Extremadura grants environmental authorization to the Aluminios del Maestre plant

The General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy of the Junta de Extremadura has granted integrated environmental authorization to the aluminum smelting, casting, lacquering, and cutting plant project of Aluminios del Maestre, SA, located in Villafranca de los Barros, which incorporates a substantial modification to expand its melting and casting capacity and add rolling activities. The resolution is published in the Official Gazette of Extremadura (DOE) number 193, dated October 6, 2026, with the official reference 2026062482.

The announcement complies with article 24.3 of Royal Legislative Decree 1/2016, of December 16, which approves the revised text of the Law on integrated pollution prevention and control. This regulation requires autonomous communities to publish resolutions granting, substantially modifying, or reviewing integrated environmental authorizations in their official bulletins, identifying the affected installation in the announcement.

The notice is signed by the Director General of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy, Juan Eloy Rodríguez Ucedo, in Mérida on September 28, 2026, and refers to the Resolution of September 24, 2026, from the same body, by which the integrated environmental authorization is granted. The file is identified as AAI24/001 and the installation depends on the Regional Ministry of Industry, Energy, Science, and Territory.

An industrial plant with new production lines

The authorization covers the set of aluminum treatment and transformation facilities of the Extremaduran factory, which now integrates processes that were previously unauthorized. The included activities are:

• Collection, crushing, and storage of aluminum metal waste.
• Aluminum smelting and continuous casting.
• Continuous lacquering of aluminum coils and cutting.
• Cold rolling of coils.
• Annealing and leveling of coils.

Capacity expansion and substantial modification

The authorized project is not limited to the pre-existing activity: it incorporates a substantial modification that expands the plant’s melting and continuous casting capacity. Added to this expansion are the new activities of cold rolling, annealing, and leveling of coils, which shifts the factory’s production profile toward transformation phases subsequent to casting.

The integrated environmental authorization is the instrument that concentrates the installation’s environmental controls into a single regional permit, in accordance with the integrated pollution prevention and control regime. Its granting implies that the plant is subject to the environmental conditions set forth in the resolution for all its processes.

Official publicity and access to the file

The publicity resolution is limited to announcing the granting, as required by law, and identifies the installation by its owner, its municipality, and its file number. The full text of the integrated environmental authorization can be consulted via the link published by the Junta de Extremadura on the Extremambiente portal.

• Issuing body: General Directorate of Sustainable Management and Forestry Policy.
• Department: Industry, Energy, Science and Territory.
• Owner: Aluminios del Maestre, SA.
• Location: municipality of Villafranca de los Barros.
• File: AAI24/001.
• Date of the granting resolution: September 24, 2026.
• Date of the publicity resolution: September 28, 2026.
• Publication: DOE number 193, of October 6, 2026.

Impact on the industrial environment

The authorization consolidates and expands an aluminum processing plant in southern Extremadura, a sector that is energy-intensive and subject to strict environmental control. For the environment of Villafranca de los Barros, the permit establishes the conditions under which the plant may operate and grow, while subjecting its emissions and waste to the integrated pollution prevention and control regime.

Source: Official Gazette of Extremadura (DOE), number 193, of October 6, 2026, Section III (Other Resolutions) (official reference: 2026062482).