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ACROSS CANADA'S HIGHWAY 40, HEADING NORTH FROM THE HISTORIC VILLAGE OF DESCHAMBAULT ON THE ST LAWRENCE RIVER, IS A RIGHT HAND TURN MARKED BY A MODEST TWO-TONE SIGN THAT READS: ALUMINERIE LAURALCO. AT THE END OF THE THREE-KILOMETRE DRIVE, A PASSAGE CUT OUT OF ROCK AND WOODS, SITS THE MODERN BLUE AND SILVER CAMPUS OF BUILDINGS WHERE ALUMINIUM IS MADE.
Aluminerie Lauralco Ine, Alumax Inc's newest primary aluminium production facility - and only wholly owned primary plant - took less than 18 months to build. Construction started in 1990, making jobs available to some 2,200 construction workers at the plant site. The carbon plant started producing anodes in the fall of 1991. The first potline was started in February of 1992, three months ahead of schedule and about 10% under budget. Today, Lauralco's 264 pots are running to produce 215,000 metric tons of quality aluminium a year.
Lauralco is an integral part of a long-range strategy for Alumax, a US$2.3 billion integrated aluminium company based in Norcross, Georgia. Alumax is the fifth largest aluminium company in the world, and a wholly owned subsidiary of AMAX Inc. Its Lauralco plant produces T-ingot using competitive hydro power from Hydro-Quebec under a variable rate contract linked to the market price of aluminium.
Producing just T-ingot at Lauralco allows Alumax's three US primary plants - Intalco Aluminum Corp in Ferndale, Wash, and Eastalco Aluminum Co in Frederick, Md, of which Alumax holds a 75% interest in each; and Alumax of South Carolina in Goose Creek, SC, of which Alumax owns a 73% interest - to concentrate on producing premium products such as extrusion billet, rolling slab and foundry ingot.
Capacity from Lauralco, together with Alumax's shares in the US plants and its 25% holding in recently expanded Aluminerie de Becancour in Quebec, brings Alumax's primary capacity to about 770,000 metric tons a year. Two-thirds of this capacity is produced with competitively priced hydro power.
The new plant, located wimin the 640-hectare DeschambaultPortneuf Industrial Park, about 65 kilometres west of Quebec City, benefits from well-built transportation facilities, including a super highway, two Canadian rail systems and a deepwater port on the St Lawrence at Trois-Rivieres. Utility services include a natural gas pipeline and a 315kV power line.
The architectural...