About Kitimat Modernization
Rio Tinto Alcan Primary Metal British Columbia is located on the Douglas Channel, a year-round ice-free ocean port, located in Kitimat, on the northwest coast of British Columbia. We are ideally situated to meet the ever-growing aluminum market demands of our customers located in the Pacific Rim.
Our Kitimat Works smelter's rated capacity is 275,000 tonnes of aluminum per year. We operate a world class hydro-electric power generating facility in Kemano, BC, and a coke calcining plant in Edmonton, Alberta. Alcan maintains Corporate Affairs and Community Relations offices in Kitimat, Burns Lake, Vanderhoof and Vancouver.
Rio Tinto Alcan has been a proud partner in the development of British Columbia’s northwest region for over 52 years. We export value-added aluminum ingot products to our customers in the Pacific Rim market. Our smelter contributes more than $500 million annually to the Canadian economy, of which more than $269 million stay in British Columbia. In addition, our combined operations in BC and Alberta currently provide employment for about 1,600 people.
Since 1997, Rio Tinto Alcan has spent about $25 million on feasibility studies to retrofit, modernize or expand the Kitimat Works smelter. On August 14, 2006, Rio Tinto Alcan announced that it will proceed with a (US) $2.5 billion investment to fully modernize the Kitimat Works smelter, introducing the latest evolution in Rio Tinto Alcan’s AP (Aluminium Pechiney) technology.
The implementation of the modernization project was subject to conditions, which have now been met; the BCUC decision of our new electricity purchase agreement with BC Hydro; confirmation for our environmental permitting; and, on May 3, 2007, Rio Tinto Alcan and the Canadian AutoWorkers (CAW), Local 2301 reached agreement to extend the term of the collective labour agreement (CLA) to 2012. Sixty-one per cent (61 per cent) of Rio Tinto Alcan Primary Metal British Columbia employees voted to ratify the new CLA.
Due to the current global economic conditions our project has been ramped down to a slower spend rate, but we are fully committed to continuing to work towards final board of directors approval. Once the modernized Kitimat Works smelter comes on stream, it will increase our production by more than 40 per cent, from the rated capacity of 275,000 tonnes per year to about 400,000 tonnes per year, making Kitimat a world class aluminum producing facility for the next 35+ years and beyond. In addition, the modernization will secure about 1,000 stable, technically enriched jobs in BCs northwest region for the long term and roughly double this number during the construction phase.
