20 APRIL 2026
On 19 April 1996, the late former South African President Mr Nelson Mandela officially opened Hillside Aluminium in Richards Bay. He spoke about sustained growth, job creation and what this investment could mean for the country.
By January 1998, Hillside had produced its millionth tonne of saleable aluminium. A third potline was commissioned in 2004. When South32 was formed in 2015, Hillside became part of our portfolio, and today it remains South Africa's only primary aluminium smelter, the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, and our longest-running aluminium operation.
In 2024 alone, an estimated R2.7 billion (approximately US$160 million) was invested in enterprise and supplier development across the KwaZulu-Natal province, and more than five million people have been reached through community programs over the past five years.
Through three decades of production cycles, market shifts and organisational change, people have built careers at Hillside that span the full length of the smelter's history.
Noel Pillay, who joined Hillside in 1994 as a young engineer, is now our Chief Operating Officer Southern Africa. Yogen Chetty, the smelter's first female operator, was at the official opening event with Mr Mandela and today leads the health and safety improvement program across our business. Senzo “Fox” Dlamini has spent 35 years in the industry and works as a mechanical maintainer in the Casthouse. Kevin Boyder has been an operator in the Carbon Rodding Shop for nearly 19 years, continuing a connection to the operation his late father Mitch started before him.
Many more people have shaped Hillside over the past 30 years, thousands of operators, maintainers, engineers, leaders and support teams who have kept the smelter running over three decades.
"I remain humbled to be part of a story built by extraordinary people. Thank you to the thousands of employees, past and present, who have built, operated, maintained and strengthened Hillside over 30 years," Noel said.
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