> "I think it's clear that one of the issues facing aluminum is that it is costly to bring down smelting capacity and even more costly to bring it back up again," Harvey said during a virtual presentation at the Bank of America Securities Global Metals, Mining & Steel Conference. "I think it has tended to be a relatively slow process for producers to come to those decisions."
> Harvey said each potline at a smelter requires about $25 million to restart, which made it challenging for operators to reach curtailment decisions.
Also there is economic harm in shutting down mining I.e loss of mining fees.