Ongoing Investment

The scope of Alcan’s investment in B.C. is measured not just by the vast scale of the original construction project, but also in the very significant ongoing investments made in the various facilities over the decades since.

In an increasingly competitive global industry and economy, to stand still is to fall rapidly behind. Alcan has therefore made continual strategic investments in the smelter, powerhouse, and the rest of its B.C. operations – ensuring they are well positioned to keep pace with evolving customer needs and industry best practices. Capital investments in recent years have averaged some CAN$25 million annually.

As a result, someone familiar with the Kitimat smelter of even just five or 10 years ago would be struck by the changes were they to visit the smelter today. And someone familiar with it 25 or 30 years ago might be hard-pressed to recognize it as the same facility.

There have been upgrades across all facets of the operation, including, among many others: improved emission control equipment, re-designed groundwater-management and effluent-treatment systems, construction of new facilities such as the anode paste plant, the semi-automation of the Kemano generating station, expansion of existing facilities such as the DC-4 sheet-ingot casting centre, and innovations in areas ranging from mobile-equipment use to work-space ergonomics.

In the past, a single or at least primary motivating factor – perhaps environmental, perhaps economic, perhaps safety-related – typically drove a particular investment decision. But increasingly Alcan is identifying compelling investment opportunities that produce benefits across these major parameters.

A good case in point is the software and other investments being made as part of the smelter’s anode effects reduction program. While perhaps the most dramatic benefit is in reduced greenhouse gas generation, the initiative is also measurably improving production and energy efficiency, and has reduced safety risks for potroom operators.

Kitimat Modernization
Alcan. Inc. has announced its intention to make a CAN$2-billion investment in the modernization of the Kitimat smelter, thus securing the operation’s future for at least the next 35 to 50 years. The modernized smelter would increase production capacity by some 40 per cent relative to its rated production capacity, reduce environmental emissions by more than 40 per cent[KH1], and would be designed to use virtually all of the firm power from Kemano.

This project remains subject to final approval by Alcan’s board of directors, pending conclusion of an agreement with BC Hydro and environmental permitting. An agreement has been reached with Alcan B.C.’s unionized workforce, covering the project construction period. For more information please visit the Kitimat Modernization web site.