of the assessment in Spain’s National Court (the “National Court”).  The amount of this assessment, including interest, was $152 million (€131 million) as of June 30, 2018.  

On July 6, 2018, the National Court denied ParentCo’s appeal of the assessment; however, the decision includes a requirement that Spain’s tax authorities issue a new assessment, which considers available net operating losses of the former Spanish consolidated tax group from prior tax years that can be utilized during the assessed tax years. Spain’s tax authorities will not issue a new assessment until this matter is resolved; however, based on estimated calculations completed by Arconic and Alcoa Corporation (collectively, the “Companies”), the amount of the new assessment, including applicable interest, is expected to be in the range of $25 million to $61 million (€21 million to €53 million) after consideration of available net operating losses and tax credits. Under the Tax Matters Agreement related to the Separation Transaction, Arconic and Alcoa Corporation are responsible for 51% and 49%, respectively, of the assessed amount in the event of an unfavorable outcome. On July 12, 2018, the Companies sent a letter to the National Court seeking clarification on one part of the decision. A response was received from the National Court on October 1, 2018, resulting in no change to its July 6, 2018 decision. On November 8, 2018, Arconic, with Alcoa Corporation’s participation and consent, petitioned for an appeal to the Supreme Court of Spain.  

Notwithstanding the petition for appeal, based on a review of the bases on which the National Court decided this matter, Alcoa Corporation management no longer believes that the Companies are more likely than not (greater than 50%) to prevail in this matter. Accordingly, Alcoa Corporation recorded a charge of $30 million (€26 million) in Provision for income taxes on the Company’s Statement of Consolidated Operations to establish a liability for its 49% share of the estimated loss in this matter, representing management’s best estimate at this time. As indicated above, at a future point in time, the Companies will receive an updated assessment from Spain’s tax authorities, which may result in a change to management’s estimate following further analysis.

Separately, in January 2017, the National Court issued a decision in favor of the former Spanish consolidated tax group related to a similar assessment for the 2003 through 2005 tax years, effectively making that assessment null and void. Additionally, in August 2017, in lieu of receiving a formal assessment, the Companies reached a settlement with Spain’s tax

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authorities for the 2010 through 2013 tax years that had been under audit for a similar matter. Alcoa Corporation’s share of this settlement was not material to the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements. The ultimate outcomes related to the 2003 through 2005 and the 2010 through 2013 tax years are not indicative of the potential ultimate outcome of the assessment for the 2006 through 2009 tax years due to procedural differences. Also, it is possible that the Companies may receive similar assessments for tax years subsequent to 2013; however, management does not expect any such assessment, if received, to be material to Alcoa Corporation’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

Brazil (AWAB). In March 2013, AWAB was notified by the Brazilian Federal Revenue Office (RFB) that approximately $110 (R$220) of value added tax credits previously claimed are being disallowed and a penalty of 50% assessed. Of this amount, AWAB received $41 (R$82) in cash in May 2012. The value added tax credits were claimed by AWAB for both fixed assets and export sales related to the Juruti bauxite mine and São Luís refinery expansion. The RFB has disallowed credits they allege belong to the consortium in which AWAB owns an interest and should not have been claimed by AWAB. Credits have also been disallowed as a result of challenges to apportionment methods used, questions about the use of the credits, and an alleged lack of documented proof. AWAB presented defense of its claim to the RFB on April 8, 2013. If AWAB is successful in this administrative process, the RFB would have no further recourse. If unsuccessful in this process, AWAB has the option to litigate at a judicial level. Separately from AWAB’s administrative appeal, in June 2015, a new tax law was enacted repealing the provisions in the tax code that were the basis for the RFB assessing a 50% penalty in this matter. As such, the estimated range of reasonably possible loss is $0 to $26 (R$103), whereby the maximum end of the range represents the portion of the disallowed credits applicable to the export sales and excludes the 50% penalty. Additionally, the estimated range of disallowed credits related to AWAB’s fixed assets is $0 to $29 (R$117), which would increase the net carrying value of AWAB’s fixed assets if ultimately disallowed. It is management’s opinion that the allegations have no basis; however, at this time, the Company is unable to reasonably predict an outcome for this matter.

Other

On October 19, 2015, a subsidiary of Alcoa, Alúmina Española S.A., received a request by the Court of Vivero, Spain to provide the names of the “manager,” as well as those of the “environmental managers,” of the San Ciprián alumina refinery from 2009 to the present date. Upon reviewing the documents filed with the Court, ParentCo learned for the first time that the request is the result of a criminal proceeding that began in 2010 after the filing of a claim by two San Ciprián neighbors alleging that the plant’s activities had adverse effects on vegetation, crops and human health. In 2011 and 2012, some neighbors claimed individually in the criminal court for caustic spill damages to vehicles, and the judge decided to administer all issues in the court proceeding (865/2011). On March 23, 2017, the criminal court provisionally dismissed the case in light of the conclusions of a technical report submitted by an expert and the position of the public prosecutor, neither of whom found any criminal liability in Alúmina Española S.A. activity.  In April 2017, Alúmina Española S.A. received confirmation that the criminal court matter had been definitively closed.

Other Contingencies

Reynolds. On January 11, 2016, Sherwin Alumina Company, LLC (“Sherwin”), the current owner of a refinery previously owned by ParentCo (see below), and one of its affiliate entities, filed bankruptcy petitions in Corpus Christi, Texas for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Sherwin informed the bankruptcy court that it intends to cease operations because it is not able to continue its bauxite supply agreement. On November 23, 2016, the bankruptcy court approved Sherwin’s plans for cessation of its operations. On February 16, 2017, Sherwin filed a bankruptcy Chapter 11 Plan (the “Plan”) and on February 17, 2017 the court approved that Plan.

In 2000, ParentCo acquired Reynolds Metals Company (“Reynolds,” a subsidiary of Alcoa Corporation), which included an alumina refinery in Gregory, Texas. As a condition of the Reynolds acquisition, ParentCo was required to divest this alumina refinery. In accordance with the terms of the divestiture in 2000, ParentCo agreed to retain responsibility for certain environmental obligations (see Environmental Matters above) and assigned to the buyer an Energy Services Agreement (“ESA”) with Gregory Power Partners (“Gregory Power”) for purchase of steam and electricity by the refinery.

Through the bankruptcy proceedings, the owner of Sherwin exercised its right under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to reject the agreement from 2000 containing the previously mentioned retained responsibility, which had the effect of terminating all rights and responsibilities of the parties to the agreement.

As a result of Sherwin’s initial bankruptcy filing, separate legal actions were initiated against Reynolds by Gregory Power and Sherwin as described below.

Gregory Power. On January 26, 2016, Gregory Power delivered notice to Reynolds that Sherwin’s bankruptcy filing constitutes a breach of the ESA; on January 29, 2016, Reynolds responded that the filing does not constitute a breach. On September 16, 2016, Gregory Power filed a complaint in the bankruptcy case against Reynolds alleging breach of the ESA. In response to this complaint, on November 10, 2016, Reynolds filed both a motion to dismiss, including a jury demand, and

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a motion to withdraw the reference to the bankruptcy court based on the jury demand. On July 18, 2017, the district court ordered that any trial would be held to a jury in district court, but that the bankruptcy court would retain jurisdiction on all pre-trial matters. Since that time, Gregory Power filed an amended complaint to include Allied Alumina LLC (“Allied”), the successor to the original purchaser of the refinery from Reynolds. In September 2018, Reynolds and Allied filed their respective answers to the amended complaint, and Allied filed a cross complaint against Reynolds, which was answered by Reynolds on October 15, 2018. The court has yet to rule on several pending pretrial matters. At this time, Alcoa Corporation is unable to reasonably predict the ultimate outcome of this matter.

Sherwin. On October 4, 2016, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) filed suit against Sherwin in the bankruptcy proceeding seeking to hold Sherwin responsible for remediation of alleged environmental conditions at the Sherwin refinery site and related bauxite residue waste disposal areas (known as the Copano facility). On October 11, 2016, Sherwin filed a similar suit against Reynolds in the case. As provided in the Plan, Sherwin, including certain affiliated companies, and Reynolds had been negotiating an allocation among them as to the ownership of and responsibility for certain areas of the refinery and the Copano facility. In March 2018, Reynolds and Sherwin reached a settlement agreement that assigns to Reynolds all environmental liabilities associated with the Copano facility and assigns to Sherwin all environmental liabilities associated with the Sherwin refinery site. Additionally, Reynolds and the TCEQ reached an agreement that defines the operating and environmental steps required for the Copano facility, which Reynolds intends to operate for the purpose of managing materials other than bauxite residue waste, including third-party dredge material. The effectiveness and enforceability of each of these two agreements are pre-conditioned on the other being accepted by the bankruptcy court. A public notice and comment period on these agreements expired on April 26, 2018 without material affect to the documents. On June 5, 2018, the bankruptcy court accepted and entered the agreements into the judicial record as submitted. May 21, 2018 serves as the “effective date” for both agreements.

On June 5, 2018, the transaction between Sherwin and Reynolds was completed. Under the agreement with Sherwin, in exchange for assuming full responsibility for the environmental-related liabilities (see below related to the Company’s existing reserve) associated with the Copano facility, Reynolds assumed ownership of the land that comprises the Copano facility, as well as land that serves as a buffer around the Copano facility and other related assets. A third-party appraisal estimated the fair value of the land and other assets to be $16 million. Under the agreement with TCEQ, a portion of the Copano facility must be closed within 10 years and the remaining portion must be closed within 30 years, both timeframes began on the effective date. Also, Reynolds is required to install upgrades to certain dust control systems and repair certain structures and drainage systems at the Copano facility, and prepare and submit to TCEQ a preliminary groundwater assessment report and a drinking water survey report related to the Copano facility within 180 days of the effective date. Accordingly, the Company recognized $16 million in properties, plants, and equipment, $9 million in environmental remediation liabilities, and $7 million in other related liabilities. Additionally, the Company paid $12 million into a trust managed by the state of Texas as financial assurance of the Company’s performance in completing the required obligations. This amount will be returned to the Company upon satisfactory completion of the future closure of the Copano facility in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. On June 7, 2018, Sherwin filed a notice of dismissal in the suit against Reynolds; the dismissal was immediately effective as no court order was required.

At the time the agreements were signed by all parties, the Company had a reserve of $29 million for its proportionate share of environmental-related matters at both the Sherwin refinery site and the Copano facility based on the terms of the divestiture of the Sherwin refinery in 2000 (see Note R to the Consolidated Financial Statements under the caption “Sherwin, TX”). While Reynolds no longer has any responsibility for environmental-related matters at the Sherwin refinery site, it assumed additional responsibility for environmental-related matters at the Copano facility ($9 million – see above). In management’s judgment, the $38 million reserve as of December 31, 2018 is sufficient to satisfy the Company’s revised responsibilities and obligations under the settlement agreements. Upon changes in facts or circumstances, a change to the reserve may be required.

Suralco. On December 16, 2016, Boskalis International B.V. (Boskalis) initiated a binding arbitration proceeding against Suriname Aluminum Company, LLC (Suralco), an AWAC company, seeking $47 million plus prejudgment interest and associated taxes in connection with a dispute arising under a contract for mining services in Suriname between Boskalis and Suralco. Boskalis asserted four separate claims under the contract.

In February 2018, the arbitration hearing was held before a three-person panel under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce. The panel issued its decision on May 29, 2018, finding in favor of Boskalis on two claims and against Boskalis on two claims. For the two claims on which Boskalis prevailed, the panel awarded Boskalis $29 million, including prejudgment interest of $3 million. The award is final and cannot be appealed. Accordingly, Alcoa Corporation recorded a charge of $29 million ($17 million after noncontrolling interest), including $26 million in Cost of goods sold and $3 million in Interest expense on the Company’s Statement of Consolidated Operations. On June 6, 2018, the Company made the $29 million cash payment to Boskalis closing this matter.

The claim that represented the majority of the arbitration award centered around a contract provision requiring Suralco to make a “true up” payment at the end of the contract in the event that Suralco was unable to receive delivery of the full

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contract quantity, thus allowing Boskalis to recover its fixed production costs and a suitable return on its investment. While Suralco argued that all required deliveries had been made during the amended contract term and that no “true up” payment was required because a “true up” would amount to a double payment for bauxite deliveries after the initial contract term, Boskalis argued that the deliveries were not made within the original contract term and thus, a “true up” payment was required. On the basis of its analysis of the facts and applicable law, management concluded that the likelihood of an unfavorable decision on Boskalis’ claims was remote (25% or less). Throughout the course of the proceeding, and even after the conclusion of the hearing, management’s judgment of the likelihood of an unfavorable outcome remained the same.

General

In addition to the matters discussed above, various other lawsuits, claims, and proceedings have been or may be instituted or asserted against Alcoa Corporation, including those pertaining to environmental, safety and health, commercial, tax, product liability, intellectual property infringement, employment, and employee and retiree benefit matters, and other actions and claims arising out of the normal course of business. While the amounts claimed in these other matters may be substantial, the ultimate liability is not readily determinable because of the considerable uncertainties that exist. Accordingly, it is possible that the Company’s liquidity or results of operations in a particular period could be materially affected by one or more of these other matters. However, based on facts currently available, management believes that the disposition of these other matters that are pending or asserted will not have a material adverse effect, individually or in the aggregate, on the financial position of the Company.

The information concerning mine safety violations or other regulatory matters required by Section 1503(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and Item 104 of Regulation S-K (17 CFR 229.104) is included in Exhibit 95.1 of this report, which is incorporated herein by reference.

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Shares of the Company’s common stock are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the symbol “AA” in “regular-way” trading, which began on November 1, 2016 immediately following the Separation Transaction.

Alcoa Corporation did not pay dividends in 2018, 2017, or in 2016 (beginning November 1, 2016). Dividends on Alcoa Corporation common stock are subject to authorization by the Company’s Board of Directors. The payment and amount of dividends, if any, depends upon matters deemed relevant by the Company’s Board of Directors, such as Alcoa Corporation’s results of operations, financial condition, cash requirements, future prospects, any limitations imposed by law, credit agreements or senior securities, and other factors deemed relevant and appropriate. The Company’s senior secured revolving credit facility and the indenture governing our senior unsecured notes restrict our ability to pay dividends in certain circumstances. For more information, see Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources – Financing Activities.”

As of February 20, 2019, there were approximately 12,000 holders of record of shares of the Company’s common stock. Because many of Alcoa Corporation’s shares are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, the Company is unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these recordholders.

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Stock Performance Graph

The following graph compares Alcoa Corporation’s cumulative 26-month total shareholder return with (1) the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500^® Index and (2) the S&P 500^® Metals & Mining GICS Level 3 Index, a group of companies categorized by S&P as active in the “Metals and Mining” industry within the “Materials” market sector. This comparison was based on an initial investment of $100, including the reinvestment of any dividends from November 1, 2016 (beginning of “regular way” trading for Alcoa Corporation) through December 31, 2018. Such information shall not be deemed to be “filed.”

Copyright^© 2019 Standard & Poor’s, a division of S&P Global. All rights reserved.

Source: Research Data Group, Inc. (www.researchdatagroup.com/S&P.htm)

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities

On March 14, 2016, Alcoa Corporation issued 1,000 shares of its common stock to ParentCo pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. The Company did not register the issuance of these shares under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, because such issuance did not constitute a public offering.

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Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

On October 17, 2018, Alcoa Corporation announced that its Board of Directors authorized a common stock repurchase program under which the Company may purchase shares of its outstanding common stock up to an aggregate transactional value of $200 million, depending on cash availability, market conditions, and other factors. Repurchases under the program may be made using a variety of methods, which may include open market purchases, privately negotiated transactions, or pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan. This program does not have a predetermined expiration date. Alcoa Corporation intends to retire the repurchased shares of common stock. In December 2018, the Company repurchased 1,723,800 shares of its common stock for $50 million (weighted average share price of $29.01 (includes $0.02 broker commission)); these shares were immediately retired.

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(dollars in millions, except per-share amounts and average realized prices; metric tons in thousands (kmt))