Alcan Aluminum Ltd. announced it will build a 375,000-ton-capacity aluminum smelter in Alma, Quebec. The cost of the project, which will take more than three years to complete, is estimated at $US1.6 billion. This new smelter will replace the existing Isle-Maligne facility in Alma, which has a production capacity of 75,000 tons. According to Montreal-based Alcan, the new facility will bring the companys primary aluminum production capacity up to 1.9 million tons per year.
"I am confident in the continuing growth in demand for aluminum," says Jacques Bougie, Alcan president and CEO. "Use of existing infrastructure and the size of the facility will make this smelter highly competitive internationally."
Once it is fully operational, the new Alma smelter will employ about 650 people, 425 of them moving over from the Isle-Maligne plant in Alma. Work at the site will begin in a few weeks.
