Alcoa Corp. announced plans to restart three of five potlines at its Warrick Operations aluminum smelter near Evansville, Ind. The process to restart the three lines, with 161,400 metric tons of annual capacity, will begin immediately and is expected to be complete in the second quarter of 2018. The restart will increase the site’s employment by approximately 275, including those who will be hired or recalled from layoff status. Two of the five smelting potlines will be classified as curtailed capacity and will remain idle.

The three potlines will directly supply the Warrick rolling mill, which serves the North American market with flat-rolled aluminum. The smelter’s molten metal will supplement purchased scrap metal and other raw materials that the Warrick site will continue to procure. The smelter at Warrick closed in March 2016. After this partial restart, Alcoa will have approximately 886,000 metric tons idled of its total smelting capacity of 3.4 million metric tons.