Alcoa Nears Sale of Idle Smelter to Bitcoin Firm NYDIG

Alcoa, the largest aluminum producer in the United States, is advancing toward a deal to sell its long-idle Massena East smelter site in upstate New York to New York Digital Investment Group, a Bitcoin mining firm known as NYDIG. The 1,300-acre property along the St. Lawrence River has been inactive since 2014, and the transaction is expected to close in the middle of this year, according to Alcoa Chief Executive Officer Bill Oplinger.

Oplinger shared the update during comments reported on Friday, noting that the sale aligns with Alcoa's broader strategy to divest around 10 shuttered U.S. smelter properties. The Massena East facility ceased operations due to escalating energy costs and intensifying global competition in aluminum production. Its appeal to NYDIG lies in the site's robust existing infrastructure, including substations, transmission lines, and high-capacity grid connections designed for continuous heavy industrial use. These features allow energy-intensive operations like Bitcoin mining to bypass years of permitting and development hurdles typically required for new sites.

The location also benefits from access to low-cost, low-carbon hydropower supplied by the New...