Noranda Aluminum Holding has recruited a veteran operating executive from one of the world's largest mining companies to lead its Jamaican mining and Louisiana refining divisions. Julio Costa comes to Noranda after spending six and a half years at Rio Tinto, most recently as COO for seven months of its coal mining businesses in Mozambique and Australia. Before that, he was general manager of Rio Tinto's bauxite mine and alumina refinery in Gove, Australia, for more than three years.

At Noranda, Costa will be Bauxite and Alumina Business President and oversee the unit's safety, operations and financial performance. Combined, the Jamaica and Louisiana operations produced a 2014 segment profit of almost $2 million on sales of $254 million. Costa fills an executive slot vacated in early 2014 after the resignation of Wayne Hale as upstream business unit president.