Aluminerie Alouette is an

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

manufacturing company based in Sept-Îles,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, on the North Shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

History

In 2005, the Alouette Aluminum Smelter, at 550,000 metric tonnes capacity per year, became the largest primary aluminum smelter in the Americas. The construction of an aluminum smelter at Sept-Îles was made possible with the completion of the Churchill Falls Hydro Electric project in Labrador in 1972. Electrical transmission lines from Churchill Falls, carrying power to the

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

power grid, pass close to the city of Sept-Îles, with Hydro-Québec's Arnaud substation built on the outskirts of the city. In 1989, attracted by Hydro-Québec's low power costs and the seaport facilities at Sept-Îles, Alouette built a 215,000 tonne per year smelter on Pointe-Noire, Quebec, located on the southern side of Sept-Îles Bay. The smelter was funded by an international consortium, consisting of Austria Metall AG (AMAG), Kobe Aluminum and

Marubeni (, OSE: 8002, NSE: 8002) is a '' sōgō shōsha'' (general trading company) headquartered in Otemachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the largest ''sogo shosha'' and has leading market shares in cereal and paper pulp trading as wel ...

of Japan, Koninklijke Hoogovens of the Netherlands,

Société générale de financement Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

(SGF), and VAW of Germany. In 2002, plans were approved to expand the smelter by more than double its original capacity. This phase 2 project was completed in September 2005. Since 2011, the Alouette Smelter uses 930 MW electricity at maximum production capacity. Aluminerie Alouette is certified ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 17025 (laboratory quality and environmental analysis), ISO 14001 (environment) and OHSAS 18001 (health and safety).

Current investors

* AMAG Austria Metall AG (Austria, 20%) * Hydro Aluminium (Norway, 20%) *

Investissement Québec Investissement Québec () is a company established in 1998 under an act passed by the National Assembly of Quebec to favour investment in Quebec by Quebec-based and international companies. Its registered office is located in Quebec City. In Decem ...

(Canada, 6.67%) * Marubeni Metals & Minerals (Japan, 13.33%) * Rio Tinto Alcan (Canada, 40%)

References

External links

Aluminerie Alouette website
Aluminium companies of Canada Aluminium smelters Rio Tinto (corporation) subsidiaries Norsk Hydro Sept-Îles, Quebec Manufacturing companies based in Quebec {{industry-corp-stub