The refinery is an alumina manufacturing facility situated along the Mississippi River in St. James Parish just downriver from Gramercy, Louisiana. At the Gramercy refinery, bauxite is chemically refined and converted into alumina, the principal raw material used in the production of primary aluminum. Extensive portions of the Gramercy refinery were rebuilt and modernized from 2000 through 2002. Gramercy has an annual production capacity of 1.2 million metric tonnes of alumina in the form of smelter grade alumina and alumina hydrate, or chemical grade alumina.